"Mercedes" is an exploration of my memory and my body as the place where my memories live. Childhood memories to 2-second-ago memories. I invented an instrument and over the course of three months (yay grad school!) figured out techniques to play it. I practiced and refined the techniques I liked the most (because of the sounds they produced), and these became engrained in my body which then became the piece. I placed a web cam below the snare drum and delayed the signal at x/y/z seconds triggered by a foot pedal, and projected the delayed video behind me. I also placed 8 microphones on the snare drum and assigned each one to one of the 8 speakers in the hall; kind of like placing everyone inside the snare drum (ie., me and my memories). This was part of a concert I produced at a really cool and techie space called CNMAT at UC Berkeley. The space was packed and the front row was like 2 feet away from me -- it was intense and very fun. I called the piece "Mercedes" because it's a part of Caracas I thought I had lived in as a kid (turns out I didn't though, but for several reasons I hadn't returned to Caracas in like 17 years when I wrote this piece, so I guess it's understandable). Technical write-up here, if you'd like.