Exit to Enter

Michael Beil
2013

For ensemble, live video and tape (12')

exit to enter is the high point in a series of compositions with live video, and the end point with regard to possible density in the use of written-out live video. A listener who thinks she already sees all the connections on first hearing is missing the mark. This is usually the case with music, although we don’t normally realize it. You can tell very clearly in exit to enter, perhaps because you see and hear everything at the same time, or because you might see something but not hear it. Sometimes this is something quite obvious. For example, during a concert, the musicians come onstage (enter), go offstage (exit), make movements while playing (and while not playing) and they usually have instruments in their hands. When listening to exit to enter, we concentrate on these things so as not to lose the thread. These things become the content, or in more old-fashioned terms, the material. The question of the identity of what is seen and heard plays a part in exit to enter as well. And of course the associated insecurity, which has been discussed in the media and in personal communications for some time now, is a sign of our times that also emerges here. The same goes for the question of the origins of music. It’s actually not clear whether the music is by me; it’s only clear here and there that it isn’t. (MB)

Michael Beil
Composer
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