Hidden Layers

for string quartet, string quintet, or string orchestra

A string orchestra quietly and freely explores bowing wooden clothespins joined by insulated electrical wire; creating a chorus of ghostly, grainy, and unstable white noise and multiphonics.

In this piece, a hidden layer (clothespins) receives an input (bow) and generates an output (sound).

“A hidden layer in an artificial neural network is a layer in between input layers and output layers, where artificial neurons take in a set of weighted inputs and produce an output through an activation function. It is a typical part of nearly any neural network in which engineers simulate the types of activity that go on in the human brain.” – technopedia.com

The hidden layers in this piece are weighted towards generating unstable white noise, multiphonics, and sympathetic resonance.