https://reosonicual.myblog.arts.ac.uk/category/global-sonic-cultures/
Link to Blog Site
Leave a Reply
Author Archives: Rose-Ebony Vargas
Visiting Practitioner: Yan Jun
Beijing based musician and poet, Yan Jun, displays in a series of videos the development of his sonic practice. Part of his creative process involves self isolation in his studio space, a space where he hosts bi-monthly concerts, and he now likes to incorporate the use of the body within his performances.
Starting with a background of field recording and electronic music, Yan Jun displays his earlier performances. A table is set up with a range of electronic equipment, cables clearly in view. The audience is invited to take a look at the table; there are speakers facing upwards, their vibrations manipulated by Jun. Even from his earlier works, Jun can be clearly seen to have a likeness for incorporating the audience within his performance. Jun tells us the that the direct translation of “electronic music” in Chinese would be “table music”- appropriate, considering the set up displayed by Jun.
Although Jun’s development of his practice is highly interesting, his explanation of “dirty electronics” is what stuck with me most. The concept of “dirty electronics” encapsulates any artist’s nightmare- a poor sound / monitoring system. I have a recent unpleasant experience with this. At my most prolific DJ gig to date, I was playing the second room, designed to be a quieter atmosphere than the rest of the club. I didn’t want to sacrifice my artistic integrity by adapting to the crowd, especially as I had prepared a vinyl set, and only had what I had planned with me. Mixing vinyl, hearing is the most vital skill, as if I cannot hear properly, the mix will be muddy and out of sync, and unfortunately for me, the monitoring system was significantly poor. So how do we go about dealing with poor speakers and monitoring systems? Jun’s practice allows him to adapt to the given environment, adopting improvisation as a tool. Through improvisation, an artist can adjust their performance to any environment, which would eliminate fears of going against one’s artistic integrity as it is a part of it. Though my sonic practices are very different to Jun’s, I can learn from him to be able to become more comfortable in a performance setting.
Felisha Ledesma: Residencies and Community.
Berlin based sound artist Felisha Ledesma epitomises a true sense of community with and within her sound practice. Having co founded a 30,000 ft underground gallery space, S1, Felisha provided a platform for artists to showcase and experiment with their practices, offering residencies and one off opportunities. From the first installation she hosted in 2014, S1 has displayed a diverse range of audio and visual works, the installation by Birch Cooper speaking to me most. In the space at S1, strobe lights were being triggered by synthesisers he had built. I loved the joining of the visual with the audio, the video shown in the lecture almost hypnotising me. The idea of being given a space to experiment with an idea so bold, and Birch Cooper’s ability to build his own synthesisers, is something I’m highly interested in. I would love to hone in on my own sonic practices to the point of excellence, in order to be able to experience an opportunity like this. From Ledesma’s description of her experience, and from my personal research, it seems as though a residence is a place of community- somewhere where your personal sonic practice would benefit the space of residence just as much as that space would benefit you. It is almost like a complete dedication to your craft, which would allow you to polish skills and learn in an environment without distractions.
Ledesma exhibits this idea with her description of her time working at the Synth Library, which she co launched in 2016. True to its name, the Synth Library is a space where artists can freely use equipment (synthesisers) for recording and performance. True to the sense of community Ledesma expresses in her work and life, the Synth Library is an inclusive space to all regardless of experience with the equipment- volunteers donate their time to ensuring those using the facilities are able to have someone on hand to troubleshoot any issues, passing on knowledge. Ledesma noted that having spent a generous amount of time at the Synth Library, not only was she able to help those there, but her knowledge drastically increased, learning new patches and becoming familiar with new equipment that was donated. From what I gather from Ledesma’s overview of her time at S1 and the Synth Library, having a residency at an arts space builds an instilled memory of knowledge, the way any artist of any art wishes they could achieve, allowing space for creative freedom, making everyday grounds for new research and investigations about anything that (sonically in my case) interest the artist. However, I feel it is easy to get lost in the idealisation of having a residency, without first thinking about the steps one would have to take to obtain the opportunity.
