posted | 14 November 2008
We made a realisation of Gavin Bryars' Far Away and Dimly Pealing on Wednesday at Upper Heyford airfield near Oxford. The score requires sounds to be made at least one mile away from the performer without using explosives, and that nobody else may make the sound for you. We made a few attempts at the piece, and we'll post the video documenting the event soon, following its showing in the next Material concert as part of The Invention Of Tradition, Bath Spa University's Gavin Bryars festival. Consequently we now have a mile of string under the table in our office and are considering its future use.
UPDATE: According to Gavin Bryars, to the best of his knowledge ours was the first ever successful realisation.
UPDATE 2: And here's the video, in two parts.
posted | 1 October 2008
Material present a series of short events in various locations on the Newton Park campus and in the city centre, drawing on research carried out by the project. The events feature actions, chance, environment, listening, noise, objects, participation, process, repetition, silence, systems, and use any sound-producing means (or not). The precise nature of each event will not be advertised in advance. Details of past performances are here.
posted | 1 October 2008
A warm welcome to the new website for the ‘Words and Music’ research project, housed at Bath Spa University in the UK. This two-year project will be the first major survey of text scores, an alternative form of musical notation which uses words instead of conventional music symbols. The project will classify and analyse strategies used by composers to create text scores, and present appropriate performance practices for their realisation. Through the principal outcome, a book anthology, the project hopes to contribute to developing a clearer understanding of these areas, aiding future creative practice and providing a source for new exponents and audiences to begin their engagement with the work. Read more.