Julie Herndon

composer | performer | sound artist

You Can Only

for cello and MIDI controller, 2016
premiered by Retro Disco

Program Note
In a pilot study at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) on Speech-to-Song Illusion, we found that piano melodies could communicate words. With Takako Fujioka and Auriel Washburn, we played for participants repeated spoken phrases to create the illusion of speech-to-song through repetition (Deutsch, 1995, 2003). Then we played piano melodies that either matched or mismatched the pitches of the spoken phrase segments. Participants were asked to select which words matched the piano melodies. We found that 80% of the time, participants correctly selected the matches, suggesting a successful translation from speech to melody.

In the piece, a melody stated as a sort of prime. It is altered, and eventually silenced, exploring what can be sensed through these changes from verbal to nonverbal.

Text: “I always wondered what this could be / It never dawned on me / You can only choose so much.”