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Squelch

from Abstractions I by Thom Blum

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Squelch (2005-06, 9:04)

The title Squelch refers to two things. First, repression. It is about the tendency of forces, both internal and external, to repress or squelch self-expression. One battles and negotiates with these forces, striving to give priority to the creative endeavor but not always winning. The second reference is to the so-called “squelch filter” that was built into higher priced consumer radios during the 1970s and 1980s. Before the squelch filter, tuning into a station meant you had to continuously dial through and listen to all of the “out-of-range” noise and distortion; stuff in the nether-regions of terrestrial signal emission and reception. (It could be quite entertaining to vary the tuning fast or slowly.)

Chopin's Nocturne No. 2 in E Flat, performed through varying degrees of waveshaping, acts as both a prelude and a metaphor for the push-and-pull of creative and practical endeavors in life.

The squelch filter effectively detects when the coherent signal becomes too weak and it mutes (squelches) the radio's output, cutting out white noise and other static. Often the gate comes down only after you get a very noticeable spark of noise or a faint but apparent fuzzing out of the signal. The idea is that you then will hear silence, until you move the tuning dial into a clearly receivable signal again.

I found a metaphor in the two references to “squelching". It goes something like this: inspiration and creation can get into fragile states, like the small frequency bands and physical ranges to which a radio station transmits and receives. Concentration and steadiness is required to maintain that state, and it can be so easily interrupted, much like a radio's reception is thwarted by the slightest turn of the dial. Inspiration can evaporate until it can be dialed in again.

In this composition, which is three interwoven voices, if not whole pieces, there is some familiar music, representing the music and joy in life. Second, there is a lot of everyday concrete sound — real life that interrupts yet fuels inspiration and self-expression. Lastly, there is the noise, the fuzzing-out, distortion and breakage, representing the pre-squelch moment — that point just before the squelch filter either kicks in, or you reach a new clear "station", the focus and concentration required to create.

The squelch moment can be either the end or the beginning of creation and abstraction. It depends on how you're moving the dial and your reception.

©+℗ 2006 Thom Blum (ASCAP)

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from Abstractions I, released June 9, 2020
Nocturne No. 2 in E Flat, Op. 9 No. 2 by F. Chopin, performed by Douglas Keislar

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Thom Blum San Francisco, California

Thom Blum has been composing electroacoustic music since 1974.

Recent performances and installations include "[You Are [Here] You [Are] You Here]", a sound installation established in 2022 in the Prelinger Library in San Francisco, and "Telescopic 1 (zoom out)" at the San Francisco Tape Music Festival 2024. ... more

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