Lydia Ayers (1952-2022) was a composer, flutist, educator, and puppeteer. Starting in 1996, she permanently resided in Hong Kong, where she taught at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Predominantly working in Csound on the NeXT computer, Lydia Ayers composed computer music with unlimited just intonation, re-creating numerous Indonesian, Native American, Australian, and Chinese instruments digitally. She also wrote acoustic music, including over 30 solo and ensemble works for flutes. Ayers performed on a wide range of flutes from various cultural traditions, utilizing extended vocal and woodwind techniques: quarter tones, multiphonics, buzz tones, and other unusual flute timbres.
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31 to 40 of 60 Results
Live and in ... PURPLE!
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "Live and in ... PURPLE!", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/ZQ4IK4, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
Even in my earliest memories, my mother, Nancy Ayers, wore only one color, purple. She soon started coloring her graying hair purple as well. Inspired by Anna Rubin’s Family Stories: Sophie, Sally, I finally persuaded my own mother, when she was 80, to record some of the stories...
Lips of Stone
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "Lips of Stone", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/YYZXLE, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
In the wild days of my youth, I took many photos during camping trips in the American southwest, including Bryce Canyon in Utah. When I returned home, the suggestive shapes of the scenery inspired my imagination to write a poem. Lips of Stone is a setting of that poem for live xu...
Kaleidoscope
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "Kaleidoscope", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/XOAOU0, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
Microtonal; pitch and timbre algorithmically generated using a random walk on two sets of intervals. In the last section, the scale array forms an otonality microtonal scale (part of an overtone series).
Island of Marava
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "Island of Marava", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/TUDZX3, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
Island of Marava is composed of two parts, the first slow, with pale microtonal passages and delicate multiphonic trills reminiscent of the colors, the winds and the waves surrounding an island, and the second faster and more rhythmic, with loud cries of distress interrupting the...
In the Throne Room of the Mountain Spirits
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "In the Throne Room of the Mountain Spirits", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/8ZESDC, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
In the Throne Room of the Mountain Spirits is a movement from Journey to the Mountain Spirits, which represents my personal “journey to the west.” West, of course, is relative, so for me west is anywhere west of New York. The southwest of the United States contains particularly b...
Great Spirit Song
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "Great Spirit Song", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/OTXOBJ, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
Great Spirit Song, for treble choir, Native American flute and recorded computer music soundscape, is an invocation to the Great Spirit inspired by the culture of the Native American people. The choir sings a two-part adaptation of the text “Great Life-Giving Spirit.” Interludes...
Glassminute
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "Glassminute", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/N05MWO, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
Glassminute uses linear predictive coding analysis of a rubbed crystal glass sound; gets transformations of the timbre into male vocal sound by transposition into very low register.
Glass-chi
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "Glass-chi", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/QS5DA1, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
Glass-chi uses computer processing of a rubbed crystal glass sound and synthesized glass and voice sounds; the word "glass-chi" means glass energy.
Ghost Winds Talking
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "Ghost Winds Talking", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/BCTHYC, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
One day the wind blew across the open bathroom window as though it were playing harmonics on a giant flute. I set a microphone in the bathroom and recorded the sounds. Ghost Winds Talking combines the edited wind sounds with ghost voices synthesized from recordings of four famous...
Ghost Shadow in the Fragile Light
Oct 9, 2024
Ayers, Lydia, 2024, "Ghost Shadow in the Fragile Light", https://doi.org/10.14711/dataset/M37A5R, DataSpace@HKUST, V1
Fragile sounds in the recording create a strange illumination surrounding a shadow orchestra from east and west.
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