'Suspense - Does Not Conclude' in Sedbergh, 19 September 2009
Andi Chapple and Musicians are performing this piece again as part of the 2009 Sedbergh Festival of Books and Drama. it starts at 1pm and is free in; there are lunches available (not free!) from 12 noon. venue for lunches and performance is the URC Rooms, Joss Lane, Sedbergh LA10 5AS. for a MultiMap map showing where the URC Rooms are, click here.
Three Spring Performances
I am very lucky to have received funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England and Sedbergh Parish Council, and support from Absolute Digital Print, We Make Media, the Churches Conservation Trust and Sedbergh Chamber of Trade, which enabled me to develop the fusion of my listening and soundwalk practice, my electronic music, and the vocal/instrumental ensemble work that I have been beginning to make over the last year or so into Three Spring Performances, which happened in May and June 2009 in south-east Cumbria.
Arts Council England ask those they fund to make a link available to their site so that other artists and musicians can access their funding - so if that's you, follow this link ...
'Nature's Silver Seed'
this performance, which was completely acoustic and ranged from strings-and-percussion arrangements of Neil Young songs through vocal improvisation to deep listening exercises for the audience, took place on Saturday 9 May at Sprint Mill, north of Kendal. the performance was professionally filmed by Jo and Phil from WeMakeMedia in Ulverston; the film is hosted on Vimeo - to make it easy, it's embedded below, just click on the 'play' buttons.
Nature's Silver Seed - Part 1 filmed and edited by WeMakeMedia, hosted on Vimeo.
Nature's Silver Seed - Part 2 filmed and edited by WeMakeMedia, hosted on Vimeo.
here are two sound excerpts from the performance:
Listening to Sounds by Types of Material (2', 3MB, 192 Kbps) - an example of the kind of listening exercise I led as part of these performances; here we all are outside, by the River Sprint, and I'm asking people to pick sounds out of everything they can hear based on the type of material that is making the sound. listen out for the surprise at the end!
Ooby Dooby 1 (5', 7MB, 192 Kbps) - the singers working on a bar of interlocking, syncopated grooves, joined after a while by the musicians on some truly funky percussion. there was a lot of this sort of thing in 'Witnessed From The Slope' as well.
'Witnessed From The Slope'
this was an open-air performance at Queen's Gardens, Station Road, Sedbergh - a lovely small park with very big trees - at on Sunday 7 June. there was some listening to natural sound, some swingin' vocal work, a surround-sound electronic installation and instrumental interjections from the members of the Macaroon Ceilidh Band. I used the dedication ceremony (in 1902) of the cross in the park as a framework for the performance. it went well, I think, the audience was appreciative (well, most of them, of most of it) and most importantly the weather was kind. after a dodgy couple of days the sun came out, although it was still a bit cold.
Chinese Whispers/Clapping and Stamping (6 1/2', 9MB, 192 Kbps) - a couple of examples of music games that you don't need much training or practice to be able to enjoy, although we practised them first (of course!). Chinese Whispers is basically the old party game of repeating a phrase from ear to ear until it gets back to the start hopelessly confused, although we do it out loud, trying to copy the previous singer rather than an idea of what the phrase should be; Clapping and Stamping is ... well, just that. you can also hear the treated field recordings and some high-frequency electronics quite well.
These Grounds/Final Tone (4', 5MB, 192 Kbps) - 'These Grounds' is the faster and funkier of the two settings I wrote of the words on the memorial cross in Queen's Gardens, followed by the final example of an electronic tone cluster that had been repeated from time to time during the performance.
'Suspense - Does Not Conclude -'
the third performance took place on Wednesday 17 June. it was based on setting Emily Dickinson's poetry to hymn tunes likely to have been popular in the Sedbergh area in the late 19th century. as well as singing and live and electronic music, there was also be a live digital processing set-up transforming the sounds of passing traffic and making them part of the piece. the performance was at St. Gregory's Vale of Lune, Marthwaite, Sedbergh, a lovely retired (but not deconsecrated) church in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. thanks to the Woofs for organising the parking and Alan Steadman for the electricity and toilets.
'There is a pain so utter' (3', 4MB, 192 Kbps) - percussion, piano and four-part harmonies.
'I stepped from Plank to Plank' (2', 3MB, 192 Kbps) - double bass and piano drone, electronics and four-part harmonies.
'The Wind begun to knead the Grass' (5', 7MB, 192 Kbps) - violin, piano, percussion and unison singing.
... and Musicians
the squad for these performances was made up of: Helen Beare, cellist from the Haffner Orchestra; Colin Blakey, multi-instrumentalist from Orchestra Macaroon and the Macaroon Ceilidh Band; Andy Boothman, Latin and club percussionist and double bass player for Mojito; Han Bull, multi-instrumentalist from the Macaroon Ceilidh Band; Phil Bull, fiddler and accordionist from Orchestra Macaroon and the Macaroon Ceilidh Band; and Matt Robson, percussionist and complementary medicine entrepreneur. singers are Mark Browne, Jan Harrison, David Ramsbottom and Emma Watton from the Kinderly vocal group and Nela Geuer, DJ from Duophonic. not everyone was at every performance. my heartfelt thanks to them all for working extremely hard to master my crazed ideas in a very short time.