At and Across is a composition written for a set of physical and cyberbells programmed in the GENESIS software at the ACROE-ICA center in
Grenoble, France. The composition situates the ancient folk instrument in the domain of cutting edge technology.

The sheep bells arrived in Slovakia during the shepherd colonization in the 13th century by the Wallachians of Romania. In the northern region Liptov,
where I grew up, the sheep bell production has flourished since the 16th century. From my early childhood I remember the sounds of the clinging bells at my grand father's farm. All the bells were tuned to one common tone. This way the shepherds, who pastured and guarded the animals in the spring and summer, could identify their own sheep in case of they mingled with other herds. Consequently, it was important for the farmers to get a set of well- tuned bells. A resonant bell was often more valuable than the sheep itself.

Following the 20th century industrialization and disappearance of small farmers, the sheep culture and its sounds have been vanishing from the Slovak countryside. This project developed from the idea of digital excavation and preservation of the Slovak sheep bells. I used the GENESIS environment to create digital replicas of the sheep bells and, further, extend the properties of these replicas beyond the limitations of the physical reality.

Melodics of At and Across is derived from the Slovak folk song Sadla muska na konarik. Harmonic and dynamic structures mirror and accentuate the spectral relationships between the partials of J.C. Risset's additive synthesis bells. At and Across is composed for a single performer, a set of tuned physical bells, and cyber bell structures.

The piece was composed with the support of Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France and ICA-ACROE Center in Grenoble, France. Premiered at Enactive in Arts festival in Grenoble, France on November 20, 2007.

To hear some audio examples, click here: Examples (J. Kojs, bells, MP3, 2.8Mb). To here the complete recording, click here (J. Kojs, bells, MP3, 14MB).

Duration: 12'

Technical Requirements for the performance:1 microphone, an Apple computer running MAX/MSP (OS 10.2 or higher), a Firewire Audio Console, and 4 channel audio system

To download compressed version of the complete score, click here (5MB). Click on the thumbnails to view score examples: