A while back I blogged about my visit to the Liminal project called “Organ of Corti”. Recently, Lesley Goss who introduces a programme called “Take Note” on Soundart Radio got in touch to ask whether she could use my recordings of The Organ of Corti in her show on it.
It was a bit late in the day to be asking and I didn’t respond immediately, so my recordings were never used. However, Lesley kindly sent me a recording of the programme to host here. If you want more information on the Organ of Corti and Liminal, this is a good place to start.
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I love the feeling of this programme. It’s cosy, like being in your grandma’s kitchen for a chat.
Lastly, if you are not aware of Soundart Radio, I would highly recommend it! It’s a rich source of interesting programmes on a variety of subjects. Go listen!
This is my third year of attending Supersonic Festival. Each of those years I have had the pleasure of performing and completing my wonky diary / review following the event (2009 / 2010).
Last week I attended the UK leg of the PRSF New Music Incubator, for which I was selected earlier this year. This was held at Brunel University, the Swedish leg takes place in some remote northern Swedish town in April 2012.
Here is a list of the current participants.
I decided to write an initial response to my time there before memories fade. I have not reflected on stuff in great detail, in fact I just wanted to blurt some stuff out there. I find this a valid part of how I document stuff and also quite cathartic. More measured thoughts to follow…maybe.
The schedule and process was pretty intensive. Each day we’d make our way to the food hall at 8am for breakfast, then to the main hall for 9am to be divided into groups and to be given our theme for the day. Each evening at 8pm we would “perform” whatever we had managed to achieve that day. Days were pretty long, creatively charged and were followed by long sessions to evaluate what had been presented. These were sometimes quite impassioned affairs.
On the first night it became apparent that the people chosen were all really pleasant, as were the people leading the programme. That was a great start and put me immediately at ease.
For me personally it was an emotional time. I had to travel back on the first day to attend a meeting to see whether the studio I had spent all my life savings on having built could be rescued from possible demolition, as it was too tall. I find planning a pretty dull subject area but the potential consequences were substantial for me and had been causing me stress and bouts of depression for months. I was really nervous but I am so pleased to say that it was passed and can now be finished. This is GREAT news but the whole episode left me even more emotionally drained than just the intensity of the programme itself. My instinct was that I wanted to be around people I was already close to that night and the next day but it was actually really nice just getting on with stuff and seeing how happy those who I told were for me. Again, it showed how damn pleasant the people on the programme are.
At times I felt out of my depth. I am clearly at a different stage in my musical development to pretty much everyone else there, which included accomplished composers, players, or experts in their fields. By the last day this feeling got to me a little but overall it was really good to be given an indication of what level I should be looking to achieve. It also meant that I learnt shedloads from everyone else. I hope I was able to give something back but some of the time I just felt I was leaching expertise.
I was reminded how much I want to excel on an instrument or in a given area, rather than as is currently the case, where I am fairly proficient in a number of areas. People demonstrated some amazing work throughout as part of how we got to know each other. On the last day I had demos from Robert Ek, a hugely accomplished clarinet player, and from Mark Fell. I consider both of them to be at the top of their games. This just made me want to concentrate my efforts more than ever.
As ever I didn’t document stuff as well as I’d have liked. We were busy! The best I did was take a few photographs of my group on the last day (below). More material will no doubt surface in due course.
Lina Lapelyte
Robert Ek
Mark Fell
My kit
We all provided feedback about the programme on the last evening. There’s no need to go over that here, other than to stress one thing, I think it could be even more successful given a broader range of people and influences. I don’t really know what sort of music PRS hope the programme will result in but for me the participants were drawn from too narrow a selection of musicians and backgrounds.
I have not stopped thinking about the week we had together. In the shower, on my morning bike ride etc. It has really challenged me and I believe it will focus my efforts greatly. In particular the single-mindedness and expertise demonstrated was just a big kick up the arse for me. I admire so many of the people on the course, it was great to spend time I their company. It was all I could’ve hoped for.
I am really looking forward to Sweden and am confident interesting collaborations and future works will arise.
I’d like to thank everyone involved in the programme and a special thank you to Capsule for nominating me. Your support is hugely appreciated!
As part of the Worcester Music Festival I was lucky enough to visit Organ of Corti last weekend, a project by Liminal. I also attended the “Meet The Artists” event on the previous day.
I became aware of this project some time ago and was chuffed, to say the least, when I realised it would be visiting Worcester. It transpires that Diglis weir was actually the place initially chosen to sight it. A real bonus for me as it gets a little tedious when so much intriguing stuff of this nature requires an all-day round trip (at best) to witness it. The weir is only a bike ride away.
