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handshake: a scherzo

from handshake: a scherzo by Melissa Dunphy

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about

Handshake was composed in homage to the sounds of the Information Age. As a child, I was fascinated by the dissonant, dual-tone multi-frequency sounds made by pressing buttons on a touch-tone telephone, and I often imitated their pitches on a piano or "played" tunes using the telphone number pad. One of my most fond aural memories of the late 1990's was the "handshake" of a modem connection to the Internet, which was usually the first sound I heard upon waking each morning, and which I often referred to as "my song." Both DTMF tones and the sound of a 56k modem can be heard in this piece, along with various other telephonic sounds, such as dial tone and off-hook warning. Lyrics are taken from the "Lorem Ipsum" - dummy text used by web designers when creating websites. Rhythms, as well as the DTMF tones generated by the singer and flute in the second half, are heavily influenced by the sequence of powers of two, which is ubiquitous in information technology. A nod to the famous "Captain Crunch" whistle of the 1960's, an icon of the phreaking and hacking community, is given by the 2600hz tone played by the clarinet as the piece approaches its climax.

lyrics

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipisicing elit,
sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt
ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

credits

from handshake: a scherzo, track released February 6, 2009
Melissa Dunphy - Music
Sarabeth Taber-Miller - Cello
Jordan Hale - Clarinet
David Brown - Violin
Shannon Rafferty - Flute
Chrissy McHugh - Soprano
David Trum - Percussion
Piano - Daniel Paul Lawson

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about

Melissa Dunphy Philadelphia

Nationally acclaimed award-winning composer Melissa Dunphy specializes in political and theatrical vocal music, such as the smash hit 2009 choral work the Gonzales Cantata (featured on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow). Her compositions have been performed around the country by Chanticleer, the Simon Carrington Chamber Singers, St. Louis Chamber Chorus, and the American Opera Theater. ... more

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