Pareidolia

Program Note: The word "pareidolia" means the tendency to perceive a specific image from a random visual pattern. This is often encountered when looking at the clouds; we might look up at a cloud and think that the shape looks just like a dog or a duck! Sometimes we might even see a face in the shape of a tree trunk, or in the burnt section of a piece of toast. 

In this piece, the composer combines different musical material, using abrupt entrances and rests, and irregular phrases. The music challenges us to make meaning from the material we hear!

Inspired by Hip-Hop Sampling: The composer Jonathan Bingham says "I sought out Pareidolia’s name after experiencing it while listening to a common hip hop composition process known as sampling. Sampling is the process of taking pre-recorded sounds—usually songs—and cutting them up to be played over again. These sounds [could] be interpreted the same as the sounds we hear when stepping on to a city street—just noise. But when recorded and repeated in a pattern, noise will be heard in a rhythm, creating music."

Sampling - Listening Activity: Watch this sample breakdown of Kendrick Lamar's "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst." (Full song is here). What other examples of sampling have you heard?

Motif, Rhythmic Pattern, Imitation, Conjunct Motion- The composer uses a motif (notated here), featuring two conjunct pitches, separated by a whole step. This motif is traded among the members of the quartet, with varied rhythmic pattern and articulation.

Suggested Activity: 

• Read the notated motif, clap it, and play it on an instrument
• Using two conjunct pitches (C-D, or F-G, etc.) improvise a pattern that moves back and forth between these two pitches. 
• Pair up with another student and take turns creating a two-note pattern. 
• Then try to repeat each other's patterns, trading it back and forth between your two instruments!