ORBITS AND RIFFS by Ephemera (2017)
SPACE JAZZ

Recorded and mixed at A Sharp Studios by Richard Lake 2017.

​ephemeraensemble.com

Front cover artwork by Michael Arvithis

Compositions/Piano/Flute: Keyna Wilkins, Double Bass/Loop Pedal: Elsen Price, Trumpet: Will Gilbert

CD1

1.Callisto: Composed by Keyna Wilkins in 2013 with improvised sections. Trumpet: Will Gilbert, Piano: Keyna Wilkins, Double Bass: Elsen Price. Filmed live @ Seymour Centre 14/05/16: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74REhaolHFM. Callisto is the second-largest moon of Jupiter. It's surface is the oldest and most heavily cratered in our solar system.

2. Orbital Waltz: Composed by Keyna Wilkins in 2017 with improvised sections. Double Bass: Elsen Price, Piano: Keyna Wilkins, Trumpet: Will Gilbert. Filmed live @ Foundry 616 25/5/2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ljpFQY-hpo. Inspired by the idea of a dance of planetary orbits around our sun, as if massively sped up.

3. Solar Flare: Group improvisation to sun sounds compiled by astronomer Dr Paul Francis (http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/pfrancis/Music/). Flute: Keyna Wilkins, Trumpet: Will Gilbert, Double Bass: Elsen Price.

4. Craters of Rhea: Composed by Keyna Wilkins in 2012. Double Bass and Loop Pedal: Elsen Price. Sheet music published by Wirripang. Filmed live @ Seymour Centre 12/12/15: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSAcY3YhR_I. Rhea is the second largest moon of Saturn and has been highly cratered by passing asteroids. It has an icy rocky surface made up of 25% rock and 75% water ice. From afar it looks perfectly spherical, though measurements from NASA’s Cassini mission show that its shape is triaxial, so slightly oval-shaped due to variations in liquid and gravity levels at its core. I have tried to reflect these aspects musically. The opening passage features quintuplets and leaps of a perfect fifth, diminished sixth and augmented octave. The dissonant leaps, falling quintuplet shapes and irregular rhythms mirror the shape of Rhea’s craggy terrain.

5. Mars, Part 1: Red Mars: Composed by Keyna Wilkins in 2012. Piano: Keyna Wilkins, Double Bass: Elsen Price. Sheet music published by Wirripang. Filmed live @ Seymour Centre 14/05/16: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTk_iNfp2qA. This work was inspired by NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover driving over Martian boulders along the red Martian plains, or "Red Dirt". The opening theme uses bold, almost heroic ascending semiquavers. The piano part represents the red lumpy soil and the double bass part symbolises a bumpy and energetic ride.

6. Mars, Part 2: Red Mysteries: Composed by Keyna Wilkins in 2012 with improvised sections. Piano: Keyna Wilkins, Double Bass: Elsen Price. Sheet music published by Wirripang.Filmed live @ Seymour Centre 14/05/16: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTk_iNfp2qA. This work embodies that idea that Mars largely remains a mystery to humans and holds many secrets - in many ways it is a meditation on not-knowing. The cornerstones of the opening melody are A – E♭, a tritone, that leans on and explores the discord created through repetition of the interval.

7. Mars, Part 3: Red Children: Composed by Keyna Wilkins in 2012 with improvised sections. Piano: Keyna Wilkins, Trumpet: Will Gilbert, Double Bass: Elsen Price. Sheet music published by Wirripang. Filmed live @ Seymour Centre 14/05/16: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf9fcb163uo. Red Children has a playful character depicting a future human colony on Mars and children playing on the red Martian landscapes.

8. Cassini: Group improvisation to sounds of radio signals emitting from Saturn’s rings detected by NASA’s Cassini mission compiled by astronomer Dr Paul Francis from his library of space sounds (http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/pfrancis/Music/). Piano/Flute: Keyna Wilkins, Trumpet: Will Gilbert, Double Bass: Elsen Price. NASA's Cassini space probe spent 15 years orbiting Saturn and gathering data. Radio signals emitting from Saturn's rings remains a mystery.

9. Titan Tango: Composed by Keyna Wilkins in 2015 with improvised sections. Piano: Keyna Wilkins, Double Bass: Elsen Price, Trumpet: Will Gilbert. Titan is the largest moon of Saturn and this piece asks what it would be like to dance the tango on. Filmed live @ Foundry 616 25/5/2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sl09OmRDek. This work has been turned into a tango dance by Art Of Candencia productions @ the Basement 14/02/16: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZOSmJteQ0w, and has been arranged and filmed live for Cello, Piano and Double Bass @ Seymour Centre 12/12/16: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMI9eFMmpXc.