In thought of this, I thought it would be useful to draw on ideas taken from Ledesma’s sonic practices, and how I could apply that to my own. The first thing that sparked interest in correlation to my own skill set was Ledesma’s project of creating a sound collage on CDJs and running it through modular synthesis. I didn’t know what a sound collage is, but after a brief internet search I realised an example of this would be the audio visual document provided at the start of the academic year in the Introduction to Sound Art module. Once the studio at work is in use again, I plan to use the set up there to create a sound collage- there are four CDJs and 2 turntables, which really gives the opportunity to layer as many sounds together as possible, bringing together the use of digital and analog sound.
The other project of Ledesma’s that spoke to my own sonic practice was her collaborative work with Keyon Gaskin in 2018. Gaskin, though a dancer with no previous experience in sound, wanted to be involved in the creation of sound with this project. Ledesma used her knowledge, stepped back from the leading role, and instead guided Gaskin to have sole control of the sound. This reminded me of a project I conducted last summer, where a friend of mine who had never made music before asked if we could collaborate on some music. I allowed his full creative vision to be painted, only providing the resources (instruments, DAW, knowledge); I thought of it as he was the mind and I was the hands. Hearing about Ledesma’s experience, it has encouraged me to attempt to finish this project, as it has been left untouched.
Creative Sound Projects: Final Reflection
It is often easy to detach oneself from the creation of art and sound, especially once a skill or formula has been mastered by the artist. It is also easy to lose meaning and personal touch within the art when participating in this detachment. And once personal meaning is lost, it becomes hard to maintain that skill used- at least that’s what happened in my own experience. After reading about the “sonic meditations” of Pauline Oliveros, I was heavily inspired by her use of “self care” in all realms of life in order to become more intune with herself. Intrigued by what this did for Oliveros’ use of particularly her voice, I decided to use my own voice as a medium for the piece which I created, which can later be used as a measurement tool to conclude how effective Oliveros’ practice can be.
Using a heavily time stretched excerpt of a field recording taken of a park fencing (recorded with a contact microphone), I emulated my favourite Logic preset, ‘backwards metal’. This set an ominous tone for the piece, creating the perfect bed for my poem:
Cycles
Cycles
Looping up and down, cycles
No learning I keep repeating
Acts I’m self defeating
My skin, with fingernails I’m eating
Out my pores blood is seeping
I’m weeping.
I keep cycling ang cycling and cycling
And cycling until my bike breaks, mid break, spinning breaks, I need a break.
It’s all fake.
The faces, the light, everything in sight.
A made vision constructed of God’s mind-
I’m searching for answers I’ll never find,
Until we die we stay blind.
We’re binded
To non existent beauty we make up of
From man’s crumbs, we don’t clean after ourselves;
We’re too absent minded-
Mistaking self conceit for love
Putting false definitions in the meaning of wealth.
It’s all the loss of the sense of self.
Delicate in its modernity, the incorporation of a rap-like vocal allows for the piece to be accessible to a mainstream audience. I believe this is important, as the themes discovered within the words of the piece will convey feelings and messages that resonate not just with the typical consumer of abstract sound, like of which I have created. The incorporation of the vocal also allows me to express myself authentically, allowing my differing sonic practices to coexist.
Although I thought It’d be a harder challenge to use my voice as the main medium, I actually found it highly enjoyable; it becomes easier to convey ideas within the composition as I understand my own voice more than I do any technology. I would apply this same notion to my use of alto saxophone- I would (controversially) consider it a vocal instrument, as it is controlled with the mouth and breath in the same likeness as the voice.
This piece was created after many attempts of using a graphic score as stimuli- however, that is still a concept I am yet to grasp. Creating this piece has taught me that I am comfortable working and creating acoustically, thus, in future I would like to incorporate more digitally created sounds- using digital and analogue synthesisers, and mastering the use of plugins to create a much more polished piece. Whilst I received feedback on the timing of the piece feeling “insecure”, this was an intentional addition, reflecting my current “sense of self”, as the title would suggest. As this is a piece created as a measurement marker, it needs to feel unsteady. If that makes it hard to listen to, then I’ll have to hope that retreating and working on my inner self will remedy that for the future.
