A Series of Breaths (#2) - Bree van Reyk/Veronique Serret (violin)

About

A Series of Breaths (#2) explores the techniques of circular bowing in the right hand, coupled with varying finger pressure on stopped notes in the left hand. These effects both create shifts in the harmonic spectrum and I wanted to explore these states and the thresholds between them. As a percussionist, one of my most extreme musical jealousies is of the sonic richness of strings and the dynamic and spectral subtleties possible through use of a bow. Bowing has qualities of the infinite - sustain from and to nothing - when my sound world is more often based in the on/off relationship of attack and decay. Structurally the piece leaves space for the performer to choose how long to stay in each state before moving on, and encourages a slow and deep listening from performer and audience.

Technique Explanation & Demonstration

The techniques explored are circular bowing in the right hand, and varying finger pressure in the left hand.

Listening Activity

Kajia Saariaho's Nocturne for Solo Violin is an excellent example of the explorations of harmonics and changing bow states (sul pont + sul tasto)

About Bree

Bree van Reyk is a drummer, percussionist, composer and sound artist who makes unconventional and tradition-challenging performance works. Her music resides in the intersection between contemporary classical, indie-rock and performance art and is equally warm-hearted, celebratory, and focussed on issues of equality. Bree has been commissioned by Sydney Festival, Sydney Chamber Opera, Ensemble Offspring, Canberra International Music Festival, Marrugeku, Urban Theatre Projects, Performance Space, Sydney Dance Company, The Letter String Quartet, Shaun Parker Company, fashion designer Bianca Spender, AGNSW, GOMA and the MCA. Her performance career includes tours and recordings with artists such as Gurrumul, Paul Kelly, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Synergy Percussion, Ensemble Offspring, Holly Throsby, Sarah Blasko, Marcus Whale, Laura Jean, Sally Seltmann, Toby Martin, Darren Hanlon, Grand Salvo, Katie Noonan, Oren Ambarchi + Martin Ng, and Anthony Pateras. b. 1978. Resides: Muloobinba (Newcastle), traditional land of the Awabakal and Worimi people.

www.breevanreyk.com

About Veronique

Véronique is a super versatile violinist who is carving a niche for herself improvising, composing and leading string sections for bands and films. She is a longtime member of art music group Ensemble Offspring and Joanna Newsom's international touring band as multi instrumentalist and backing vocalist. Véronique has a strong classical background and has worked extensively with Sydney Dance Company, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Darwin Symphony Orchestra and In collaboration with many of Australia's living  composers. Recent projects include Bangarra Dance Theatre, national tours with Kate Miller Heidke and indigenous songman Archie Roach,  performances of original material with William Barton at Woodford Folk Festival, MonaFoma and WOMADelaide and leading string sections for Jonsi, Fleet Foxes, Neil Finn and Gurrumul's Bungul. A regular in Sydney's recording studios Véronique can be heard on many Australian albums and feature films . She is currently working on her own solo compositions as well as a new album of international commissions for 6 string violin and electronics.

http://veroniqueserret.com/

Datamosh - Tristan Coelho/Will Hansen

About

Datamosh draws from the video manipulation technique of the same name which involves layers of multiple clips colliding or being ‘moshed’ together. The technique involves ‘lossy’ compression and ‘dropped frames’ to create glitchy, psychedelic effects. These ideas are realised in the music by way of lo-fi approaches on the double bass that embrace imperfections and noise through variations in ricochet bowing (throwing the bow across the strings), a technique that is prone to beautiful, natural inconsistencies due to the numerous variables involved in its execution. Datamosh invites the performer to negotiate different layers of physicality involving ricochet being superimposed on top of other techniques including glisses, arpeggiando harmonics and hammer-ons.

View the full score here.

Technique Explanation & Demonstration

Datamosh is based predominantly on experiments with ricochet bowing, both measured and unmeasured, which are superimposed on top of additional techniques.

