SPEAR Etude No. 1

Andy McFarlane

SPEAR (Sinusoidal Partial Editing Analysis and Resynthesis) is a program by Michael Klingbeil used by electronic music composers to enhance their works. As I worked with the program for the first time, to boost lower frequencies in parts of “Vigor | Disquiet,” I became majorly sidetracked… In this first etude, I took Spear’s sinusoidal analysis of an ice skater’s double lutz and reduced it to a few of its loudest partials. The entire piece was built by manipulating these few lines, which are stated (without manipulation), overlapped, and transposed to create the beginning gesture. In my view, the piece can be enjoyed best if the viewer is prepared to watch closely, listen deeply, and/or laugh!

Since 2025, I was diagnosed with brain cancer, and as part of treatment, I go in for regular brain MRIs which last anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. With it I have regular claustrophobia, but what gets me through is the sound of the machine and the music that I write. The spirits sound remarkably similar to some parts of the MRI pictures being taken, but with a definite added human compositional style, fitting for the time we live in.

-Andy

Andy McFarlane (b. 1992)
https://www.klingbeil.com/spear/

SPEAR Etude No. 2

Andy McFarlane

SPEAR Etude No. 2 begins in the same vein as No. 1, a light-hearted, chaotic mess of pitches and out-of-tune hand(mouse)-drawn melodic gestures, all “organically” fashioned through Spear’s copy/paste and manipulation tools. In a center section, the more chaotic gestures organize into a regular ostinato that develops into various shapes and sounds with each iteration. Eventually, the piece takes on a heavier tone. Sinusoidal strums ring out and slowly fade above echos of the now-sinister ostinato and a new distant, threatening drum.

-Andy