Trumpeter Nate Wooley performs his new piece “Eight Syllables,” the first composition using a notational system based on the International Phonetic Alphabet. Phonetic sounds, which are the building blocks of syllables, are mapped onto a set of parameters limiting how the lips, tongue, teeth, and throat are manipulated to influence the sound of the trumpet.
8 Syllables is the first composition using a notational system based on the International Phonetic Alphabet. The symbols for different phonetic sounds, which are the building blocks of syllables, are mapped onto a set of parameters limiting how the lips, tongue, teeth, and throat are manipulated, to create a trumpet sound. A collaboration with artist and percussionist Ben Hall (New Monuments/Graveyards) to create visual representations of the scores will be featured in a book/cd of the piece, co-produced by Issue Project Room and Peira Records.
Nate Wooley (b. 1974) was raised in Clatskanie, Oregon, a small fishing and lumber town on the Columbia River. He began playing trumpet professionally with his father at age 12. After college in Eugene, Oregon and Denver, Colorado he moved to Jersey City, New Jersey, where he currently resides. Since 2001 he has become a much sought after performer, composer, and improviser, working with Anthony Braxton, Evan Parker, John Zorn, Christian Marclay, C. Spencer Yeh, and David Grubbs , among others. His trumpet playing has been called “exquisitely hostile” by Italy’s Touching Extremes Magazine, and his solo performances and recordings have been numbered amongst a privileged handful that have helped to shape a new approach to the instrument.
