state of the forward slash

I think we've dawdled enough at this point, and it's time to get down to business.  Not that "business" can encompass all that happens around S/S, but we're not here to play semantics.  Having laid the ice with post number one, let's start breaking it (with or without that wrench).

What the @$#% is Sight/Sound?

Well, that's the same question we all asked when the posters first went up around Grand Valley's campus back in April of 2010.  You probably would, too, if you saw student recital posters that looked like the one on the right.  All we knew was that this recital would probably be the answer to the question, "what the hell have Adam and Dan been up to, and why did the composition studio get to commandeer a practice room indefinitely?"

On the surface, Sight/Sound is a recital series.  Adam and Daniel get their pieces performed, their friends and colleagues get to perform new music, and everyone else is reminded that music continued after the Romantics.  The progenitors of /S, however, cannot be satisfied by surface depth, which actually brings us to how and why /S began.

Much as we'd like to believe in "art for art's sake," the collegiate music experience prepares students for the business of orchestral music.  That means setting up shop in a practice room and playing orchestral excerpts until face and/or fingers are numb, and playing said excerpts the "official" way that will win an audition.  Sure, there's artistry involved, especially on solos, but they still have a pretty set repertoire.  Does that system work for some?  Sure.  Does it mean they get to live the dream of making a living playing incredible, timeless music?  Certainly.  Does it even hint at what's happening in the world of new music?  Not a chance. (And what is happening?  Stay tuned; more on this later.)

Adam and Dan on the set of a video for /S 2.0.

This leads us to 2008, where our protagonists join forces.  Disillusioned with the business of resurrecting the ghosts of symphonies past, Cuthbért and Rhode took a machete and a chainsaw to the untamed wilderness that is modern composition.  They and the rest of the comp studio brought elements of the new music world- such as electrified trumpet, bowed electric guitar, modern takes on traditional ensembles, and the idea of the laptop an instrument- to their more classically predisposed cohorts.  Music played on the inaugural Sight/Sound show ranged from haunting piano melodies, to clarinet quartets, to trumpet and breakbeat, to cello ensembles, to a rock band closing the show.

Adam and Daniel also allied with J.D. Forslin to form the integral "Sight" portion of the pieces.  See, Sight/Sound is rarely a mere auditory experience.  Almost every piece includes some kind of visual component, be it an artistic interpretation of Comprehension, a stop-motion video of melting ice, the destruction of your couch, or perhaps the camera spinning in circles in downtown Grand Rapids (truly, the perfect companion to a piece called "Vertigo").  Sure, either component could stand on its own, but we can’t resist the synergy (and why would we want to?)  The original Sight/Sound even had dance ensembles, and /S 2.0 involved a bit of on-stage demolition.  Adam and Daniel have become more and more involved in video as time goes on, which has led to some insane results, the least of them not being the live video mixing in several of their shows, and their DJ/VJ rave act, known as sight\sound(underground).  There was also that piece from /S 4 that had a cult leader bouncing around 11 different TVs in the band room, telling us all that we should come with him before the earth is recycled... actually, on second thought, let's not discuss that right now, because his eyes are still creeping me out nine months later.

Setup for /S 4.  Note the web of cords and the cult guy on TV.

When Daniel and Adam still lived in the same state, West Michigan got a taste of the first few Sight/Sound raves.  Originally, they planned to hold Sight/Sound/Underground in their basement at “the haus”, but after a particular rehearsal incident involving flashlights shining into the upstairs window and half hour of some important-ish, law-enforcing type people knocking on the front door to no avail, Adam and Daniel wisely decided not to tempt fate and noise complaints.  Instead, they sought and gained the official OK to keep GVSU's Performing Arts Center open until 2 in the morning, and they held the first Sight/Sound rave in the band room.  I'm still not sure how they pulled that one off, honestly.

Nothing is off-limits when it comes to Sight/Sound.  I've been typing my hands off about their exploration of new genres and technology, but Adam and Daniel have both written some fantastic pieces for more traditional settings, as well.  I first learned about Adam's composer side in the GVSU symphony orchestra, when we played a piece of his inspired by neoclassicism and video game soundtracks.  They've also ventured into the world of popular music with rock bands and occasional rap, with a slight hint of dubstep.  Orchestra, wind ensemble, chamber strings, clarinet quartet, they've almost done it all.  (I say "almost" because my college brass quintet never touched a Cuthbert or Rhode original, and yes, I might still be pouting almost two years after the fact).

Hard at work at "the haus."  Try to find all the instruments in the room.

But the Sight/Sound name has always been more than the core of Rhode and Cuthbert.  Every /S show includes work from others in and out of the GVSU composition studio.  They've also arranged and performed other works from the new music world, such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Radiohead, and the /S version of Charles Amirkhanian's "Churchcar" with live video mixing.  /S' fifth installment featured the GVSU New Music Ensemble playing pieces from a number of new composers, a commission from Daniel, adventures in sound painting, and several "In C" remixes arranged by Adam.  Lately, Sight/Sound has spread beyond mere performance.  In an effort to, as Daniel put it, "lure all my musical friends away from playing video games and laying out at the beach," the duo invited everyone over for a weekend last spring to simply enjoy making music.  Sight/Sound/Record amounted to about a dozen of us holing up at “the haus” for a weekend, improvising on a variety of instruments, recording experiments, and producing for "West River Road," a folk piece by our Sarah Stuk.

In essence, Sight/Sound is a showcase for collaborative arts.  Electronic and acoustic.  Music and video.  Pipe wrench and printer (again, more on that later).  It is performance.  It's a show.  It's a wild ride, and I'll do my best to dictate and narrate for whomever comes along for the adventure.