About Tristan

Tristan Coelho is an award-winning Sydney-based composer, musician and educator. His music is largely inspired by either nature, especially the idea of amplifying the otherwise soft and delicate sounds around us, or our digital, data-driven world. Recent project highlights include Rhythm City, for piano, video sampler and electronics toured by Zubin Kanga; Daybreak for flute and electronics written for Larmorna Nightingale and supported by the APRA/AMCOS Art Music Fund; Smell of the Earth, commissioned by the Canberra International Music Festival performed by Tambuco and read/write error, commissioned by Ensemble Offspring and finalist in the APRA Art Music Awards.

www.tristancoelho.com

About Will

Will Hansen is a double bassist and composer based in Sydney. As a co-founder of SPIRAL ensemble, and member of both Ensemble Apex and Ensemble Onsombl, Will is a champion of the new music scene, and an avid performer of new and exploratory works for the double bass. Will has toured internationally to Spain and China with the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and as Ensemble Offspring’s 2020-21 Hatched Academy Associate Artist will perform a number of new Australian works. Performance highlights include BackStage Music’s “ASQ+Will Hansen”, the 2019 HSC Showcase at the Sydney Opera House, and Vivid Sydney.

www.facebook.com/Will.Hansen097

Piece for Blair - Joh MacDonald/Blair Harris

About

Piece for Blair is a piece with two main elements: on one hand it explores the new sonic and gestural possibilities granted by jamming a chopstick between the strings of the cello, and on the other hand it applies a disruptive rhythmic structure in order to repeatedly problematise a straightforward/naturalistic exploration of these sounds and gestures. The cellist takes the chopstick, and threads it under string IV, over string III, under string II, and over string I. The chopstick is then slid up to the 2nd octave position, acting as a kind of pseudo-capo. From this position, three technique-areas are utilised:

• Bowing while either gradually pressing/lifting the chopstick, causing the string tensions to be altered, or plucking the chopstick, causing it to rapidly oscillate, moving the lower three strings with it, and rapidly striking the first string at the second harmonic.

• With or without moving the chopstick, using very high bow pressure to create something that could be classified as both a scratch tone and multiphonic, or a chaotically alternating set of unusual harmonics.

• Without moving the chopstick, bowing above the chopstick (considerably further up the fingerboard than usual), producing a very strange and complex pitch-timbre and rescaling the pitches that the cello’s traditional finger positions produce.

Over these techniques, a continually accelerating rhythmic structure is introduced which constantly attempts to dominate the space that the techniques are explored in. For the first two and a half pages, proportionally replicating metric modulations progressively overlap one another, each time reducing the total possible space that any of the gestures can occupy. However, these continuous accelerations are exponential, and quickly become unsustainable. This leads to the rhythm struggling against itself to maintain its constant acceleration, both over and under shooting its target accelerations, resulting in the eventual self-destruction of the composition’s own rhythmic strategy. With the rhythmic architecture now operating with less structural control over the exploration of the techniques, they are finally freed to explore true gestural fluidity, however, they are quickly silenced at the one-minute mark, ending the composition.

View the full score here.

Technique Explanation & Demonstration

About Joh

Joh MacDonald studied composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, obtaining First Class Honours, and studyied with composers such as Liza Lim, Michael Smetanin, and Anthony Pateras. He has had works premiered by groups such as the Sydney Conservatorium Wind Ensemble and Ensemble Nouveau. He is also a member of Sydney's Splinter Orchestra, and a co-founder of Sydney new-music group SPIRAL. 

soundcloud.com/johannesmacdonald

About Blair

Blair is a highly regarded solo cellist and chamber musician. He is a member of Southern Cross Soloists and Ensemble Offspring making his chamber music profile diverse with a national reach. Blair also holds a position at the Faculty of Music, Monash University as a lecturer in cello Performance. Blair has worked with numerous chamber ensembles including the Australian String Quartet, Streeton Trio, Inventi Ensemble. He has held principal Contracts in both the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and Melbourne Symphony. Blair performs on a cello crafted by V.Gagliano, Naples, 1859

Plaint & Echo - Jane Sheldon/Niki Johnson

About

In this short piece I wanted to explore the mimicry of the voice by two very different percussion timbres, propelled by my general interest in the transposition of sonic materials derived from the body. The piece consists of an audio score of a vocal plaint of 30 seconds duration, with the score performed first on a resonant vase struck in a water bowl (or, in this case, a kitchen sink!) and then performed a second time on bowed woodblock. The vase evokes a fairly clear imitation of the vocal contours in its own low register, while the bowed woodblock delivers only a very spare imprint of the original gestures.  

Audio score

You can also download the audio score here.

Technique Explanation & Demonstration

Further reflections, drafts and cats

Some Reflections From Jane Sheldon: I began with the following audio score experiments, thinking we’d end up with something notated. But after creating a notated draft, it was clear that for a 30 second score (repeated), I could supply Niki with way more information if I went back to creating an audio score. For this piece the most important things to represent to Niki were expression and gestural contour. Notation can be frustratingly approximate where expression is concerned but an audio score can show the player the desired expressive substance very precisely. And it’s a particularly effective and simple tool for collaborating with just one player performing a single line of sound.

