With our new Composer on Stage mini-series, we’re exploring the relationship between creating music on the page and in real time. Ironically (or perhaps naturally), the first Composer on Stage program focuses on a type of music that can’t be captured on the page: improv.

“When improvising, I try to make music that actively attempts to confound transcription, i.e., that would be extremely difficult – perhaps even impossible – to notate accurately. Otherwise, I would probably just want to write it down,” says composer and guitarist Clifton Ingram. The Chicago-to-Boston transplant has extensive experience performing jazz, electronic, and experimental music, influences which merge in his semi-structured solo and collaborative works. You’ll see and hear multiple guitars in many transformations: “tabletop,” enhanced by looping and sampling pedals, and modified by found objects like magnets – all resulting in a world of sound you don’t usually hear from a guitar. “I often find myself alternating between embracing and fighting the nature – or perhaps simply the traditional physicality – of the guitar,” says Ingram.

And having a partner in crime brings another level of unpredictability to the proceedings. Versatile bassist Max Judelson will collaborate with Ingram in some duo works. Graphic scores (like the one above) serve as an occasional guide. Not something you normally see on a music stand…and not music you’ll ever hear the same way twice.

Clifton Ingram at work

Composer on Stage: Program I
Clifton Ingram, guitar, and Max Judelson, bass
Sunday 2.17 | 3:30pm
Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge St, Inman Square, Cambridge
$10 suggested donation