Scores

Scores and scorestreams

I make various kinds of scores using graphic elements as well as staff notations, and I also create software-based scorestreams which display notations dynamically on screens for improvisers to interpret. My compositions are mostly for specific individuals and groups, not aimed at classical performers seeking new works, but for any curious students or peers, I share the scores below as free PDF downloads.

All nearness pauses
Composed for Changing Tides 2 (2020), a telematic concert between California and Korea
Video of the performance
Download PDF score

Somewhere In The Upstream
Dedicated to Yusef Lateef (1920-2013)
Composed for the Michael Dessen Trio, featuring Christopher Tordini and Dan Weiss
Clean Feed Records, 2018
Album info, Listen on Apple Music, Spotify
Download score PDF (full album) (This is a scorestream, so there is no paper score, but the PDF explains the software and includes many of the graphics)

What Peace Can We Hear
Originally composed for Interconnections for Peace: A Telematic Concert in Seoul, San Diego and New York City (2018)
Video of trio performance with Myra Melford and Mark Dresser
Video of quintet performance with Nicole Mitchell, Joshua White, Mark Dresser and Alex Cline
Download PDF score

for instance, today (Amherst-San Diego version)
Composed for Virtual Tour: A Reduced Carbon Footprint Concert Series (2013)
Video excerpt
(Full piece available on the DVD released by pfMENTUM)
Download PDF score

Resonating Abstractions
Composed for the Michael Dessen Trio, featuring Christopher Tordini and Dan Weiss
Clean Feed Records, 2014
Album info
Download score PDF (full album)

Far Cries, Part 1: Ansan
Composed by Michael Dessen for Changing Tides 1 (2016)
Performing in Ansan, Korea: Bae Il Dong, Young Dong-Kim, Lee Jungpyo
Performing in San Diego, CA: Mark Dresser, Nicole Mitchell, Myra Melford and Michael Dessen
Audio excerpt
Download score PDF

Forget The Pixel
Composed for the Michael Dessen Trio, featuring Christopher Tordini and Dan Weiss
Clean Feed Records, 2011
Album info
Download score PDF (full album)
Video score, Fossils and Flows (full track)

The Rumpus
From the album Eyes In The Back Of My Head (2008, Cuneiform Records), by Cosmologic (Jason Robinson, Michael Dessen, Nathan Hubbard, Scott Walton)
Audio
Download score PDF

Score videos

Video of (paper) score for “Fossils and Flows” from the CD Forget the Pixel, by the MD Trio (2011)