About Jane

Jane Sheldon is an Australian-American soprano and composer. Praised by the New York Times for singing “sublimely”, the Sydney Morning Herald for “a brilliant tour de force”, and The Washington Post for "a stunning performance", Jane has established an international reputation for performing highly specialized contemporary opera and art music for voice. She has appeared with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Pinchgut Opera (AUS), Sound Icon (USA), Ekmeles (USA), Talea Ensemble (USA), the Australian String Quartet, and Sydney Chamber Opera (AUS), where she is an Artistic Associate. She has appeared at numerous international arts festivals including Lincoln Centre Festival, Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival, Prototype Festival and Sydney Festival. Jane is a doctoral candidate in composition at the University of Sydney under the supervision of Professor Liza Lim. Described as “riveting” (New York Times), Jane’s compositions focus on the body in altered or transformative states.

janesheldonsoprano.com

About Niki

Niki Johnson is an Australian contemporary percussionist. She is a Speak Percussion Bespoke Artist and performs with chamber ensembles such as Ensemble Offspring, Hourglass Ensemble and Synergy Percussion. She is a member of multiple improvisation ensembles including Throat Pleats and SICKO, and is involved in multi art collaborations with dancers, ceramicists, and animators. In these ensembles and collaborations Niki explores sound, relationships through collaboration, and theatre. She was a 2018 graduate of a Bachelor of Percussion Performance degree at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She has recorded percussion for Tapsapce Publications, Studios 301, Trackdown Fox studios, and the ABC. She performed in the 2018 Sydney Festival, was a festival artist in the 2019 Canberra International Music Festival, performed in Concertos on Fire at City Recital Hall, was a 2019 Hatched Academy artist for Ensemble Offspring, performs with DrummerQueens, and is a member of the experimental music committee theNOWnow.

niki-johnson.com

New Light - Angus Davison/Sonya Lifschitz

About

New Light may be thought of as a science kit for extended piano techniques. The score consists of sixteen cards which can be arranged to create a multitude of pieces. Four cards feature extended piano techniques; four feature a visual prompt/gesture inspired by nature; four specify a register of the piano; and four suggest approximate duration. To create a version of the piece, match each technique with a different visual prompt, register, and duration. Over 300,000 different permutations are possible. The performer is invited to experiment and find those combinations which speak to them most. They are also encouraged to repeat the process and to experience each technique in a new light. 

View the full score here.

Technique Explanation & Demonstration

Further listening

Educational activity

About Angus

Angus Davison is an Australian composer based in Sydney. His recent work is inspired by human relationships with nature, particularly those common or unglamorous aspects which tend to be ignored. Critics have praised his music for its ‘bright energy’ (Limelight), ‘considerable poignancy’ (The Mercury), and ‘respect for sound in itself’ (Cut Common). Angus’ music has been performed nationally by leading ensembles including the TSO and Ensemble Offspring. His music has also been performed in Europe and North America. He holds first class honours from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where he is currently (2020) studying for a Masters degree on a full scholarship.

www.angusdavison.com

About Sonya

Sonya Lifschitz is a pianist working across many contexts, with repertoire spanning from 15th century Faenza Codex to works written for her today. She is known for her fiercely imaginative, daring collaborations across film, animation, spoken word, visual and performance art. Described as “a life force of extraordinary density and capacity” by a critic following a recent performance of ‘Stalin’s Piano’, Sonya is active as a soloist, serial collaborator, artistic director, educator, radio personality and arts advocate. In 2017-2019 seasons, Sonya made a critically-acclaimed solo debut at the Barbican Centre (London); De Doelen (Rotterdam); and at one of New York’s most prestigious concert venues, Bargemusic, with other highlights including solo appearances at the Melbourne (MIAF), Adelaide (AF), Brisbane (BIAF), Canberra (CIMF) and Darwin Festivals; Extended Play, Metropolis and MONAFOMA New Music Festivals; and venues such as the Melbourne Recital Centre (Melbourne), City Recital Hall (Sydney), QPAC Concert Hall (Brisbane), National Gallery of Australia (Canberra), Elder Hall (Adelaide) and Detroit Institute of Art (Detroit, USA). Sonya’s performances are regularly broadcast by ABC Classic FM, ABC Radio National, 3MBS and 5MBS.

www.sonyalifschitz.com

Dream Steps - Josh Winestock/Phoebe Green

About

Dream Steps is a short modular composition. The performer chooses how many of the ten available fragments to play and in which order, as well as how long to pause between them. The centre motif of the piece is the recurring middle C unison created using a double stop. Other melodic material is used to contextualise this sound. Within each C unison, directions are given using graphic pitch notation to guide the tuning of the note, which modulates the interference between the two Cs and creates timbral development over the course of each long tone.

