Carla J. Patterson's Page

What have you composed for? Or what medium do you work around?

Web, Multimedia, Choir, Orchestra, Small Ensemble, Songs

What is your favorite genre or style of music?

experimental

Is music your main income source?

No - Not at all.

Where do you live?

Richmond, California

About Me (Must include at least one paragraph of biographical information about you as a composer) - blank or minimal answers on this line will cause your request to be rejected. Include a link to your website if you have one.

I'm a singer/songwriter/lyricist and composer/arranger. I usually post most of the music I create, including collaborations, at http://www.icompositions.com/artists/carlajpatterson though I also post things here and at MacJams, Soundcloud, and some other online music portals. I have a few videos up at YouTube and I did a live improv show every Friday for almost two years at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/carla-s-friday-improvs and there are many (unedited, for good and ill!) archived videos from past shows available there for viewing. My other Ustream show is A Scat A Day (where I post short improvs of established songs by others as well as my own writing.

Some of my music is used to accompany multimedia art videos and I used to participate in Composer's Cafeteria in the SF Bay Area (the women's group mainly, called Ovary Action). The members were all trained musicians and singers who performed each others' composed works, mostly in the classical genre. There were also live shows for the public.

I do traditional composing for voice, keyboards, and select orchestral instruments (Western and Eastern) as well as non-traditional forms of composing such as live or recorded improvs being the final piece. I play around with lots of ways of making music and I love to collaborate as well as I love to work alone and build everything up from scratch.

High quality virtual instruments have changed my life! When I started composing, the only way to hear one's work performed was to hire or convince other musicians to do it. Now I can get a good sense of what things sound like using Finale or Logic and the many virtual instruments I have on hand. The internet has also improved my lot since I have access to so many great musicians and collaborators online.

One of my shorter live improv videos is available to watch on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrLzcMQ79hM - the only thing I did in post-production are the opening and closing images. The other effects were done live on Ustream using the inherent delay achieved by having more than one outpout source open at a time. The visuals were also done live using CamTwist as the show was being recorded. I had a live audience which was giving me feedback during the piece in the chatroom.

I am working with Paul Ramsey off and on - it's an experimental music project called Consemble and you can hear one of the results (there are several people involved in
this one) at: http://www.chameleonlectra.co.uk/Consemble-E.html - please note that I'm called Carla Cryptic there (that's my 'eternal network of mail artists' pseudonym). Paul and I have a consemble 'single' available at his website also.

Website:

www.icompositions.com/artists/carlajpatterson