Reaching for the utmost limits – Making a process visible with The Hands, the Bow, and the Bass by Johannes Nästesjö

Can I, by reaching for the utmost limits on my instrument, in dynamically, technically and pitch related ways both find, for me, new contemporary techniques and expand the ways on how to play and perform them on the double bass? Can I, by illuminating, documenting, studying, organizing and re-documenting my musical process, design a toolkit for improvising bassists with contemporary techniques? Can I, in my musical process both act as the first person, i.e. the subjective musician and as the third person, i.e. the objective observer?  If so, can I, as the observer objectively observe and organize the ”discoveries” that I am doing in my daily work as first person. Can I create this tool kit through the limitations that my instrument offers acoustically (the hand, the bow and the bass). And can I through this immerse and widen my musical expressions? - A richer language - more elastic - with more colors.

SternStaub

Sternstaub is a collaborative project between me and the composer Henrik Denerin, which will be planned in the spring of 2022 and carried out in the autumn. It will be based on and around the results of my research at RMC. The goal of the project is a new, 30–40 minute piece for double bass and electronics.

This project can be described as a slow evolution in spiral-like patterns. Henrik wrote the solo double bass piece Seals IV (2017–19) as a dedication to me. During the study process, to be able to master the technical parts of the piece, I had to invent unorthodox etudes and double bass technique exercises to help me overcome the difficulties. The combination of the studies that I did of the piece and the techniques I invented soon led to new musical transformations which, for me, resulted in new discoveries of contemporary techniques. They have become a cornerstone of the archive that I am presenting. And they will also lay the foundation for my next collaboration with Henrik Denerin: Sternstaub, an upcoming 30–40 minute piece for double bass and electronics. In this piece, the transformed techniques will be used as they are and also transform once more, which will be a transformation upon a transformation. And in the impending rehearsal process, my aim will be to further explore new transformations on the new ones, and so on.

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Johannes Nästesjö - Reaching for the utmost limits – Making a process visible with The Hands, the Bow, and the Bass - 2022