Performance Project

Sonic Performance

Development Blog

Research Stage: I started the research stage of this project by finding different Artists and Composers who I knew used electronic instruments such as Electric Violins, Cellos etc in their music. There was a couple I knew prior to this research such as 2Cellos and Lindsey Stirling who are more cover artists, but it was interesting to watch videos of them performing on YouTube and to hear what their electronic instruments sound like in a live setting. I then listened to more composers-based performers such as Hildur Gudnadóttir who I know was classically trained in Cello and has recently built three electric cellos for her current and upcoming compositions. Hildur Gudnadóttir being a big influence of mine in the music world was really insightful to see how she brings her cello playing into her compositions and when working with Dustin O’Halloran. Prototypes and Rehearsal/Draft Versions: Tuesday 30th March: Research, Practice and Experiment I tried different FXs on a single track just playing a melody. Adding different effects like Chorus, Reverb, distortion etc. I then made a little mini composition of only plucking the strings on my violin. This creates a light texture sound. I tried a small idea of playing five different parts all improvised just to see if it worked together. Tuesday 6th April: Practice and Experiment, create some composition ideas and capture I snapped a string today tuning my violin, so I was playing with three strings today – I have ordered some more they should arrive tomorrow. I had a little more direction today and started experimenting with a scalic piece. I played an A major scale four times differently, playing with a variety speeds, octaves and the fifth recording I only played a three-note motif. The second piece, I played harmonic notes on the G string. I did this four-five times, starting at different times and kept what I played the same. The outcome was quite interesting, and I would like to explore this further. Tuesday 20th April: Self Reflection Today after self-reflecting on the videos I have made so far, I think I have also come up with the 4-5 different areas that I will be looking into. (Pieces don’t need to be long could do 4-5 pieces of 90 seconds!)

1. Harmonics

2. Scale – choose a nice one

3. Scale – different approach

4. Double stops/chordal work

5. Bowing Techniques – more rhythmic

You may find that after practicing and experimenting with these ideas that you could develop one more. Wednesday 21st April: Practice and Experiment / Develop some composition ideas Two new mini compositions. Double stops: I really like this one and think this could be developed. More chordal world would be nice and spread over a longer length of time. The glissandos added something quite nice to the overall sound too – don’t do it too much but when it’s there it sounds nice – I think? ​ Bowing: Just went a little wacky with this one, see what I could do, turned out a little strange but I know how it could develop from here! Fun to try something a bit new compared to usual. Monday 3rd May: Practice / Develop Ideas / Capture Another two ideas. Out Of Tune: This piece was because before tuning the violin and due to the change in conditions of temperature in my workspace the violin went seriously out of tune. Although I used this to my advantage. I found when playing the out of tune strings with the bow it didn’t sound as nice as when you plucked it. I did a repeating arpeggio as the basses and then just improvised from there adding two other parts which also plucked the strings but add something rhythmic and harmony to the idea. Vibratos: This was me playing with the different vibratos. Since exploring the new violin, I have found that when I have played certain notes with different tensions and vibratos that it has a different resonance to what the wooden bodied violin would have. When playing some notes with a very fast vibrato there is a slight phase sound which adds a bit of grit to the small compositions I have created so far, however when doing little to no vibrato it just sounds like any violin would. I think a chance to explore a very, very slow almost minimal vibrato and see if it would have an LFO type effect? ​

Saturday 8th May: Practice / Develop Ideas / Capture ​ D Major: Like my piece A major but longer in length. I think the composition was quite successful in its outcome and an idea I would like to take to one of the final performances. One thing that did cross my mind was the listener/watcher at the beginning is listen to the other two parts I had played before – I wondered whether it would be better I played the first part that comes in, in the recording with the other parts coming in. This might not be a problem but is something to consider. ​ Harmonics II: The second harmonic composition. This time rather than just the G string I played the A and D too you can see and hear me do this throughout the video. I do want to also take this idea through to the final performances, it is just figuring out which harmonics work best together and any harmonic colours the different strings bring. I think that this Harmonic piece was more successful than the previous one. Saturday 15th May: Final Composition Ideas / Practice / Capture G Minor: I wanted to try something a little different in terms of tonality. The D major scale was quite successful last week, and I wanted to try a minor scale this week. It was interesting as the different speeds I played the different notes had interesting harmonic colours. On the way up it was mainly minor 3rds but, on the way, down as I slowed down slightly this wasn’t always the case. Room for improvement but this could be one of the five final ideas. ​ A Major Arpeggio: This was just to try something a little different. I won’t say it was the most successful, but it was interesting to play around with the arpeggio and see what would happen – perhaps a way forward would be to do this as a more pizz or staccato piece which more different parts and layers. The intonation wasn’t as good with this one. ​ Tuesday 18th May: Feedback Session ​ I am on track – agreed that my strongest compositions are D major, G minor and Harmonics II. I just need to add a couple of bits to these pieces to complete them. Two-three more pieces need to contrast these first three, this week/weekend I am going to try out some pizz, staccato and more to get a different sound. ​ (Please see below Prototypes documentation of my Final Performance).

Prototypes

Below are my prototype and rehearsal videos leading up to the final sonic performance

Documentation of the Final performance:

For my final performance I have performed five different compositions: D Major: This composition consisted of me playing D major scale, three different times, creating different harmonic colours as I went through the one octave scale. Harmonics: I played four different parts in this composition. Three parts consisted of the harmonics on the G and D string. The part you see me play in the video is harmonics on the D string and A string. G Minor: Similar idea to D major although in a different, minor key. It had a different tone to the overall composition with the mixture of minor chords. I had three parts in this composition. Pizz: A composition made up of 10 parts. Each part playing something similar – this composition was based on A major. My contrasting melody you hear me play in the main video was a three-note motif. Double Stops: A three-part composition consisting of two parts playing double stops on the G and D strings creating thick, bright coloured chords. I had a solo line over the top of these two parts playing a contrasting melodic motif.