Six Things #6 for Henri Vaxby
by John Lely

Musical Process
2006

Performed live on free103point9.org
2006

Performed at the Aloud/Allowed Festival
New Haven, CT, 2007
(ensemble version)


On the 19th of February 2005, John Lely, composed Thing #6 for Henri Vaxby . Lely's instructions (for analogue clock and guitar) are as follows: “When the second hand of the clock crosses the hour hand, play a note. When the second hand crosses the minute hand, play a harmonic.” Coincidentally, on the 19th of January 2006, Seth Kim-Cohen composed "Six Things #6 for Henri Vaxby by John Lely." The instructions – for analogue clock, guitar, microphone and multi-track recording device – call for six performances of John Lely's Thing #6 for Henri Vaxby. The first thing is recorded. Then the second thing is also recorded, while the recording of the first thing is played back. The third thing is recorded, while the recordings of the first and second things are played back, and so on. By the time the sixth thing is recorded, it is accompanied by the previous five things. The organization of sound events is determined by the movement of the hands of the clock, with the intervals between sound events shifting as the relative positions of the hands change.