An ode to technological optimism in five movements (2012)
Practical Mechanics is an ode to technological optimism, and playfully explores the belief that science can solve all human problems. The titles and text excerpts are taken from the tattered pages of vintage issues of Practical Mechanics Magazine, a home science and technology magazine published between 1933 and 1963. The collision of hard scientific law with domestic human life, is reflected by the juxtaposition of mathematical and rule-based compositional approaches and the ineffably chaotic nature of human musical intuition. Practical Mechanics employs various rational and rule-based pattern-making techniques, including Schillingerian methods, list structures, additive and constructive techniques and others devised by the composer. This machine-like nature is especially prominent within the rhythm of the piece, and imbues the work with a complex yet controlled sense of mechanical determinacy. The harmony on the other hand is immediate and expressive, referring more to popular and folk music and reflecting the human needs central to the development and use of technology.
“Late last summer, millions of people in all parts of the world, looked up to the night sky to see a man-made satellite, shining as bright as the biggest stars.”
– Practical Mechanics Magazine, April 1961
“Within recent years some scientists have attempted to create machines which duplicate the actions of the human brain. The piece of apparatus described in the following article is one such machine. Like the human brain it can receive messages and send instructions; it possesses a memory and it can apparently reason.”
– Practical Mechanics Magazine, June 193, P.362
“This engine was built entirely from scrap material and cost very little. Readers will of course use whatever material is available and take a lot of liberties with the details.”
– Practical Mechanics Magazine, April 1961
“Most people look upon noise as a nasty racket, and nothing else. It is more than that. Noise can break glasses, make you sick, and wear you out, but if its waves are regular it becomes sound, and it can fasten metals together, make chocolate, mix oil with water and wash clothes to perfection. Sound is now an important new tool for industry.”
– Practical Mechanics Magazine, June 1953
“This is the machine age, the age of science, and man is continually reaching out for improvements in every field. In spite of all this progress we have only just begun to scratch the surface.”
– Practical Mechanics Magazine, March 1961