3 Hyper Dim Sums

3 Hyper-DimSums (2004) were composed for the Ying Quartet (and commissioned by the La Jolla Music Society) as a set of contrasting miniatures, as well as a demonstration of the Hyperscore software system. Hyperscore (www.hyperscore.com) was developed by my team and I at the MIT Media Lab as a way to allow anyone – with or without musical training – to compose. Hyperscore’s graphic, colorful interface has made it especially attractive to children, but it has also started to attract the attention of a wider range of people. I used Hyperscore exclusively to compose 3 Hyper-DimSums, as a way of testing how it fit my own compositional needs, and also so that Hyperscore graphics could be viewed during performance, providing a new kind of visual guide for listeners. The three short pieces are quite contrasting, each using Hyperscore in a different way. Glade is an intricate, contrapuntal piece that produces complexity out of a very small number of motives; Winding Line presents a long, sinuous melody that is ‘shaded’ by using HyperScore’s harmony line feature; and Punchy is a dramatic juxtaposition of contrasting elements with much rhythmic interplay between the instruments.