Dome Daze

Scott Perry

Inspired by:

Sky Viewing Tapestry

Corinne Okada Takara

Music Concept:

The focal point of this piece is the Skyspace dome created by James Turrell, located in the Barbro Osher Sculpture Garden at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, CA. The dome's round and concrete structure provides a highly resonant acoustic space that, combined with blank, uniform walls and a small hole in the ceiling to view the sky, can be quite meditative and hypnotic. The stillness of the air inside the chamber and the refraction of light that enters as the day changes provides a surreal experience that is perfect for lovers of daydreams. The music attempts to capture the mood of a daydream through minimalist techniques. The oscillating sound of one sustained chord played on organ represents the round and resonant acoustic space inside the Skyspace dome. Repetitive phrases in the other instruments combine to form a collage of sounds meant to take your mind on a journey. You will find that your mind slowly drifts from one instrument, or two/three, to another because you cannot focus on the sum of all the musical parts. The result can be quite hypnotic and perhaps a daydream or two will emerge. Positive and negative space is reflected in the Sky Viewing tapestry by using the pointed and angular design of the de Young Museum cafeteria chairs set against the uniform color and shape of the dome. Positive acoustic space can be thought of as many sounds playing simultaneously that create music tension and represents the chaotic sound environment found at the cafeteria when it is busy. There is a path leading from the cafeteria to the Skyspace dome. As one strolls down the path the sounds become faint until you eventually reach the dome with very little sound, representing negative acoustic space. The music layers in sounds to create tension as if one is entering the cafeteria, then it takes each sound away, one by one, releasing the tension, as if walking the path. Rhododendrons line the path. The music uses extended tonal harmonies to accentuate the flower's beautiful colors. 7th, 9th, 11th, and 13th tones prevail amongst the D-minor key structure. The scale used is D-Dorian, which raises the 6th scale degree and is often associated with modal jazz music - also agreed to evoke a meditative/hypnotic effect.