Wave Farm's third annual Audio Buffet is dedicated to friend and mentor Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016). In 2015, Oliveros and IONE donated the 32-channel mixing board they once traveled the world with to Wave Farm. Their generous and meaningful donation serves as the fulcrum for the Audio Buffet event, where dozens of acoustic and electronic sound artists come together for a live collaborative and improvisational broadcast on Wave Farm's WGXC 90.7-FM. Public audiences experience Audio Buffet via Wave Farm Radio and WGXC 90.7-FM. Performing artists and invited guests participate on-site. Please email info@wavefarm.org for more information.

This year the event will be organized in three parts:
• Part I (3 p.m. - 4 p.m.) Tom Miller's "Talking with Birds"
• Part II (4 p.m. - 6 p.m.) Audio Buffet Improvisation
• Part III (6 p.m. - 7 p.m.) "Sound Pieces," a text score by Pauline Oliveros, led by Daniel Steffey.

About Tom Miller's "Talking with Birds":
Tom Miller's "Talking with Birds," is a site-specific sounding event in homage to Pauline Oliveros's "Sonic Meditations." Using the installation "Pond Station" by Zach Poff as a point of reception and transmission, a small fleet of sounding objects, including small transistor radios receiving micro FM transmissions, music boxes or other mechanical devices, is launched on a Wave Farm pond and guided by wind, current and human interaction. Sound-images broadcast above and below the water’s surface include field recordings of migratory birds and local wildlife, bird and animal calls of hunters and shamans, and recordings made during the residency period. As the objects drift towards and away from the Pond Station’s hydrophones (underwater microphones), they mix themselves into foreground and background together with the sounds of the pond.

Audio Buffet Improvisation Players:
Black Lake, C. Lavender, Seth Chrisman, Seth Cluett, Jonny Farrow, Chris Funkhouser, Max Goldfarb, Pat Gubler, Zach Layton, Al Margolis, Charles Martin, Nathan McLaughlin, Tom Miller aka Comrade Squelch, Michelle Nagai, Bobby Previte, soundBarn, Daniel Steffey, Adam Tinkle, and Tyler Wood.

About "Sound Pieces" composed by Pauline Oliveros, led by Daniel Steffey.
Composer Daniel Steffey will lead attendees in a group performance of the Sound Pieces text score, which is articulated as follows:

"Each person prepares a number of sounds to present within a predetermined duration. Each person can have as many sound sources as she or he wants as long as they can be presented within the given duration (i.e. ten minutes). Each person devises his or her own time scheme for these sounds within the given duration. The piece begins with the first sound and ends when the time is up.

In this piece, a sound could come from any sort of sound source. The sound could be shorter or longer, softer or louder, simple or complex but not identifiable as a fragment or phrase of music (from a radio or a recording for example). Each sound used should have its own character. Sounds that are difficult to identify might be more interesting. Sounds that come from unusual sources, methods of activation, or locations might have more interest. The sound sources might be visually interesting (or not) and could be staged to enliven the performance space in an interesting audio as well as visual and dramatic design. Sounds could be local or distant with stationary or moving sound sources.

Variation: Sounds are activated before, after, or with another sound. The duration of the piece may be predetermined or (if time is not limited) the piece could go on until the energy is spent.

for Charles Boone
and his San Francisco Art Institute Class
July 13, 1998
- Pauline Oliveros

Pauline Oliveros performed this text score at Groundswell, organized by Wave Farm and The Olana Partnership at The Olana State Historic Park in 2013.