BATTERY is a long-form work for massed marching percussion. The work centers the immediacy of these instruments' sonic impact and their abilities to resonate and project extreme amplitudes; but also their broader cultural entanglements in the complex histories of military music, imperial/colonial legacies, and rural social practices. These instruments are rarely (if ever) included within “higher” forms of sonic arts and musical performance, despite their ubiquity within American musical education. BATTERY imagines a drum culture pushed to its algorithmic limits, using electromechanical attachments, intertwined feedback loops, and multichannel synthesis to reanimate source material from the rudiments, virtuosity, and athletic bravado of the drumline, forging new connections between musicians, listeners, and the instruments themselves.
Weston Olencki (b.1992; Spartanburg, SC) is a musician, composer, and sound artist based in Berlin, Germany. Their recent music deals with the non-linear relationships between experimental sound, geography, historicity, and (mostly American) musical traditions. They have presented work at the Borealis Festival, Issue Project Room, REDCAT, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Ghent Jazz Festival, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Black Mountain College, Musica Nova Helsinki, the American Academy in Rome, Roulette Intermedium, and Frequency Festival, among other festivals and venues. They are an active member of RAGE Thormbones, APPARAT, and the Harmonic Space Orchestra.
Jennifer Torrence (b.1986; Dalton, GA) is an experimental musician based in Oslo, Norway. Her practice includes percussion/performance, artistic research, collaborative projects, curation, composition, etc. She is Associate Professor II of percussion at the Norwegian Academy of Music and a member of Pinquins. She is a curator at nyMusikk (2023-2024).
Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology Jon Bullock will lead a short audience Q&A with the artists following the event.
Originally published at music.nd.edu.