VIC RAWLINGS

Vic Rawlings (cello/ electronics) employs a still and unstable sound language ranging from visceral excess to extreme austerity. He uses an amplified cello augmented with extensive and invasive preparations of his design, adapted from Baroque-era designs. On this instrument he has developed a vocabulary of extended techniques, approaching near-total abstraction from the cello. As an entirely separate unit, he uses and continually develops a modular electronic instrument with a highly unstable interface, acoustically realized by an array of exposed speaker elements. His writings on music/ instrumentation and contemporary music education have been published in Leonardo Music Journal and Intransitive Magazine. He has authored sound-based music and listening curricula that engage students at all levels in participatory experiences in which they often encounter unfamiliar experiential/ aesthetic territory. He presents in settings ranging from Ivy-League Universities to juvenile detention facilities. He lives in Somerville, Ma.