POLLOCK
tambores pintores

This work-project is designed for a nonet of extended/prepared drums and is structured around three compositional matrices that facilitate percussive exploration. It is rooted in my research on the “Phenomenology of Percussiveness” and inspired by J.P. action painting practices; also focusing on the kinetic and kinematic processes arising from deep drumming practice, which unifies the mind-brain-body triad.
The three matrices:
I Boson 
II Pollockianas
III Time Sculptor/Noise Speculations

The neuroscience of drumming and percussive expression
Cognitive and motor neuroscience in percussive performance

Brief study research on percussive cognition and proprioception with Dra. Ximena González 2018

I create POLLOCK tambores pintores as a composition research performance improvisation project. Conceived as a trilogy for extended/prepared drum set-percussion ensemble nonet. The work is comprised by three Compositional Matrices on which I research specific elements contained in my percussive phenomenology study work:

Matrix I Boson
for gongs & extended large drum set percussion ensemble

This matrix explores the point of impact; a percussive poetic instant of creation. The compositional approach leads the instrumental body of the drummer to a powerful extreme of aural-kinesthetic state, achieving the generative power for the construction of an exerting strenuous field of physical-psychic-emotional-auditory-proprioceptive levels, that potentially opens highly intense thresholds of energy taking the body to a state of extreme molecular activity where the mind cannot access thus liberating the pure fire of embodied will. The score is only a complex gesture conceived as a subtle vibration that accelerates, grows and creates.

Matrix II Pollockianas

This matrix explores the tension between physical action and internal intuition, focusing on instinctive movement and emotional drive. It emphasizes the interplay of conscious and subconscious activities as they manifest through the body’s neuromuscular system and its connection to sensory-aural processes. Inspired by J. Pollock’s action paintings ideas, the score is built as a movable “amplified moments” of abstract self-inquiry, using the graphs to facilitate an experiential loop of animal instinct transitory states, intuitive drive, unconscious chance operations, and action. This process allows the drummers to interpret and create from sensory experiences, composing a dialogue within a dynamic percussive network.

Matrix III Time Sculptor/Noise Speculations
A kinetic-kinematic study research in percussive motion performance

This matrix explores fundamental questions about the nature of percussive imagery and our relationship to it. It examines the origins of percussive ideas—whether they stem from body movement or vice versa—and weighs the importance of the sound stroke against its spatial trajectory. The focus is on the negative phase of movement, emphasizing the non-sound content before and after impact. A graphic score guides parameterized strokes in a space of active silence –emptiness–, where choreographed movements produce sound without direct contact with instruments. The written material consists of gesture formations defined by a kinesthetic code, creating a eukinetic action that blurs the lines between reality and illusion. This interaction activates mirror neurons in the audience, completing the compositional cycle.

This piece is an original from 2005, re adapted for this ensemble work.