CD 2

1. Blackhole: Composed by Keyna Wilkins in 2017. Flute/Piano: Keyna Wilkins, Trumpet: Will Gilbert, Double Bass: Elsen Price. Using sound clips from sound library on freesound.org licensed under Creative Commons: thanvannispen, sound: industrial_crash02.aif, ok1has, sound: telephone battery charger.mp3, qubodup, sound: Plane Crash.flac, FreqMan, sound: psycho scream 1.wav, tcrocker68, sound: Girl_Scream.wav and Girl_Scream_Short.wav, queen_westeros, sound: WOMAN SCREAM, tec studios, sound: a black hole st.mp3, Greego, sound: Ghost Opera, hykenfreak, sound: Deep Space Ship Effect, kwahmah_02, sound: opera on shortwave.wav, kb7clx, sound: Russian ham or pirate with music & cw qrm 7050.0kHz LSB.wav, Russian ham or pirate out of tune with music with others talking 7050.0kHz LSB.wav, makosan, sound: Crowded Opera Lobby.wav, GowlerMusic, sound: Radio Static, juicet, sound: dub_techno synt.wav, zagi2, sound: pop rock loop 2.wav and rock shelter.wav,  pechenyshki , sound: Children playing outdoors, RutgerMuller, sound: Wind Low Short.aif,  Equality_X12, sound: Wind SoundEffect, kangaroovindaloo, sound: Medium Wind. Filmed live @ Foundry 616 25/5/2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IITcyeh3ZQ. The inspiration for this piece was theories around what would happen when entering a black hole. Obviously most likely death, but this is my music interpretation of the words of Astronomer Kip Thorne (2014, p46) “Black holes are made from warped space and warped time...Black holes can spin, just as Earth spins. A spinning black hole drags space around it into a vortex-type whirling motion”.

2. Distant Pulsar: Composed by Keyna Wilkins in 2008 with improvised sections. Piano: Keyna Wilkins, Trumpet: Will Gilbert, Double Bass: Elsen Price. Filmed live @ Seymour Centre 14/05/16: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIl4y--1nsMThe repetitive hypnotic bass line of this piece represents a pulsar, a highly magnetised rotating neutron star that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation.

3. Aurorae Sinus: Composed by Keyna Wilkins in 2012. Piano: Keyna Wilkins, Trumpet: Will Gilbert, Double Bass: Elsen Price. Sheet music published by Wirripang. Filmed live @ Seymour Centre 14/05/16: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUzqK_zjApg. Aurorae Sinus is a massive crater which appears as a dark feature in the southern hemisphere of Mars and forms part of a feature visible from Earth with telescopes known as the "eye of Mars". This piece was written imagining standing alone in the middle of it, capturing the tranquil and yet alien landscape of the enormous crater that is Aurorae Sinus.

4. Floating in Space: Composed by Keyna Wilkins in 2012 with nebulae space sounds derived from spectrograph data from various nebulae in our galaxy compiled by astronomer Dr Paul Francis (http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/pfrancis/Music/). Flute: Keyna Wilkins. Sheet music published by Wirripang.  Filmed live 12/12/15 @ Seymour Centre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLLZypTFwUs. This piece is influenced by the basic tenets of Zen Buddhism, specifically the blowing technique of the Japanese end-blown bamboo flute shakuhachi, as a means to meditate on nothingness, or void. Musicologist Jay Keister  states: “The Fuke sect of Buddhists practiced a form of shakuhachi meditation known as suizen, or blowing Zen”. Suizen is the concept of self-realisation through meditation on nothingness during improvisation. Features shakuhachi Zen improvisation include lack of steady pulse, fragmented melodies, pitch bends and use of a pitch collection roughly similar to the Western minor pentatonic scale. It also widely uses sustained notes due to the importance of controlled deep breathing. Similarly Floating in Space has all these features with the addition of the backdrop of space sounds. When listening to the raw sound of Nebulae mp3, two main pitches can clearly be heard: Middle C, C above Middle C and F above Middle C, which is has some of the main pitches from the harmonic series starting on F as the fundamental. These 2 pitches provide the tonal centres of the piece.

5. Comet Song: Group improvisation to various comet sounds derived from spectrograph data from various comets in our solar system compiled by astronomer Dr Paul Francis (http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/pfrancis/Music/). Flute/Piano: Keyna Wilkins, Trumpet: Will Gilbert, Double Bass: Elsen Price.

6. Full Moon: Composed by Keyna Wilkins in 2012: Trumpet: Will Gilbert. Sheet music published by Wirripang. Filmed live @ Seymour Centre 14/05/16: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0InW0rU8wY. A main source of inspiration for this piece was watching footage from NASA's Grail Mission to map the moon in 2012. The moon seems serene, ghostly, unhuman, impartial. The opening melody is very slow and thoughtful, meandering, featuring slow ascending septuplets, as if walking and relatively weightless on the moon itself. The rest of the piece stems from the opening material.

