Clarinetist Eric Umble presents his House Music Series video—an improvised piece that explores clarinet multiphonics—from a makeshift recording studio in his bathroom. Because we’re limited to our homes to make videos and recordings, finding the ideal space can be tricky. For Umble, the bathroom has the best sound quality. To make his recording studio there, he stuffed towels in the crevices of the room, covered the mirror in cloth, and laid his microphone on top of the towel rack to create the crisp sound we hear.

Umble began performing with Metropolis Ensemble in 2015 while he was still a graduate student, and has enjoyed his time working with the group. Here, we hear him performing in collaboration with himself, layering two lines of clarinet music on top of each other to create a two-part sonority. Umble has always been fascinated by multiphonics, a technique that allows the clarinet to play more than one note at once. For him, the sound of multiphonics is one that’s lovely and mystical; here, he makes use of those sentiments with his contemplative melodies.

Right now, it’s nearly impossible to collaborate with other musicians safely, so Umble has found himself exploring what it means to make polyphonic music with just himself. While the piece we see and hear was played off the top of his head, it was an inspired meditation on what it means to perform music on a traditionally single-line instrument in our current moment. — Vanessa Ague

 
Episode: 63
Date: November 5, 2020
Artist: Eric Umble
Instrumentation: Clarinet
Work: Improvisation
Composer: Eric Umble
 

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