This post unpacks how the ‘Natura Naturans’ (mini-concerto for clarinet and prepared string orchestra) relates to the Garden of forking Paths project. See here for score and audio respectively (the solo clarinet part is at on the same PDF as the orchestra score, at the end). The story begins in...
[This is part of a series of blog posts by project participants on their work. Simon is a PhD student at the RNCM] Sound Sculpture No.1 was performed at the RNCM on the 14th February 2020. A project summary (including recordings) can be viewed here: https://www.simonknighton.com/concert-piece/sound-sculpture-no1-2020 Capturing Indeterminacy to...
[This is the first in a series of blog posts by project participants on their work. José is a 4th year undergraduate student at the RNCM] * * * * * I became involved in the RNCM strand of The Garden of Forking Paths in early 2020, and after a...
Here’s a video of Heather and I workshopping a new piece that looks like this… Originally made as part of a composition workshop for RMA 2020. See youtube description for video structure.
We’re very excited to be running a symposium at University of Leeds on 16–17 April 2021. The call document is here (PDF), please share widely across disciplines. EXTENDED Deadline for submissions is Jan. 11th 2021, see call below for details. Keywords: contingency, materiality, agency, performative ontology, sound, music, responsiveness, intra-action...
The work of Alvin Lucier is notable for its focus on sonic phenomena, harnessing material agencies for their indeterminate qualities. Lucier takes a (Cagean) non-interventionist approach to material agency, preferring to let phenomena speak for themselves. Works such as I am Sitting in a Room (1969), and Music on...
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
This is the first attempt in the project to do two things (explicitly in notation). Under-determine the specific musical material: the notation specifies no pitches or fingerings. Create recursive structures that can be dependent on material-agency. The first point was always a goal of the project, to flip the normal...
How can we break down and understand the possible ways in which we might compose with the material agency* of the clarinet? [* Our use of agency is grounded in Andrew Pickering’s usage in The Mangle of Practice (1995). He describes the interactions between people and material objects as being...
Blogging has been a bit slack in 2020, so I’m getting back on board by putting up some things that were worked on earlier in the year. The initial project stage (Sept–Dec.) was almost entirely open-ended research with Heather (and Jon) exploring the possibilities of the instrument. So to get...