7. New Galaxy: Composed by Keyna Wilkins in 2017. Flute: Keyna Wilkins, Trumpet: Will Gilbert, Double Bass: Elsen Price. Using space sounds derived from spectrograph data from various nebulae in our galaxy compiled by astronomer Dr Paul Francis (http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/pfrancis/Music/: carbonstar.mp3, crab.mp3, helix_a.mp3, nebulae.mp3, vela.mp3, QuasarEmmissionSpectrum.mp3, seyfert.mp3, mdwarf.mp3, orion.mp3, k15000.mp3). Filmed live @ Foundry 616 25/5/2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moZOQG8DCn4. This work is a meditation on the formation of a galaxy. It has no bar lines, just pitches and phrasing suggestions. The rhythm is up to the performers. The space sounds create a sonic foundation of pitches that the piece is based on.

8. Star Dance: Composed by Keyna Wilkins in 2013 with improvised sections. Piano: Keyna Wilkins, Trumpet: Will Gilbert, Double Bass: Elsen Price. Filmed live 14/05/16 @ Seymour Centre: www.youtube.com/watch?v=msSKF3hBmSA. Star Dance was originally a dance called Luna Llena ("Full Moon") written for Pena Flamenca, an 8 piece flamenco ensemble: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM20BFBam9c. It was re-devised it for Ephemera Trio using the main themes, but still keeping the dance-like forms.

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AIR IN MOTION (2017)
SOLO FLUTE 

Flute works performed and composed by Keyna Wilkins influenced by flamenco, jazz and impressionism.

Front cover artwork by Michael Arvithis.
Recorded and mixed at A Sharp Studios by Richard Lake 2017.

1. Buleria Fiero: Composed by Keyna Wilkins with an improvised section, sheet music published by Wirripang in 2012, based on Buleria flamenco dance rhythms. Performed live at Flute Tree Studio 11/11/18: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAQO-4E0a6k

2. Full Moon: Composed by Keyna Wilkins, sheet music published by Wirripang in 2012 for solo clarinet and trumpet. Performed live at Flute Tree Studio 11/11/18: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URB2SwWLHJI. A main source of inspiration for this piece was watching footage from NASA's Grail Mission to map the moon in 2012. The moon seems serene, ghostly, unhuman, impartial.

3. Air in Motion: Spontaneous layered improvisation at A Sharp Studio.Perfomed live @ Flute Tree Studio 11/11/18: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3gVku4DgYw

4. Floating in Space: Composed by Keyna Wilkins with nebulae space sounds derived from spectrograph data from various nebulae in our galaxy compiled by astronomer Dr Paul Francis (http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/pfrancis/Music/), sheet music published by Wirripang in 2012. Filmed live 12/12/15 @ Seymour Centre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLLZypTFwUs. This piece is influenced by the basic tenets of Zen Buddhism, specifically the blowing technique of the Japanese end-blown bamboo flute shakuhachi, as a means to meditate on nothingness, or void. Musicologist Jay Keister  states: “The Fuke sect of Buddhists practiced a form of shakuhachi meditation known as suizen, or blowing Zen”. Suizen is the concept of self-realisation through meditation on nothingness during improvisation. Features shakuhachi Zen improvisation include lack of steady pulse, fragmented melodies, pitch bends and use of a pitch collection roughly similar to the Western minor pentatonic scale. It also widely uses sustained notes due to the importance of controlled deep breathing. Similarly Floating in Space has all these features with the addition of the backdrop of space sounds. When listening to the raw sound of Nebulae mp3, two main pitches can clearly be heard: Middle C, C above Middle C and F above Middle C, which is has some of the main pitches from the harmonic series starting on F as the fundamental. These 2 pitches provide the tonal centres of the piece.

5. Ephemeral Time: Composed by Keyna Wilkins (including words) in 2008. A meditation on being in the moment. Performed live at Flute Tree Studio 11/11/17: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ouh6nXiav0w

6. Onyx: Composed by Keyna Wilkins in 2001 with improvised sections. Onyx is a semi-precious stone with many layers of colours. Perfomed live @ Flute Tree Studio 11/11/18: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oGMfFpNUbU

7. Bulerias: Composed by Keyna Wilkins, part of Flamenco Etudes for solo Flute, sheet music published by Wirripang in 2017. 

