This middle section of Figure 1 (right) labels the Metaphorical Utilisations as being readily perceived by the audience. There are two bridges leading in and out of this middle section (boxes at the bottom) which both relate to direct and indirect implementations of metaphorical systems. A direct application is, for example, the ‘recapitulation of a theme yet changed’ or it could be ‘panning the organ pipes in post-production to surround the listener’. Indirect applications would be working more with imagery: how is swirling water conveyed in music? Does it have timbral implications, or does it just relate to the state of mind of an improviser?”
For Murmuration (large ambient/free jazz ensemble) there were two images that came to me. First — a ball of swirling water with movement within a highly defined confine of a three-dimensional sphere. The second — a lit candle in an undefined room where all that can be sensed is movement outside the reach of the flickering light. This image came with the phrase ‘moving shadows in the dark’. Both images concerned one central theme, which set off the wave of inspiration that accompanies any project. The ‘eureka!’ moment.
Spirals are just a ‘sense of movement’
But how to convey movement whilst standing still? How could it be embodied within the score? A circle does not have a start and end. There is no sense of direction or momentum. The circle is a symbol for wholeness, for infinity. A perennial loop. In contrast, a spiral moves. Some months into the piece I went into the forest with a film photographer to shoot a picture for the album. I explained the importance of movement to the work and that any photo for this album should represent this notion. After receiving the developed photos I realised the photographer interpreted ‘sense of movement’ as ‘lense blur’. It is an abstract notion to even a highly skilled photographer.
I defined the practical implications of ‘movement’ to be interpreted as the following:
Trills: timbral, pitch, broken
Improvising with a narrow pitch set with a focal tone (an extension of pitch trills)
Tonguing: Fast flutter, heavy slow flutter, double/triple, broken
Bowing: tremolo, heavy vibrato, bowing with waves, flautando, spiral bowing, molto sul tasto moving to molto sul pont
Moving mute in and out of a trumpet’s bell
Note bends
Vibrations on the drum skins
Melodic lines detuning up and down
In Murmuration Part I: Shadows in the Dark the opening chord contains two contrasting pitch sets1. The first six minutes of the piece aim to create a world where the material changes ever so slightly, yet still appears as one homogeneous sound. Where the blending parameters were not through the volume but through timbral quality and movement. I asked myself “what if it was not volume that makes instruments stand out but through vibrato or timbral quality”. If the whole ensemble is playing with no vibrato at pianissimo and then one instrument plays with a wide vibrato (still at pianissimo) that instrument will most likely stand out just as much, perhaps, than if they played that note mezzo-forte. With this inspiration, the musicians were instructed to follow certain techniques on cues with the ensemble slowly adapting to the timbral change —like the imagery of ‘moving shadows in the dark’— as soon as one musician ‘stood out’ then they would become hidden again by the rest of the ensemble. The tonal idea was that this chord would appear to grow over the six minutes, with the help of these timbral/expression concepts it would appear to come from nothing.
Over the last couple of years, I have begun to walk around whilst playing saxophone, specifically in solo concerts. This in a practical sense, became a series of specialisations. I was able to affect the timbre of not just my horn but the room. Around the time I began conceptualising the third project within this research, Although Changed, I Arise the Same (reconstructed organ, saxophone, voice) I was delving deeper into solo saxophone. I realised the only time I enjoy my own playing is when I feel this sense of movement on stage, it overflows into the way I breathe and the way I move my fingers over the keys. One of these movements is using my knee as a mute in my alto saxophone bell. Even though it is cumbersome to perform, I would rather keep this movement in my improvisational repertoire than use auxiliary gear (like keypad holders) to keep the saxophone keys shut so I have my hands free. There is something about the physicality and weight of movement that adds gravity to the improvisation.
Renewal Manifestation comes back to the central investigation of a spiral as an embodied metaphor of movement and change. A breakdown and recapitulation of form.
For Part II: ‘Birth/Rebirth/Birth/Rebirth/Birth/Rebirth/Birth’ begins with a MASSIVE wave of sound from the organ, where the strings and saxophone hide within. Slowly the organ's upper stemmer are pulled away to a low rumbling mass, where the strings and saxophone appear from within the behemoth — where they play the same notes as the organ’s upper partials2. It is the same, but changed. I am imagining a large swirling mass encompassing the audience and ensemble, that slowly dwindles away.