Additional resources

Technique Explanation & Demonstration

Collaborative Activity

Further listening

Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988) explored microtonal tonal pitch deviations around unisons.

Many works by Cat Hope also explore unisons, drones, and microtonal deviations. Many of Hope’s animated scores are to be found via the Decibel ScorePlayer application on iPad.

About Josh

Josh Winestock is an Australian composer, improviser and multi-instrumentalist based in Sydney. He recently completed a Bachelor of Music in Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. As a composer he has worked with ensembles including the Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra, Conservatorium Saxophone Orchestra and the Australian Youth Orchestra, and has written a variety of chamber music, vocal music and large ensemble music, including a concertino for saxophone and wind orchestra. He is part of various improvising groups and collectives, including a project he helped to found, Ensemble Onsombl, and has more recently started exploring collaboration with physical theatre artists. He is also involved in choirs and activist community music making. He is the guitarist and a founding member of young amplified chamber group Spiral.

About Phoebe

Australian violist Phoebe Green is active in her artistic practice as a performer, improvisor, researcher, curator, and advocate. In a vocation where the close dialogue with composers is intrinsic to a meaningful performance outcome, Phoebe has commissioned numerous works for viola and other instruments from composers including David Chisholm, Helen Gifford, Wally Gunn, Michael Kieran Harvey, Lisa Illean, Alistair Noble, and James Rushford. Phoebe performs in solo, chamber and orchestral contexts, and has a duo with percussionist Leah Scholes. In 2014 Phoebe attended the 47th International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany, and was awarded the Stipendienpreis for Interpretation. In 2018 Phoebe completed a Doctor of Musical Arts at Griffith University.

Fluvial - Victoria Pham/Danica Hobden

About

fluvial explores the tonal range of pitch bending or shifting available on the electric guitar. Intentionally, the work focuses on the nuances of pitch-bending that require no external implements such as pedals, preparation or guitar hardware. The piece uses techniques from manipulation of vibrato, marked from small width (or referred to as classical) of pitch control through to a wider, warbling effect (whole-step bends). The piece blends such effects with the ongoing rhythm and semitone gesture that represents the movement of water, ripples and droplets. The vibrato technique then extends into further pitch bending textures such as the physical effect of neck bends and bends behind the nut. Each type of pitch-shift carries their own tonal effect and in order to appreciate the details, the more extensive techniques, such as bends integrating harmonics and neck bends, have been composed to allow more time for the nuances of the effect to resonate through the instrument. 

View the full score here.

Technique Explanation & Demonstration

A pitch bend or pitch shift on the guitar is usually executed by pushing the string upwards or downwards using the fretting hand to raise the pitch by a semitone or tone. On lower gauge strings, or when the note is fretted on a thinner string, wider intervals such as a tone and a half are achievable.

Further listening

Listed here are some extra methods of pitch shifting, but these require specific guitar hardware or external features. Guitars with whammy bars are somewhat common, whereas B-Benders are rather niche and mainly used inside the country genre. Take a look at the Tremolo or Whammy Bar, B-Bender (mechanism to mimic pedal steel guitar), as well as pedals, most commonly the DigiTech Whammy Pedal .

About Victoria

Victoria Pham (c.1996 - ) is an Australian composer, archaeologist and artist in London. She has been commissioned by and had premieres by institutions and ensembles such as the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Spineless Wonders and Maitland Regional Art Gallery, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and has featured in and produced segments of festivals such as VIVID and Newcastle Writers Festival. As an archaeologist specialises in archaeoacoustics. Currently, she is presenting RE:SOUNDING for BLEED Festival and is a recipient of the 2020 Cambridge International Scholarship to pursue her PhD in Biological Anthropology at Cambridge University.

https://www.victoriaavpham.com/ 

About Danica

Danica Hobden is a graduate and current student of the Sydney Conservatorium, having completed a Bmus (Music Studies) in Classical Guitar, before continuing her studies with a Bachelor of Jazz Performance. Following a keen interest in language learning (musical and otherwise), she is currently completing a year of study at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen in Germany, under the tutelage of Andreas Wahl and Jens Wagner. Danica is currently working on various personal projects such as recording, gigging and composing for modern jazz ensemble Limbless; performing with Celtic Rock band Bread and Seaweed and New Music duo dnka and zil as well as anything else that comes her way...