8. Blackhole: Composed by Keyna Wilkins in 2017. Performed live 11/11/18 at Flute Tree Studio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXg0_Qqvem8&t=139s. Using sound clips from sound library on freesound.org licensed under Creative Commons: thanvannispen, sound: industrial_crash02.aif, ok1has, sound: telephone battery charger.mp3, qubodup, sound: Plane Crash.flac, FreqMan, sound: psycho scream 1.wav, tcrocker68, sound: Girl_Scream.wav and Girl_Scream_Short.wav, queen_westeros, sound: WOMAN SCREAM, tec studios, sound: a black hole st.mp3, Greego, sound: Ghost Opera, hykenfreak, sound: Deep Space Ship Effect, kwahmah_02, sound: opera on shortwave.wav, kb7clx, sound: Russian ham or pirate with music & cw qrm 7050.0kHz LSB.wav, Russian ham or pirate out of tune with music with others talking 7050.0kHz LSB.wav, makosan, sound: Crowded Opera Lobby.wav, GowlerMusic, sound: Radio Static, juicet, sound: dub_techno synt.wav, zagi2, sound: pop rock loop 2.wav and rock shelter.wav,  pechenyshki , sound: Children playing outdoors, RutgerMuller, sound: Wind Low Short.aif,  Equality_X12, sound: Wind SoundEffect, kangaroovindaloo, sound: Medium Wind. The inspiration for this piece was theories around what would happen when entering a black hole. Obviously most likely death, but this is my music interpretation of the words of Astronomer Kip Thorne (2014, p46) “Black holes are made from warped space and warped time...Black holes can spin, just as Earth spins. A spinning black hole drags space around it into a vortex-type whirling motion”.

9. Comet Song: Improvisation to various comet sounds derived from spectrograph data from various comets in our solar system compiled by astronomer Dr Paul Francis (http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/pfrancis/Music/). Performed live at Flute Tree Studio 11/11/18: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzJV1abkJPM&index=6&list=PLpTylrzldroKQcUNY2aJDZ0X03QqVG7un 

10. Haze: Composed by Keyna Wilkins in 2013. 

11. Solar Flare: Improvisation to sun sounds compiled by astronomer Dr Paul Francis (http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/pfrancis/Music/). 

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KEYS ACROSS THE SKY (2017)
SOLO PIANO

Piano works performed and composed by Keyna Wilkins influenced by flamenco, jazz and impressionism.

Recorded and mixed at A Sharp Studios by Richard Lake 2017.
Front Cover Artwork by Michael Arvithis.

1. Keys Across the Sky: Spontaneous improvisation at A Sharp Studios.

2. Titan Tango: Composed Keyna Wilkins in 2015. Titan is the largest moon of Saturn and this piece asks what it would be like to dance the tango on. This work has been turned into a tango dance by Art Of Candencia productions @ the Basement 14/02/16: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZOSmJteQ0w, and has been arranged and filmed live for Cello, Piano and Double Bass @ Seymour Centre 12/12/16: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMI9eFMmpXc.

3. Cloud: Composed by Keyna Wilkins, from Sky Pieces collection published by Wirripang 2011.

4. Distant Horizon: Composed by Keyna Wilkins from Sky Pieces collection published by Wirripang 2011.

5. Glow in the Fog: Composed by Keyna Wilkins, from Sky Pieces collection published by Wirripang 2011.

6. Breeze: Composed by Keyna Wilkins, from Sky Pieces collection published by Wirripang 2011.
 
7. Cobblestones: Composed by Keyna Wilkins, soundtrack from Lavish Gizzards: a short film by Dan Gale for The Engine Room, UK, 2006.

8. Callisto: Composed by Keyna Wilkins in 2013 with improvised sections.Filmed live with Ephemera Trio @ Seymour Centre 14/05/16: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74REhaolHFM. Callisto is the second-largest moon of Jupiter. It's surface is the oldest and most heavily cratered in our solar system.

9. In an Empty Warehouse: Composed by Keyna Wilkins with improvised sections, part of soundtrack to Fred and Ginger, a play by Marquez Laundry Theatre Company for Sydney Fringe Festival 2013.

10. Hypnotic Struggle: Composed by Keyna Wilkins with improvised sections, part of soundtrack to Fred and Ginger, a play by Marquez Laundry Theatre Company for Sydney Fringe Festival 2013.

11. Star Dance: Composed by Keyna Wilkins in 2013 with improvised sections.Filmed live with Ephemera Trio 14/05/16 @ Seymour Centre: www.youtube.com/watch?v=msSKF3hBmSA. Star Dance was originally a dance called Luna Llena ("Full Moon") written for Pena Flamenca, an 8 piece flamenco ensemble: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM20BFBam9c. It was re-devised it for Ephemera Trio using the main themes, but still keeping the dance-like forms.

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JAZZ REVERIE (2013)
PIANO IMPROVISATIONS

Recorded and mixed by Damien Boog at Australian Institute of Music Studios 2012.