The Three Factions of GLANK || GLANK INSTRUMENTS and ACTIVATORS
GLANKtheHISTORY || INDUSTRIAL - PERCUSSIVE - ALCHEMY
GLANKtheHISTORY:
The concept of anonymity, minimalism and multiplicity has always been at the forefront of GLANK, and has been a strong influence on composer Paul Rudolph since he was young. In first grade he began writing successive numbers in a cursive notebook and didn't stop until he had 22 full pages. At this age he also filled hundreds of squares on graph paper pages with minimalist colors. Rudolph recently scanned this material for use in visual projection at GLANK performances.
Rudolph's earliest influence in the 'anonymous' realm began in jr. high school marching band in Normal, Illinois, when this group of 100 musicians performed 'anonymously' in hideous orange cardigan sweaters and black pants. Fashion faux pax's aside, the effect on Rudolph was immense: the concept of multiplicity and minimalism through repetition officially took hold.
This concept grew in high school: as the music became more complex, executing parts in, for example, a line of six snare drums in the marching band, became a thing of great intensity and reward for Rudolph and his fellow musicians.
Imagine standing in a large group of musicians wearing identical uniforms, the head gear 'masking' your face so that to an audience member you are essentially anonymous. In the percussion section, you are all executing identical technique, down to the most minute detail of stick height: striking the drum from the same height to the exact centimeter. Add multiples to this in the form of 5 tuned bass drums, 3 tenor drum players playing multiple tuned toms, 4 cymbal players, and a full compliment of keyboard percussion, and you have a quality high school drum line; a music ensemble all working towards one intense and very musical goal.
In high school, the highly competitive NCHS marching band of 185 members increased not only the multiplicity effect on Rudolph and other musicians, but also the strong pride factor. As any marching band member will tell you, when your group arrives at a competition, there is an intensely strong sense of pride as you don your uniform. This 'multiple anonymity' instills confidence and is essentially comforting.
This has hence been applied to the anonymous audience and performers in GLANK.
After high school the level of musical complexity increased even more during Rudolph's tenure in the DCI corps The Cavaliers (www.cavaliers.org) and the University of Illinois Marching Illini (www.marchingillini.com), which contained 350 members and a 32-member drumline. Rudolph found great multiplistic reward in writing drill sets for the 350-member group, as well as writing and arranging for the percussion section. The minimalist aspect of executing complex percussion parts in the award-winning Illini Drumline (www.illinidrumline.com) became a major influence on Rudolph's writing and performance art.
In 1993 Rudolph introduced the fully anonymous "Clean Room Suits" for use in a marching percussion ensemble. As a music teacher, his award-winning high school percussion ensemble performed a complex marching stage show in these suits, and the effect on the students and audiences was incredible.
In April of 1995 a piece entitled GLANK premiered as part of Rudolph's graduate composition recital. The piece was written as a site-specific work for performance in a massive underground parking garage with a 10-second natural echo. Written for 15 anonymous musicians in Clean Room Suits, the piece utilized found objects within the garage such as air vents, stand pipes, and parking signs. It also employed verbalists, movementicians, drum heads as frisbees, a Ford Taurus SHO, a distorted guitar, a mezzo-soprano, spray paint, original art work, and a huge percussion setup.
The echo of the garage acted as an instrument: the piece 'destructed' at the end and all that was left was the echo.
In 2001, the composer began performing new pieces as part of a new, live direction for GLANK in the Los Angeles area. As an off-shoot of the full multi-media piece GLANKthePRODUCT, GLANK 'live' is essentially a way to get audiences and performers acquainted with the shows concepts, especially the emphasis on audience interaction.
28 gigs later, GLANK has a loyal following of audience members of all ages.
go to clean room music site