DIY Cultures: the avant-garde vs the underground & aesthetics
The avant-garde is defined by its its progressiveness and its ability to push boundaries, whilst maintaining attraction from the mainstream. Similarly, the underground is also boundary pushing, but always stays outside or on the border of the mainstream, even in the audiences it draws. This is not to say that the avant-garde aims to draw a mainstream audience, but rather that it does not aim to attract a particular niche or group of people. One way in which you can tell this difference clearly is in aesthetics.
When thinking of performance set up, the avant-garde and the underground can be very similar, with the use of multiple synthesisers and other electronic / analogue equipment that gives both styles its unique sound. This can be seen the image above of modern day avant-garde duo, Hype Williams. However, without the previous knowledge of what the duo would identify as, it would be quite easy to assume this was a photo of an artist that would consider themselves underground.
When looking at the album art, however, it is very uniform and very “clean” looking. It is very plain and simple, almost keeping a sense of ambiguity of what it is, meaning it has not been aimed at a particular underground niche. This idea can be seen clearly when looking at the aesthetics of avant-garde vs underground labels. Another important distinguishing factor of the underground vs the avant-garde are their ranges; the avant-garde aims to be as left-field as possible when it comes to presentation and its formatting of its sounds, with avant-garde label, Leeraum, displaying this beautifully.
The first interesting thing to point out is Leeraum’s usage of a website over a bandcamp page. Perhaps this is to signify the fact that the avant-garde is not just restricted to sound that can be streamed as music.
Looking closely at the term “avant-garde”, “little is known of its etymology […] beyond its donation of […] comparative radicalism” (Graham, 2010). It would be interesting to explore how the avant-garde compares to the underground when thinking of all its definitions. Based on aesthetics, I now have a clear understanding in the differences between the two.
The Voice- Pauline Oliveros’ practice in practice
Having taken some time to reflect on the Pauline Oliveros article, I decided I wanted to do the same as her- retreat and do self work, even outside of sonic practices. This is something I intend to do in the summer, so I thought it’d be helpful to find a way to measure the effectiveness of doing so in the meantime. I am going to create a sound piece reflecting my current state of self, using the voice as my main medium.
However, I am unable to use my voice as a melodic instrument. Thinking of ways I could still use my words and voice as a tool for this pice, I was brought back to Klein’s performance at the Barbican back in January of this year, where she brought London artist Jawnino onto stage. Jawnino, mostly known for his association with UK underground rap, delivered a distorted, harshly spoken verse over an improvised saxophone solo.
(insert jawnino at klein video)
As someone who writes words and sometimes lays them onto music, I found this inspiring, as it opened up a whole new door of what the term “sound art” could mean; it feels as though I no longer have to change myself to fit into the realm of sound art, but rather that I have to deconstruct and redefine my perception of sound to understand it. As someone who also plays saxophone, I would, on a controversial note, a vocal instrument; it is controlled with the breath and the mouth in the same likeness that the voice is. I will therefore make use of both the voice and the saxophone in this piece.
Over a bed of solely field recordings (most of which are heavily manipulated), I constructed a poem, slightly nonsensical in its theme and grammar:
cycles
cycles
looping up and down cycles
no learning i keep repeating
acts i’m self defeating
my skin, with fingernails i’m eating
out my pores my blood is seeping
i’m weeping.
i keep cycling and cycling and cycling
and cycling until my bike breaks
mid break, spinning breaks; i need a break
etc..
I felt vulnerable, using my writing on something that’ll end up on a Bandcamp compilation. Taking inspiration from Jawnino’s performance at the Klein gig, I altered the sound of my vocal, muddying it within the mix. After this first minute of sound, the piece sets a much calmer tone in contrast. The glitchy breaks come in after a while, creating a more rhythmic feel.
The purpose of creating this piece is to be able to reflect on it after summer, and compare it to a newly created one after getting into the practice of mindfulness and self care in all aspects in life. Hopefully I will come near to an outcome like Oliveros’.