The presentation on the Friday night gave a really fascinating insight into the project. Rather than me trying to go into much detail about what was covered, check out the Organ of Corti page for an overview. Based on what we heard and saw, in terms of the science, images of the piece and the enthusiasm of the artists, I was keen to experience the piece myself.
Before I come back to that though, David Prior of Liminal mentioned a project by one of his former students, which I had to mention, as it’s a real gem. He took four drummers, each playing snare drums, and spaced them along a path into the distance. He then conducted them with a semaphore flag from next to where the audience stood. Each player hit their drum simultaneously but given the (carefully measured) space between them and the time it took for the sound of each drum to reach the audience, a recognisable rhythm was created. The players then walked to the next designated spot. As they did so, the rhythm got jumbled. On reaching the next spot another recognisable rhythm was formed. The players ultimately ended up by the crowd, still playing in unison. Great idea that! Anyway, I digress…
On the Saturday I visited the piece by the weir. It is a stunningly beautiful object. I read the description and instructions and tried my best to get myself into listening mode. If anything I generally listen to stuff too closely. For example, I’ll get distracted from a fascinating interview by a squeaky shoe. I gathered myself, listened deeply and entered. The first thing that struck me was a shift in where I perceived the sound to be coming from. All of a sudden it seemed to have shifted to emanate from the piece itself, directly in front of where I stood. This was something I hadn’t expected.
I passed from right to left listening to the distinction between different parts of the “sonic crystal”. I could definitely distinguish changes in the frequencies of sound I was hearing. The weir was chosen as the site due to the wide frequency range it produces, in an effort to highlight the effect.
I did some sound recordings to try to illustrate what it sounded like. The first is from outside the Organ of Corti, the second from just inside, and the third is a “fly-through”. They were all somewhat compromised by a mixture of me forgetting my wind sock, not having whatever the audio equivalent of a steady cam is and by people talking and making sounds…but I think it illustrates the effect to some degree.
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Note: these are quite noisy!
I must admit I was left wondering how different it would’ve been if I’d walked behind / into something else. The animation we saw on the Friday evening suggested that the specific form of the piece was vital to the effect. I can’t say that my ear is well trained enough to be confident of this. I understand this version of the piece is due to be used as a research tool for a period now. I’d be fascinated to hear what comes of this.
It’s great to see such projects in Worcester. I hope this piece and pieces like it are given a permanent home here. Only the other day, on seeing a photograph of the Worcester skyline including the new Worcester University Library & History Centre, I remarked that it’s stuff like this which makes for a truly international city. The same applies to the quality of the art that resides in the city. More please!
Yesterday saw me hop on a train and head up to sunny Scarborough to perform at the fabulous HANDS OFF! 2011 Theremin Symposium. I am now back home and settled again, and wanted to tell you a bit about it.
First up was an evening of outdoor Theremin dabbling, recording of the “Theremin Hellos”, where each performer recorded a ditty to say hello to the festival, drinking, eating, chatting and my performance of Steve Reich’s Pendulum Music for torches and Optical Theremins.
The setting was amazing. We took up the space inside and outside the café on top of Oliver’s Mount. The view and sunset were fabulous. This really got everyone in the right frame of mind and provided some great photo opportunities.
Anthony Springall, event organiser
Soon, after a couple of pints of the specially prepared Theremin ale (apparently the pump on the first night operated like a Theremin when you pulled it!), it was time for my performance. I set up my rig, asked for four volunteers to perform and away we went. There is probably more footage to come in due course but John Allsopp made a nice recording of it, which is below (thanks!). It includes a lot of waffle from me at the start, which might be worth listening to if you don’t know the piece already…
Note: there were a couple of sound system / lead issues which caused some crackling and volume fluctation. Sorry.
A special thank you to Valentin Ganin (and Kate Sugden) from Aston University who very kindly helped to design and build these new optical Theremins. They were specially made for this event, just in time, because they produce a nice sine wave, which is more akin to a real Theremin than my old square wave mk1s. They made for a much more subtle piece, which I thought fitted well in the context of this event. THANKS!
Afterwards, there was much pub and club banter, with a right-on bunch of “outsiders”.
Today was about Theremin lessons. I had booked mine with Lydia Kavina. I wanted to meet her more formally to discuss one of my favourite albums with her, which she performed on, Messer Chups “Crazy Price”. First though, my lesson, which I am told went very well. It was great fun to play but rather like scratching your head and patting your tummy at the same time, or whichever way round you are meant to do it.
