Matt Muirhead

Matt Muirhead | Graphic Score for a Glacier

Ngozumpa Glacier, Nepal

The sound I chose to score is from a video I found on YouTube taken at the Ngozumpa Glacier in the Nepalese Himalaya. I loved the deep rumbling of this immense Ice mass as it slowly carves out this valley. In my mind's eye I saw these low tones as tiny earthquakes and so I represented them in my score as epicenters with isoseismal lines emanating out into space. The faint trickling of water I represented as the sweet twinkling of birds flying through the air singing their song.

Here is the sound that inspired my graphic score.

Biography:

Matt Muirhead is an artist based in Baltimore, MD. He is a full-time painter who uses a variety of different subject matter in his work. He's become known for incorporating Baltimore's unique architecture into his pieces. Using screen printing techniques, Matt plays with scale, creating captivating images of giant animals that coexist with the cityscape. In addition to painting, Matt is also a musician. He enjoys building his own musical instruments. He has constructed devices that incorporate multiple sound generating principles to create hybrid instruments like Kalimbas with tambura-like resonating strings, massive bowls in which you can add water for warbling effects. He also uses synthesizers, including a modular synth, blending synthetic and organic sounds to create his improvised compositions. He visited Seward, Alaska in 2004 and toured Kanai Fjord Nat. Park.