Graphic Scores in Practice: “Pi Chart Rivvum”
Oftentimes with my friends, we make music. So on Saturday evening when my friends were over, I though it would be the perfect time to experiment with a graphic score I had created:
How the piece would be played is pretty self explanatory; only the notes Db, Eb, Gb, Ab and Bb could be used, it was made to be played by three people, and needed percussion. The rest of the pi chart was created with my friends, and was more just an illustration of the feel of the piece we were creating. Although this gave us pointers as to what to play, I feel as though this is something that could have been easily discussed beforehand. We Improvised on the MIDI keyboard using Logic stock instruments.
I believe that, had we used acoustic instruments and recorded live, we would have thought about the score a bit more instead of just “going with the flow”. I am going to use this base of improvised music based on the graphic score to start my piece, however, will use other techniques discussed using seminars to complete it.
Listening as Activism: The Sonic Meditations of Pauline Oliveros
When thinking of “deep listening” and “listening for intent”, one may straight away assume this would be to listen to a piece of sound and analyse the different noises that can be heard, or to follow the musical direction of the artist whom created it. This is not untrue- deep listening requires full focus and attention, but not only on the sound, but also your body. Based on the learnings of Pauline Oliveros, deep listening is a healing practice; a tuning of the mind and body.
Having written about Oliveros in a previous blog post, I am going to forego the background context of who she is and focus solely on the information given in the article, and how this relates to my current thoughts around the voice, sonic meditations and what that means for sound art today. In the late 1960s, following an unsettled political and social state of the US, Oliveros began to retreat. She backed away from public performance and spent time in solitude playing long, extended notes on her accordion, spending “nearly a year on a single note”. This “experiment in self care” led to Oliveros’ newfound meaning within sound, leading her to publish her Sonic Meditations in 1977.
My initial tangent goes off this notion of “experiments in self care”; how are we to define and differentiate this from “normal” music making, which is a process of experimentation in itself? Based on what I gather from Oliveros’ experience, its about the intention of why you’re creating sound, and the activities you do surrounding these “experiments”. During this time when Oliveros was retreating, she began studying Tai Chi- a Chinese martial art with meditational properties. Oliveros worked on transforming her whole life, taking steps to heal the mind and body which ultimately impacted the sound which she created. Collaborating with her Tai Chi teaher, Al Huang, Oliveros assembled a small group of sound makers to improvise to Al Huang’s work. Oliveros always sought to connect each of her practices together. This can be seen again in her studies of Kinetic Awareness with dancer and bodyworker, Elaine Summers. Elaine Summers taught her students to become sensitive to signals coming from their bodies, leading them to be more in tune with themselves. From this and the outcome of Oliveros’ work afterwards, one can conclude that being in tune with your mind and body leads to realisations within your sonic, or any other creative, practice which improve the quality and substance of your work.
Musicking- In A Real Life Context: Ayiesha at Rhythm Section
Rhythm Section is an events and music label founded by Bradley Zero. The events started back in 2009, with music being released from 2014. Based in Camberwell but made in Peckham, Rhythm Section has always had a strong association with South London, a lot of the artists with releases on the label being from South London, and paying homage to the area with track title and record names. However, the label is not restricted to this and is in fact very international- with artists from Ecuador to Berlin to New York, just to name a few.
Ayiesha, label assistant at Rhythm Section International, has a range of jobs she’s responsible for: finding PR companies to market music, helping with the social media pages, promoting events, and scouting artists doing A&R. In Ayiesha’s words, and all round helper. With a flexible working schedule and a boss who’s always abroad gigging, Ayiesha and I kick back in the office and discuss what each of her roles entails.
PR, standing for ‘Public Relations’, is responsible for how an artist is marketed. The PR companies are approached, in this case by Ayiesha, in order to get the artists name out there and known. “Some PR companies might have links to a radio show that can get the artist in for an interview, or on a basic level, making sure the artist is know on our social media pages which could boost their following” Ayiesha tells me.
I ask Ayiesha what her favourite part of her job is: “I’m always communicating with people- I hate feeling isolated so that’s a big thing for me. I enjoy music in general, so being put on to new artists and going to the events that we hold, you know those industry perks.” Guest-list entry to events is Ayiesha’s favourite perk- “I’m torn between the first party back after the pandemic at E1, and the Corsica event with Neue Graffik back in November,” she tells me in response to my question on what her favourite rhythm section event has been.
