I’ve been caught up in this incredible whirlwind of sound, energy and activity over the past few days and it’s been hard to catch a breath away from the flute and the festival. Myriad things have taken place– from going to the Joy of Music School and presenting performing and making graphic scores with Knoxville families to my first concert at the Nief-Norf Summer Music Festival.
Norf-Space– the sounds of crayons on paper
On Wednesday afternoon five ‘Norfers’ (including myself!) travelled to the Joy of Music School in Knoxville. The Joy of Music School is a not-for-profit organisation which provides free music lessons and instruments to hundreds of financially disadvantaged, at-risk children and teenagers. Founded in 1998, the school has over one-hundred teachers who volunteer and give these children the opportunity of music education. At the school, we had the pleasure of sharing our love for the strange and wonderful sounds of contemporary music notation with the children and their families. We spoke about graphic notation, extended techniques and played some live examples. James Meade, a guitarist played William Walton’s Bagatelle No. 3 to introduce guitar extended techniques and introduce some more unconventional symbols which were unfamiliar to the children. We then catapulted the room into the world graphic notation. From examples of Cage, Eno to Cardew. A performance fellow and singer, Felicia Chen sung Stripsody by Cathy Berberian which is one of my favourite pieces for voice as it has boundless character. As the children were going to be constructing a graphic score of their own, I decided I would perform Sharehouse I, a game piece involving improvisation and theatre that I wrote a few months ago for the Queensland Conservatorium New Music Ensemble. The children and their families were then invited to collaborate and construct a big graphic score that we would perform to them. Their hands were busy, their smiles wide at the thought of how we would interpret their lines, squiggles and cartoon animals. Two large and colourful scores emerged and were attached to the wall ready for their performance. This part of the evening was certainly the most special. Norf-Space made me speculate how my musical trajectory may have been shaped if I had been introduced to the world of contemporary music, extended techniques and graphic notation at an early age. Would I have rejected classical conservatoire level training or have been left a little confused? The children expressed that they felt that the music was a little strange but agreed that they loved every aspect of our performance. I think the power of contemporary music is that it is a diverse art form where aspects of its practice are highly accessible to all levels of musicians, non-musicians and listeners.
You can view the video of the day here
Concert II– unlit cigarettes
After only a few days of rehearsals we had approached concert two. I was playing in Christopher Burn’s Unlit Cigarettes (2012). This piece is so exciting and involves three movements. I wrote more about the details of the piece in an earlier post. For the performance I felt that the ensemble energy was elevated, all gestures and ideas were executed with certainty and clarity. The audience embraced the piece and I had many fellows and audience members approach me after telling me how they laughed, cried and felt on edge throughout the entire fifteen minutes of the work. I would love to do the Burns again in Australia. It can be done in so many different ways and is never the same even when playing with the same people again and again. It’s the pleasure of dynamicism. In the same concert there was H. by Navarro for two singers and spring drums which was such a riot of a piece; Roger’s Bandwidth for guitar and pedals and cello and in honour of the renowned sad trombone effect, Sad Trombone by Shankler for trombone clarinets, cello, piano and electronics. It was a concert of such intense energy and pieces that literally SCREAMED. The teaser video from the concert can be viewed here.
After the concert I had my first ‘downtown’ Knoxville experience and went and explored the area with some of the other fellows. It’s such a great looking area with quirky buildings and arty lanes and parks. I’ll get some decent photos next time I go as my camera doesn’t seem to like night shots!
Until next time, for now I have to run off to more rehearsals!
phoebe bognár 