The organ came about as the final push I needed to move away from a free jazz sphere and into new territory. This is when I began to compose my work Renewal Manifestations, which is more grounded in the contemporary classical field along with other contemporary organists such as; Kali Malone, Anna Von Hauswolff and Nils Henrik Ashiem.
During the compositional process, I was lucky to come across a Lachenmann score of Gran Torso (1972, revised 1976) and was completely captivated by the performative qualities of Lachenmann’s piece. If one listens to Gran Torso you have a sense of the weight and movement that these musicians are undertaking. This idea of movement and weight became a key compositional facet of this work. I organised 7 breath sounds to frame the string techniques around. This became the foundation of Part I.
It is important to mention that I practise an acoustic blowing instrument, which is quite opposite to an instrument where sound creation is derived from hitting/slapping/plucking. What I really mean is that in regards to the latter there is always some sort of movement. A person can play a note on the saxophone and almost not move at all. How can I communicate a sense of ‘movement’ through my instrument? How can it manifest within my sound, become exhibited through my performance? How can the music be impatiently patient? A sense of holding back. Besides the techniques listed above, I always aim for a push/pull effect. For this instance, in my mind the terms ‘movement’ and ‘weight’ are interchangeable. I aimed to communicate this in the score. In Renewal Manifestation I began to choreograph movements that denote sounds at the start of Part 1 (inspired by Lachenmann’s Gran Torso as previously outlined). I struggled to notate the movements I wanted to use, exploring even relatively well know unconventional notation techniques. Eventually, I realised I had to create my own symbols and notation to communicate and produce the sounds of movement that I was looking for.
In the last part of Renewal Manifestation, I instructed the strings to play a set of trills that moved in +-20c and then grew wider in pitch modulation the further the piece went along. In the future, I would like to write a whole piece that works with pitch modulation.
I needed something more than just intervals. I needed something abstract. So I looked to my dreams and visions. With imagery came more conceptual notions.
This is a different form of a system.
One not built on intervals but on swirling water; waves, storms and howling winds.
2.The idea of a swirling mass seeped into post-production, where the stereo picture was panned on both axes.
1.I was particularly influenced by the last track from Kit Downes’ duo organ album Vyamanikal (2017) called Nya-Aya. An oceanic mass washing over the audience and musicians. Subtly changing and unravelling.
This phrase ‘Renewal Manifestation’ had come to me about a year prior. It is a spiritual term for the manifestation of a spirit leaving your body as a new spirit takes its place. It has positive associations.
Within Renewal Manifestation a lot of the imagery was derived from prophets of the old testament. Part I (Breaths & Waves, Wheels & Wheels) relates to Ezekiel's vision ‘Wheels within Wheels' . Part II was the creation story, part III was Elijah hiding in the cave relating to the 4 classical elements (Wind, Fire, Earth, Water) with water being the spirit of the Divine (æther) that carries us over into Part IV: Where You Go, I Go) which a dedication of myself to following the leading of the spirit, inspired with Hildegard von Bingen in mind — thinking of divine leading as not necessarily bringing the easiest of times — the role of a prophet:
Part I: Ezekiel’s vision of Wheels within Wheels
“I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, 5 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures…15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. 16 This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel….20 Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.”
Part II: Creation:
“ 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light”
Part III: Elijah in the Cave
“Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the
rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there
was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After
the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the
fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When
Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the
mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Part IV: The resignation to follow the leading of the spirit, inspired by Hildegard Von Bingen
I am the fiery life of the essence of God; I am the flame above the beauty in the fields; I shine in the waters; I burn in the sun, the moon, and the stars. And with the airy wind, I quicken all things vitally by an unseen, all-sustaining life.
The whole work began to circle this theme of embracing stories of mystic visions and experiences that are poured out upon those who have sought communion with divine spirits. The idea of a prophet. These people and stories are often not readily understood, and yet the notions are fully embraced. Part III: Still Small Voice, was the most cinematic. The idea of the five elements bombarding Elijah in the cave led to the strings sounding like air and water, the organ and saxophone taking on fire and earth — with the spirit (aether) all-encompassing.