I ask Ayiesha what her least favourite aspects of her role are. She tells me, “A lot of the things I do, most of the things, are done via online communication either on my laptop or phone, so it can feel quite tedious coming into the office to do tasks that I’m so capable of doing from home- but I do understand the teamwork aspect of everyone coming in, asking questions in person.” Bradley Zero, Rhythm Section founder, is very big on everyone being in the office, even he himself will come in the very next day after landing back in London from being at whichever foreign destination he was last at.
This brings us on to discuss the reasons of having this feeling about coming into the office and the way the pandemic has shaped the working environment for all jobs. “It could be pandemic laziness- pre pandemic I only did small jobs here and there that were very short term, like helping to set up events, then post pandemic I did an online internship, and when working at Universal that was all online too.” We settle on the fact that creative jobs are the future. “You can’t do stocks from home because you can just cheat,” I observe. With a growing awareness around the difficulties for those with disabilities, those with families to look after, creative jobs, just like Ayiesha’s job can be way more accessible to them than most.
I ask Ayiesha who her favourite Rhythm Section artist is. “Pinty,” she tells me, without missing a beat, “also Chaos in the CBD- I listened to both these artists before I even took the time to get to know what Rhythm Section was. When listening to music, I try not to find out to much about an artist and what they’re about because I’ll always find something that will put me off.” I ask how working at Rhythm Section has changed that perspective. “Honestly, it’s made it even worse, as I can see even more now, how bad of people some artists are, so it really reinforced me not wanting to know. However, I will admit that I’m now intrigued to know who’s signed to who.”
Graphic Scores
When listening to Cathy Berberian’s Stripsody a few years ago during a college class, I recall looking into my classmates’ eyes trying our hardest to repress our laughter. It felt like a joke, being made to listen to this shrieking a week before our theory exam. Reading the score was another story- I didn’t understand how it could be read or for what reason it had been created.
Having been studying sound art, I realised what this was, was a graphic score. Graphic scores are a great tool for expressing ideas that cannot be expressed through traditional music notation. They also serve as a physical art form of the sound piece which it was written for, meaning it can be preserved other than in memory. Graphic scores are also a useful tool for improvisation. One of my strongest sound related beliefs is that anyone has the capability to make music, and graphic scores can help to fulfil that belief.
So, when in lecture we were shown Cathy Berberian’s Stripsody in seminar, I thought I’d see it with a different perspective to a few years ago.
I, however, did not.
I had to question myself- what made traditional music notation so much more palatable than graphic scores? After all, they’re not so different; both of them use symbols to convey musical ideas. I pinpointed where my issue with graphic scores lay, and that was that there is no common language to help ground a consensus of what is about to be played. If I were to then view music notation, traditional or graphic scores, as language, it might help me to better understand the benefit of using a graphic score.
“No other natural communication system is like human language” (Ray Jackendoff). The origin of language and how it initially developed is something that is still being pieced together by science. In Ray Jackndeoff’s FAQ, How Did Language Begin?, gives an explanation of how the origins of language would be studied, and what current research there is- exploring ideas around evolution. Jackendoff’s own observation on protolanguage resonated with me; toddlers and those learning a new language find ways to communicate, creating their own common language, much like pidgin languages, which “are learned as second languages in order to facilitate communication”. Humans somehow find commonality in phrases, using expression cues and gestures to identify meaning.
So, how do I apply this new understanding to graphic scores? My foremost thought would be to differentiate the uses of each one, like how pidgin languages are used secondarily, and therefore don’t convey everything possible within human expression. It could then be said that graphic scores aren’t necessarily useful for conveying full and complex musical ideas, but rather for gaining a general consensus of what the sound should be to those playing the score. With this in mind, I am going to challenge myself to create and use a graphic score to initially create my sound piece for this unit. I am going to use George Crumb’s The Magic Circle of Infinity as inspiration, as it still uses traditional music notation. This means that I can start to get comfortable with creating graphic scores by keeping it to my current understanding, then in future I will be able to create more abstract scores.