A composition for UNM’s John Donald Robb Composers’ Symposium. The piece focuses on the practice of music students to consume beta blockers to steady the hands and calm the nerves. For this piece, the performer consumes a beta blocker and monitors her heart with a cardio mic. “Cardiac” also incorporates audio clips of interviews with music students who’ve used—or considered using—beta blockers during performance.

carcio mic / turntables / first-hand accounts

2012

Cardiac from Marisa Demarco on Vimeo.

Full video by Manny Rettinger and Emma Crane