Solos in the tenor 2 and trumpet 2 (with electronics) parts.
5 reeds, 4 trumpets (harmons/cups and flügel in trpt 1), 3 trombones (bucket/harmon/cup), 1 bass trombone (bucket), accordion, guitar (electronics/pedals for effects), piano, bass (arco with a clip-on mic on music stand for close-mic effects on intro, drums (drummer also plays waterphone played with bow on intro)
The idea for this piece came when an ArtistShare participant and ham radio operator, Paul Schreier, HB9DST, spotted two massive ham radio towers in our yard and reached out to ask what my dad’s ‘callsign’ was. From there ensued the idea, largely Paul’s to write a piece using Morse Code rhythms. When he pointed out parallels to the internet, the idea that hams were trying to connect with the world, but unlike the internet, ham radio had a code of ethics, transparency, and didn’t allow business, I started to look up the Morse rhythms for words like greed, power, help, AI, data, W0ABF (my dad’s callsign), and thus, this piece was born. CQ literally means “seek you,” and it’s what all hams put out there when trying to connect, along with their callsign.
With this score, you’ll see the rhythms of the Morse messages, and how I came to getting the atmospheric opening. This was a challenging piece to write and I hope you’ll get enjoyment out of listening while looking at the score.
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