Susan Alexjander
{{Short description|American sound artist, musical composer and teacher}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Susan Alexjander
| image = Susan Alexjander FF2011-02-04 crop.jpg
| caption = Susan Alexjander
| birth_date =
| birth_place = United States
| nationality = American
| occupation = Sound artist, musical composer, teacher
| known_for = Microtonal music based on natural frequencies, DNA music
| education = B.A. in English Literature (1966)
Master's in Theory and Composition, San Jose State University (1982)
| awards =
| notable_works = "Sequencia" (1990)
Soundtracks for film installations
Collaborations with scientists and artists
| website = [http://www.oursounduniverse.com/listen/ Our Sound Universe]
}}
Susan Alexjander is an American sound artist, musical composer and teacher living and working in Portland, Oregon. Finding inspiration in the natural world and in science, she is fascinated by the vibrational frequencies of natural phenomena, ranging widely from the microscopic (elements, DNA) to the macroscopic (body rhythms, water, stars, time). She has created a microtonal system based on the frequencies of DNA, transforming natural vibrational patterns into sounds to create music. She has collaborated with both scientists and artists, and her compositions have been performed both nationally and internationally.
==Education==
Alexjander received a B.A. in English Literature, with teaching credentials, in 1966. She received a master's degree in Theory and Composition from San Jose State University, California in 1982. Although her initial musical training was classical, she became interested in the gamelan and explored Indian classical music, studying and performing with Lou Harrison.{{cite web|title=Susan Alexjander, CV|url=http://www.oursounduniverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/susan_fullcv.pdf|website=Our Sound Universe|accessdate=4 February 2016}}
Teaching
Alexjander has taught at San Jose State and Goddard College{{cite web|last1=Alexjander|first1=Susan|title=Entering the Great Sound Current and Riding the Wave ( Keynote speech given at Goddard College, Plainfield, Vermont at Health Arts & Sciences Graduation, July, 2001)|url=http://www.wellnessgoods.com/soundcurrent.asp|website=The Wellness Goods Water News|accessdate=4 February 2016}} and has been an adjunct faculty member of Union Institute in Sacramento, California. She also presents workshops on the physics and metaphysics of sound. She is the Director of Science & The Arts, founded in Aptos, California to investigate the frequencies of the universe and their musical properties.
Compositions and collaborations
{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | headerimage= |video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZepOvoFVWE Susan Alexjander, Aqua Symposium], Documentary by Joe Good | video2 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_XG_ltNq9Y Fluid], Dance performance, choreographed by Lavinia Magliocco, composed by Susan Alexjander, 2012 | video3= [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQBmpuULTJ0 Eikos], Paloma Griffin, violin; Susan Alexjander, synthesizer; Lavinia Magliocco, dance | audio1 = [https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/podcast/good-vibrations Episode 136: Good Vibrations], Science History Institute, 2011 }}
In one of her earliest collaborations, with biologist David W. Deamer from the University of California, Alexjander created music based on movements of the atoms and molecules that make up human DNA. An infrared spectrophotometer was used to measure the wavelength of infrared light absorbed by sections of DNA and to identify frequencies for each DNA molecule. The ratios of the light frequencies were then converted into perceptible ratios of sound frequencies, often involving microtonal changes, to create "strange, beautiful music".{{cite news|last1=Whitehouse|first1=David|title=Listen to your DNA|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/222591.stm|accessdate=2 February 2016|work=BBC News|date=November 26, 1998}} The resulting album Sequencia, a pioneering experiment in sound creation, was recorded on Earth Day, 1990.{{cite web|last1=Alexjander|first1=Susan|title=Microcosmic Music - A New Level of Intensity|url=http://www.allthingshealing.com/Music-Therapy-Sound-Healing/Microcosmic-Music-A-New-Level-of-Intensity/11720|website=All things healing|accessdate=3 February 2016}} Its tuning system, a type of Just intonation,{{cite journal|last1=Jensen|first1=Marc|title=Just Intonation and the Frequencies of DNA: the Music of Susan Alexjander|journal=1/1: The Journal of the Just Intonation Network|date=Spring 2004|volume=11|issue=4|pages=9–11|url=http://www.dbdoty.com/Words/Doty_one-one_Spring_04.pdf|accessdate=4 February 2016}} is based on the molecular frequencies of the four bases of DNA: adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine.{{cite book|last1=Greenia|first1=Mark|title=Energy dynamics: conscious human evolution: axioms and resources for personal growth, balance, and the evolution of your body's energy systems|date=2001|publisher=Unlimited Pub.|location=Bloomington, Ind.|isbn=978-1588320087|pages=29–30|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ga0AWwLzWsC&pg=PA246|accessdate=4 February 2016}}{{cite web|title=Sequencia (CD) The Music of DNA|url=http://www.sound-remedies.com/sequenciabrcd.html|website=Sound Remedies|accessdate=3 February 2016}} It includes 60 tones over a range of two-and-a-half octaves, around a spontaneous "tonal center". Alexjander's compositions in this tonal system are influenced by the microtonal nature of Indian classical music.
