america is hard to hear

america is hard to hear is an ongoing series based on the melody of the United States national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. The series began with a work for qin, written in 2019 and performed at an extremely soft dynamic, stretched over a long duration, and consisting almost entirely of harmonics. Reduced to a fragile trace, the anthem hovers at the threshold between appearance and disappearance, audibility and silence, becoming nearly unrecognizable in the process. (See perusal score on the right.)

Subsequent works in the series include a solo version for timpani and an ensemble version for qin and various instruments. Each approaches the same source material through acts of reduction, distance, and sustained attention.

The title echoes Robert Frost’s America Is Hard to See. Rather than presenting the anthem as a fixed object, the series treats it as something that emerges only intermittently through listening. On the verge of silence, a familiar sign is encountered anew.

(america is hard) to hear, for qin and various instruments

Live recording from Cosy Nook (ewaeckerle.com/projectbox/cosynook/)
Sept 21, 2019

Cameron Howe (viola)
Petri Huurinainen (bowed acoustic guitar)
Bin Li (qin)
Alex Nikiporenko (keyboard, melodica)
Sebastian Sterkowicz (bass clarinet)
Emmanuelle Waeckerle (shruti box)
Mirei Yazawa (trumpet)
Audience (voices)