Playing the Electrophonic Saxophone

Kjetil Traavik Møster

'Playing the Electrophonic Saxophone' explores the expanded role of the instrument and relations made possible by such expansions. In and through artistic practice I research the many processes, tensions, and artistic possibilities that emerge through interplay. How can exploring possibilities and conditions for the acoustic saxophone in interplay with electric and electronic tools and sounds pave the way for new music, new insights, and expand the conception of what the instrument can be? How can playing with electrically and digitally manipulated sound facilitate the instrument’s ability to connect to musicians and artists from other fields of practice? The research’s main artistic outcome is the sum of a series of artistic projects presented in this exposition. The two texts Playing Air and Playing Parasitic constitute the ethical and methodological basis for the research and my practice and transfers to the projects’ two basic elements: roles and their relations. The band Møster! acts as the main project ensemble, and the PhD research is finalized with a public artistic presentation at the Nattjazz Festival, Røkeriet USF, Bergen on June 1st, 2021. 'Playing the Electrophonic Saxophone' utforsker instrumentets utvidete rolle, og relasjoner som en slik utvidelse åpner for. I og gjennom kunstnerisk praksis forsker jeg på de mange prosesser, spenninger, og kunstneriske potensial som vokser frem gjennom samspill. Hvordan kan utforskning av muligheter og premisser for akustisk saksofonspill i samspill med elektriske og elektroniske verktøy og lyder lede til ny musikk, ny innsikt, og utvide forståelsen av hva instrumentet kan være? Hvordan kan det å spille med elektrisk og digitalt manipulert lyd legge til rette for samhandling med musikere og artister fra andre kunstneriske felt, med ulike kunstneriske praksiser? Forskningens kunstneriske resultat er presentert som en samling prosjekter i denne eksposisjonen. De to tekstene 'Playing Air' og 'Playing Parasitic' utgjør det metodologiske og etiske grunnlaget for forskningen og min praksis, og kan leses inn i forskningens to hovedelementer: roller, og deres relasjoner. Bandet Møster! fungerer som hoved-ensemble, og PhD-prosjektet ble avsluttet med en offentlig konsertfremføring på Nattjazz, Røkeriet USF i Bergen, 1. juni 2021.

AKB Trio

Due to geographical distances between the members of The End, we cannot play together as often as we would want. Consequently, the Norwegian part of the group, consisting of guitar player Anders Hana, drummer Børge Fjordheim, and myself, occasionally meet to explore the trio format and hence build experiences and musical material which also benefit The End.

The trio’s music develops from Anders’ rhythmic ideas and riffs. Their static qualities leave me with vast freedom to explore the electrophonic saxophone without being confined by rapid changes or complex song structures. Our repetitive voices in the polyphony often have individual time signatures or durations, similar to Luc Ferrari's Tautologos method: “The superimposition of several phenomena of varying lengths which, through continuous repetition, meet in constantly renewed configurations”1 The riffs would make the music monotonous if we looped them in repeated synchronization, but due to their varying lengths, they change the relation to each other continuously. This provides me with an improvisatory foundation that has a movement in the construction itself and facilitates extended explorations of the different effect pedal configurations.

Concert performed at RIMI/IMIR Scenekunst, Stavanger on Sept 21, 2019.

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