We chatted about Messer Chups. We chatted about my Glatze EP and I gave Lydia a copy. We got on well. That’s nice when it’s someone you admire so greatly. Oh, and her playing was divine. I sat in on another lesson afterwards and she played a couple of classical Theremin pieces. Amazing accuracy and such feel. I was frankly awestruck! This was the the piece she played…
Time for some lunch and a big goodbye to all the lovely people at the festival, and off I went, or so I thought…
Before I could leave I was interviewed by the charming chaps that had volunteered to shoot a documentary about the whole event. I’m going to look like a right fan boy (which basically I am) as I was wearing my Supersonic t-shirt and my Home of Metal badge – hehe.
Homeward bound! I travelled by train too, which meant my journeys were productive. I wrote some process pieces of my own that I am really happy with and dabbled with making some new Reaktor instruments. Nice!
A thoroughly pleasant and inspirational trip away. Thanks to all involved for inviting me and bringing this great event together!
Finally, a few more photographs…
(Scary) Gordon Charlton, event organiser
Lydia Kavina, Barbara Buchholz and Carolina Eyck
A drunken novice, spinning out ;)
I am enjoying concentrating on my non-commercial music and arts projects during my sabbatical but when I was offered the chance to do a funky little ditty for this Hobbycraft campaign, with my business partner at Stereographic doing the visuals, I went for it! It was great just concetrating on creating a little tune and not having to deal with any other aspects of the project ;)
Note: not sure why the audio is a little “clicky” in parts…
I’ve been doing quite a lot of work with young people over the last couple of years. This mostly involves introducing them to new ways of making and thinking about music. I have continued to do this work during my sabbatical as I hope it might go some way towards creating a more enriched future.
The latest event I attended was the “Change Day” held at Billesley Primary School in Birmingham. I spent between 45 minutes and an hour with groups of 15 kids, showing them how sampling and looping works and then writing a short tune using this technique to form the basis. Given the short period of time available I was really pleased with the results. As well as creating the rhythm and the “bassline” the kids also wrote and sang the lyrics.
Here is the catchy ditty year 6 created:
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I would like to thank everyone involved for helping make this inspiring day happen. The other creative practitioners were really great and I think the goals of the day were exceeded.
How I made it to the age of 35 without making a tape loop I have no idea. OK, so I do lots of lo-fi looping of one kind or another but tape is a must.
I started small, both in terms of the format (cassette) and the length of the loop. I used the mic in on my dictaphone to create a layered loop, including some heavy rumbles from my Delfy SSVC-1 and feedback from my Genelec 1030A speakers. It ends with a nice tape pause, courtesy of my dictaphone. I added the tiniest bit of reverb.
More tape loops soon, for sure! Enjoy…
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I just received an email confirming that I have been selected as one of the 10 UK participants on the PRSF New Music Incubator programme for 2011-2012. It doesn’t get much better than that. For someone at this stage of dedicating himself to his music there couldn’t be anything more fitting.
What an amazing opportunity! I am really chuffed and can’t wait to get stuck in. Stuff like this will add yet more drive to my work over the period of my sabbatical.
Thank you to Capsule for putting me forward for this. It’s a nomination only programme, so without them I am nobody.
News like this makes all the hard work feel doubly worth it!
Update: UK artists have been announced.
Amy Cunningham
Bob Levene
Claire M Singer
Edmund Finnis
Lina Lapelyte
Lucy Railton
Luke Styles
Mark Fell
Ruaidhri Mannion
Sam Underwood (That’s me!)
I can’t help myself but feel a little scared looking at that list. One thing is for sure, it’s going to be amazing!
It was with great pleasure that I supported Emeralds at the Hare and Hounds on Sunday.
It was my first gig at the Hare and Hounds and the first public performance of my new Mr Underwood material. I was nervous. I had rehearsed a lot, as ever, but due to circumstances beyond my control the vital time I usually spend developing ideas was taken up by other thoughts. Times like in the shower when I suddenly arrive at new ways of doing stuff. I’m always thinking of ideas and approaches, except recently when there has been something else weighing on my mind…
I didn’t let this affect things too much. I was pleased with my performance, I was just in slightly the wrong head-space. It happens. I enjoyed myself though and I’m pleased to say that the people who had made the effort to come and see me seemed really impressed. Thank you if you made it out.
This is the start of a new more subtle side to my live music. I used a lot of new techniques to good effect and I am really enjoying the addition of live percussion to my set. Glatze lives on, but now alongside Mr Underwood.
Kevin, of Phantom Circuit fame, kindly took a few photographs and recordings. Here’s a couple to give you an indication of what I got up to. Onwards and upwards for Mr Underwood!
THANKS to Kevin for the image & recording and THANKS to Ben Waddington for stepping in at the last minute with his list.