{{blockquote|"The magic of 'mapping' frequencies from one medium to another allows us to hear inner, unheard sounds... Everything is talking to everything else!"{{cite web|title=Susan Alexjander|url=http://composerswatch.proscenia.net/Alexjander_Susan.htm|website=Oregon ComposersWatch Directory|accessdate=3 February 2016}}}}
Other collaborations include:
- film soundtracks for video installations Into Being - The River (2003), Zero Waiting (2005){{cite web|title=Diane Hobson|url=https://vimeo.com/user6673056|website=Vimeo|accessdate=4 February 2016}} and Fragile Memories (2015) with filmmaker Diana Hobson{{cite web|title=Vessel Gallery presents Fragile Memories by Diana Hobson|url=http://oaklandartmurmur.org/events/vessel-gallery-presents-fragile-memories-by-diana-hobson-2015-07-03/|accessdate=4 February 2016|website=Vessel Gallery|date=2015-07-03}}
- Music for Rebecca Kamen's installation Divining Nature: An Elemental Garden (2010){{cite news|last1=Hodara|first1=Susan|title=Putting the A in STEAM|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/nyregion/putting-the-a-in-steam.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0|accessdate=3 February 2016|work=The New York Times|date=July 25, 2014}}
- Eikos (2012) for violin, synthesizer and dancer Lavinia Magliocco{{cite news|last1=Campbell|first1=Brett|title=One More Round of Fertile Ground Reviews|url=http://www.wweek.com/portland/blog-28176-one_more_round_of_fertile_ground_reviews.html|accessdate=4 February 2016|work=Willamette Week|date=January 31, 2012}}{{cite web|title=Groovin' Greenhouse Reviewed|url=http://polarisdance.org/groovin-greenhouse/ |website=Polaris Dance Theatre|accessdate=12 June 2018}}
- Traces of the Cosmos (2012) with Jan Madill (painter){{cite web|title=Traces of the Cosmos film|url=http://www.janmadill.com/art/film/|website=Jan Madill|accessdate=4 February 2016}}
- Coming On The Backs of Whales, soundtrack for Ocean with a room-sized cloth sculpture by Thais Mazur{{cite web|title=Project Collaborators|url=http://zuvuyaproject.com/zuvuyaproject/Project_Collaborators.html|website=The Zuvuya Project|accessdate=4 February 2016}} and cinema photography by Lisa Denning{{cite web|title=OCEAN Sculpture Installation|url=http://www.mazurarts.net/MazurArts/OCEAN_Installation.html|website=Mazur Arts|accessdate=4 February 2016}}{{cite news|last1=Lucas-Zenk|first1=Carolyn|title=Underwater understanding: A multimedia art installation increases ocean awareness|url=http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/underwater-understanding-multimedia-art-installation-increases-ocean-awareness|accessdate=4 February 2016|work=West Hawaii Today|date=January 31, 2014}}
- Crazy Jane performances with Cascadia Composers{{cite news|last1=Campbell|first1=Brett|title=Concert reviews: Cascadia Composers' "Blackout" and "Crazy Jane Misbehaves"|url=http://www.orartswatch.org/concert-reviews-cascadia-composers/|accessdate=4 February 2016|work=Oregon Artswatch|date=January 29, 2014}}{{cite news|last1=Campbell|first1=Brett|title=Oregon contemporary classical music: Golden age?|url=http://www.orartswatch.org/tag/portland-columbia-symphony-orchestra/|accessdate=4 February 2016|work=Oregon Artswatch|date=January 18, 2016}}{{cite web|title=Susan Alexjander|url=https://crazyjanecomposers.wordpress.com/composers-2/susan-alexjander-2/|website=Crazy Jane Composers|date=3 March 2015 |accessdate=4 February 2016}}
- Continuum (2015) multimedia installation, in collaboration with sculptor Rebecca Kamen, featuring Portal: Black Holes/White Holes (2015) and NeuroCantos. In Portal Alexjander creates a soundscape using sonic frequencies to represent a pair of orbiting black holes, in honor of the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s discovery of general relativity{{cite web|last1=Kamen|first1=Rebecca|title=Portal: Artist's Statement|url=http://rebeccakamen.com/gallery/portal/portal-exhibition-statement/|website=Rebecca Kamen|accessdate=4 February 2016}} In NeuroCantos, Alexjander combines sounds based on neurons firing, with the words of poet Steven J. Fowler and scientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal.{{cite news|last1=Rems|first1=Janet|title=Exhibition celebrates art's ability to re-imagine science|url=http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/exhibition-celebrates-art-s-ability-to-re-imagine-science/article_ea051686-b577-11e5-aecf-5ff403587a1a.html|accessdate=4 February 2016|work=Fairfax County Times|date=January 7, 2016}}
== Awards ==
- Fellowship, Alden B. Dow Creativity Center, Midland, Michigan, to explore the geometry of the mineral kingdom as musical data
- Composer's Residency at Leighton Studios in Banff, Alberta, Canada
References
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Category:American sound artists
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:American experimental musicians
Category:21st-century American composers
Category:Just intonation composers
Category:Musicians from Portland, Oregon
Category:San Jose State University alumni
Category:20th-century American composers