SEAN HAMILTON - UVA CCT Application Portfolio
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SPIRIT (glockenspiel and elec.)
A Thousand Fields to Sow, Though Not a Single Found to Reap (cello and elec.)
Day is Past, Night is Gone (bass drum and elec.)
Never Meet Your Heroes (open instrumentation graphic score)
Days of Impermanence (album for drum set, vibraphone, electronics with accompanying photobook)
1. SPIRIT (2025)
Recommended excerpts:
A. Event 3/Measure 24 in score: 3:00 - 4:30
B. Event 8/Measure 133 in score: 6:20 – 7:50
This composition was commissioned by Kevin von Kampen and composed/premiered in 2025. While this piece is almost fully notated, I was interested in exploring the symbiotic possibility between the acoustic and electronic, hoping to create a singular voice with the two where you may not immediately identify what source is creating a sound. The electronics include fixed elements deployed with variable elements as well as real-time processing of the acoustic instrument. I used Sibelius and Adobe Illustrator to create the score for this work, and programmed the electronics in Max.
2. A Thousand Fields to Sow, Though Not a Single Found to Reap (2025)
Recommended excerpts:
A. Section I in score: 0:00 – 1:30
B. Section III in score: 6:20 – 7:50
A Thousand Fields to Sow, Though Not a Single Found to Reap was written in 2025, commissioned by cellist Eduard Teregulov. In my initial thinking about the approach to the piece, I knew that I wanted to create a sound world where one may not immediately identify the acoustic instrument of the piece to be a cello, and also that I wanted to explore timbral possibilities outside of those created with standard playing techniques. I also wanted to compose the piece in such a way that the acoustic performance could be the same or different each time and the electronics would respond to that as well. The first substantial section of this piece uses various reverbs and delays to process the sound of percussive tapping on the instrument. I used various reverb types (plate, hall, etc) and worked extensively with the parameters of each to craft the timbre of the reverbs, hoping to create an aesthetic far removed from our expectations of a cello’s sound. The recording I’ve included here is a rough recording I made to demonstrate the electronics and sound worlds created by the piece. I created the score using Adobe Illustrator, with notation and musical elements initially created in Sibelius. The electronics were created in Max.
3. Day is Past, Night Is Gone (2025)
Recommended excerpt:
A. Beginning of second line in score, Triangle 23-27: 5:45 - 8:45
I wrote Day is Past, Night Is Gone with the intention of providing an open and fluid work that gave the performer significant freedom in their interpretation and have included it here as it represents both of my primary interests: improvisation-composition hybrids, and the fusing of acoustic and digital mediums. The score is defined by different events with an indicated duration range. Each event is triggered by the performer using a footpedal and the electronic sounds are largely created in real-time using live processing and sampling. Kevin has told me that he enjoys the open quality of the work and its ease of executing the electronics.
This is a graphic score that I composed in 2025, using Adobe Illustrator, with the goal of creating a non-notated concept that guides the performers’ thinking and approach while still leaving ample room for expression and interpretation. The score consists of a variety of geometric shapes, lines, images, pictograms, and text, which I either created manually in the software or through various processes of digital manipulation (for example, some of the heavy black areas started as 35mm photos I took that were distilled digitally in various ways). There are two main core elements in the score: areas and paths. Areas consist of patterns and text, and are sections of like material; aesthetically similar content that function as a beginning or ending. Paths consists of lines and shapes, and are a singular idea that should serve as a means of transitioning between areas. During the piece, the performer navigates through the score using these paths and areas, which along with their personal disposition, informs their interpretation of the work. No fixed instrumentation or duration is prescribed. In an ensemble performance, there may be as much or as little coordination as desired by the group. This recording is a live performance from the Contemporary Art Music Project on December 3, 2025, who also first premiered the piece in October 2025.
5. Days of Impermanence (2024)
A. “All The Miles Are Yours (Epilogue)”: drum set improvisation with analog
visuals
B. “Days of Impermanence”: percussion and electronics improvisation
(recommended excerpt 1:45-3:45)
Days of Impermanence is an album released in September 2024 on the Gotta Let It Out label from Copenhagen. It includes work from all facets of my practice: performance/improvisation, technology and engineering, and visual mediums. The album of music features improvisations for drum set, prepared vibraphone, small percussion, and electronics that reflect the research interests discussed in my personal statement. I recorded and mixed these in my current studio space, and did the design, layout, etc of the CD, which also includes 35mm photographs I shot. In tandem with the CD, I created a photobook of 35mm photos that I’ve collected in travels across the US. I did the design, printing, layout, and binding of these books, which are available in a limited-edition package with the CD. Included here are two tracks for the album: one of which I also created this “promo” video for, in support of the album’s release, which features analog glitch-style visuals that I created in my studio space, and the other (“Days of Impermanence”) includes an electronic generative soundscape I programmed in Pure Data. A couple images/scans of the photobook are below as well.
