Michael Edward Edgerton


Michael Edward Edgerton is an American composer and Associate Professor of music composition & theory at the Guangxi Arts University. He received his D.M.A. in music composition from the University of Illinois at Urbana ; the M.M. from Michigan State University and the B.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Parkside. From 1996 to 1999, Michael was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the National Center for Voice and Speech, based at the at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He has studied composition with , , and August Wegner.

Awards/Recognition

His compositions have received prizes or recognition in the
Since mid-1990 Edgerton has been pioneering the compositional use of scaled & desynchronized multidimensional networks in order to unlock nonlinear phenomenon inherent in mechanical sound production systems. These procedures utilize topological inquiry focused on little traveled regions of the total sonic map. For Edgerton, these multidimensional networks do not just focus on articulation, which is dominant with many who utilize multi-parametric organization. Rather, with Edgerton, these networks utilize all structural components of the mechanical system: power, source, resonance & articulation in order to affect a meaningful sound difference from ordinario. Additionally, more than a focus on unusual sounds or performance practice, the systematic use of desynchronized procedures coupled tightly to expected bifurcations amongst attractor states are utilized as intelligent generative procedures encompassing the consonance/dissonance and musical tension of these extra-complex sonorities.
In works such as adjusting to beams falling and his String Quartet #1, he attempts to convey an expression
similar to Edward Said’s notion of an artwork exhibiting "intransigence, difficulty, and unresolved contradiction" in order to provide an "occasion to stir up more anxiety, tamper irrevocably with the possibility of closure and leave the audience more perplexed than before... to explore...a nonharmonious, non-serene tension, and above all, a sort of deliberately unproductive productiveness, going ‘against’..."
Linkage. Other composers who have worked with desynchronized &/or multidimensional methods include Richard Barrett, Aaron Cassidy, Frank Cox, Julio Estrada, Brian Ferneyhough, , among others. Edgerton’s work is sometimes associated with New Complexity in Music.

Voice

Edgerton is a specialist of the extra-normal voice as composer, pedagogue, researcher and performer.
Voice composition: Edgerton has written numerous compositions involving normal and extra-normal voice. Since the mid-90s his voice compositions have focused on searching for the bio-acoustic limits of vocal sound production that involve: 1) nonlinear phenomena; 2) simultaneous sound sources in the vocal tract; 3) multidimensionalty of vocal sound production. Additionally, Edgerton has incorporated sound production procedures seen in ethnic musical traditions from Tuva, Tibet, South Africa, Korea and India, to name a few. Representative compositions featuring the extra-normal voice include: #82 Cataphora, #77 A Marriage of Shadows, #68 prana, #62 Anaphora, #54 Friedrich’s Comma, #45 Taffy Twisters, among others.
Voice pedagogue: Edgerton is a teacher of voice, focusing on methods of extra-normal voice production that extend western avant-garde traditions, which are influenced from nonwestern music and informed by voice science. Edgerton’s methods are, in the first instance, based upon the healthy voice that attempt to explore the biodiversity of sound production, in order to expand the limits of the voice – particularly those involving nonlinear phenomena. Edgerton gives individual lessons as well as workshops.
His pedagogical activities includes writings designed to spread the idea of systematic processes in voice exploration, these include a book, two forthcoming book chapters - one in The Oxford Handbook of Singing and the other in Teaching Singing in the 21st Century, and two collections of pedagogical compositions, each focused on a separate aspect of the extra-normal voice.
Voice Research: In 1995 Edgerton was asked by Barney Childs and , then editors of the New Instrumentation Series at the University of California Press to contribute a book discussing extended vocal techniques. As a result, Edgerton applied for and received a 3-year Postdoctoral Fellowship from the National Center for Voice and Speech to conduct research for this project. Under the supervision of , Michael began the formal study of voice science which has led to the publication of articles and his book, The 21st Century Voice, as part of the New Instrumentation Series – now with Scarecrow Press, a division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group.
Voice performer: Edgerton as performer focuses on contemporary & ethnic-influenced vocal music as well as in improvised settings. Edgerton views the process of voice production as similar to electro-acoustic composition in which the elements of production: power, acoustic source, resonators and articulation are identified and separately emphasized in order to change timbre or even the class of sound production.
Edgerton has improvised with , , :de:Axel Dörner|Axel DÖRNER, FERN Chern Hwei, Andrés GALEANO, GOH Lee-Kwong, Johan VAN KREIJ, Romain MERCIER, Izumi OSE, Hugues VINCENT, Yong YANDSEN, Etienne ZIEMNIAK.
A cd of improvised performance to the text of The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, in three versions: one in translation by Charles Baudelaire, one in translation by Stéphane Mallarmé, and the original by Poe. The cd was a collaboration by Frédérique Bruyas and Edgerton and is titled the raven/le Corbeau edgar Poe published by .

Work

Compositions
ORCHESTRA/SINFONIETTA
OPERA/MUSIC THEATER
LARGE ENSEMBLE
CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
SOLO INSTRUMENT
CHORAL/VOCAL
ELECTRONIC
PUBLISHERS
Michael Edward Edgerton. The 21st Century Voice: Contemporary and Traditional Extra-Normal Voice.
The text features a comprehensive discussion of extra-complex methods of vocal sound production, within an acoustic and physiologic framework. Most importantly the text and associated recordings propose methods for continued creative exploration. The book has received exceptional reviews and is now available from Scarecrow Press. Due to the comprehensive treatment of extra-complex vocal production within a scientific framework, the book has a broad appeal that extends beyond musical composition and performance to include voice science, acoustics, linguistics, computer modeling and more.