About Barry Hall
Barry
Hall is active in many types of music including medieval, Celtic,
jazz, new music and electronic. His performances throughout North America and
Europe have ranged from an exhibition of historical English folk music at the
Smithsonian Institution to a contemporary electric
violin concerto with interactive electronics performed at the World Music Days
in Mexico City.
Barry
plays a variety of instruments including violin, medieval vielle, electric violin,
bass, didjeridu and percussion in a number of musical groups, including Trouz Bras,
The Janus Ensemble, Qwire, Free
Energy, Coro Hispano de San Francisco
and The Hall Consort. He studied composition
with Eliot Newsome at Westminster College,
where he earned a BS in Mathematics and Computer Science (Magna Cum Laude) in
1985. In conjunction with Dr.
Daniel Oppenheim at Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in
Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), and
the IBM music research center,
Barry has worked extensively in the development of interactive musical software
that interacts with a solo performer in an improvisational manner. He performed
the world premiere of Dr. Oppenheim's Concerto
in D for MIDI violin and Dmix interactive software (sound
samples). Their work in this area was featured on BBC
Television's Open University.
Collecting and
building musical instruments is one of Barry's passions. He specializes in building
unusual ceramic musical instruments and performing
on them with his group Burnt Earth. Barry authored
the book "From Mud to Music"
and produced the instructional DVD "UDU:
Clay Pot Drums and How to Play Them." He has published several articles
on instrument building in the journal Experimental
Musical Instruments and his original musical instruments are featured in
publications such as Gravikords,
Whirlies and Pyrophones, a book and CD compilation of experimental musical
instrument builders (published by Ellipsis Arts), Making
Musical Instruments by Hand, by Jay Havighurst (Rockport Publishers), and
The Extruder
Book by Daryl Baird (published by the American Ceramic Society). He will
also be featured in an upcoming textbook on the science of ceramics. Barry's instruments have been exhibited at the American Museum of Ceramic Art and the Brookfield Craft Center, where Barry has also curated an exhibit. Burnt Earth's
music has been featured on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered"
and is included in numerous compilation CDs.
Discography:
Terra Cotta,
The Burnt Earth Ensemble
10,000
Thunderstorms, Alan Tower and Free Energy
Gravikords, Whirlies and Pyrophones
by Bart Hopkin, Ellipsis Arts
A Feast of Songs, Barry and Beth Hall
Trouz Bras and Friends, Trouz Bras
The Eternal Presence, Rafael
Bejarano, Barry Hall, Jusse Nayeli & Alan Tower
Didgeridoo
USA, various artists
Didjeridu Planet, various artists
Didjeridu Planet 3, various
artists
Later Years,
Experimental Musical Instruments
Music From the Pages of Experimental
Musical Instruments, Volumes 9 and 14., Various artists, published by EMI
Qwire, Qwire
Janus, "Free Fall",
SPM Records
Brotherhood of
the Drone, various artists
Vamos al Portal, Coro Hispano de
San Francisco
Other Online
Music Samples:
Burnt Earth Ensemble
Concerto
in D, by Daniel V. Oppenheim, for MIDI violin and Dmix interactive software
Bibliography:
From Mud to Music, by Barry Hall,
American Ceramic Society, 2005
Gravikords, Whirlies and Pyrophones
by Bart Hopkin, Ellipsis Arts Publishers
Making
Musical Instruments by Hand, by Jay Havighurst. Rockport Publishers
The Extruder
Book by Daryl Baird, published by the American Ceramic Society
"Globular Horns", Experimental
Musical Instruments, Volume XIV #4, June 1999 (and online here)
"Two Hardware Store Instruments", Experimental
Musical Instruments, Volume IX #3, March 1994 (excerpt
here)
"Making
a Clay Didjeridu", Didgeridoings (published online)
Pottery Making Illustrated Magazine,
Fall 1999
Pottery
Making Illustrated Magazine, May/June 2006
Videography:
UDU:
Clay Pot Drums and How to Play Them. by Barry Hall, Matthew Schertz and
the Burnt Earth Ensemble, 2002
I am Clay by Kathleen Bailer
with soundtrack by the Burnt Earth Ensemble
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Barry Hall.
Barry
with some of his ceramic didjeridu creations