https://soundcloud.com/danicahobden

Fleeting - Alex Pozniak/James Nightingale

About

'Fleeting' explores: different pitch contours (fixed, scale-like, arpeggiated) - articulation - durational asymmetry and elasticity. We begin with repeated staccato semiquavers on a fixed pitch, followed by a descending microtonal scale in legato. These two ideas are developed across the piece motivated by the above three fields of exploration. We arrive at a new descending arpeggiated motif in bar 30 at the tempo change (a quintuplet speed metric modulation) that is a cultimation of previous developmental tendencies and in turn becomes infiltrated by the descending microtonal scales.

Technique Explanation & Demonstration

Microtonal pitches on the alto saxophone

About Alex

Alex Pozniak studied composition at the University of Sydney, obtaining First Class Honours and the University Medal and completed his Masters at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, through a UPA scholarship, under the guidance of Matthew Hindson. Alex has had works performed by groups such as the Sydney Symphony Fellows, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, The Song Company, the Arditti Quartet (Europe), the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble L’Arsenale (Italy), Ensemble Besides (Belgium), Synergy Percussion, The NOISE string quartet, The Australia Piano Quartet and Ensemble Offspring. Alex co-founded the new music collective Chronology Arts in Sydney in 2007 to produce concerts featuring new works by emerging Australian composers. He was the winner of the prestigious 2011 APRA Professional Development Award in the Classical category with which he travelled to the United States and Europe to present his works. He has taught composition since 2007 at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney and a number of high schools, including Cranbrook School where he is currently Teacher of Composition.

About James

James Nightingale is a saxophonist based in Sydney, Australia. He is the alto saxophonist with the saxophone quartet Continuum Sax and has performed regularly as a casual musician with Sydney’s orchestras since 1993. He performs as a soloist and chamber musician, including recent appearances for Backstage Music, the Melbourne International Saxophone Festival (2019) and for the Canberra International Music Festival (with Ensemble Offspring, Continuum Sax and as a casual musician). His recordings of saxophone music by Alan Holley and Andrew Ford have been released on CD. Performances with Continuum Sax for Phoenix Central Park are now available on YouTube.

Clarinet Overtones Game Amanda Cole/Jason Noble

About

The aim of this game for clarinet and electronics is to play each fundamental pitch and get the overtones in ascending and descending order using the same fingering. Start with the C# fundamental, then the Bb, the G and finally the low E. Try to improve your accuracy and finish the game faster, it will happen with practice.

For a simpler version, try to just get the fundamental and the first two overtones for each fingering. Using the register key can help if it is too difficult at first. Practice makes perfect!

To make sure the audio settings on your computer are correct, click the ‘Open Audio Status Window’ button. If you are having issues with your audio, check your settings are similar to the ones in the screen shot below. On the next page are the overtones for each fundamental pitch notated on a stave. Can you play all of the overtones for each note?

Technique Explanation & Demonstration

Clarinet Overtones - The clarinet has mostly odd numbered partials in the harmonic series giving the clarinet it's unique timbre.

Activities - Additional Listening

Ablauf by Magnus Lindberg  for clarinet and two bass drums. :Clarinet overtones are used to great dramatic effect in the multiphonics at the beginning of this piece.

About Amanda

Amanda Cole is a composer of instrumental and electronic New Music. Her compositions feature microtonal structures, interference beats and fusions of electronic and acoustic timbres. She writes her own interactive software that she uses in her solo performance practice and in collaboration with other artists for New Media projects. Amanda has a Bachelor of Music (Hons.1) and a PhD in Composition from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She is currently a sessional lecturer in composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and Sydney University.

About Jason

Jason Noble is one of Australia’s most versatile clarinettists. As a core member of Ensemble Offspring for over 15 years, Jason has performed contemporary new music at festivals from Warsaw to London, Shanghai to Kabul, and around Australia, working largely with living composers. He has toured internationally as part of the live musical entourage for The Shaun Parker Dance Company’s acclaimed production, AM I and has jointly received “Best Performance” awards with Ensemble Offspring at the APRA/AMC Art Music Awards. Having been an invited guest teacher and performer over two winter academies at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in Kabul, Jason continues to support the school through fundraising and skype lessons. Similarly, he maintains close ties with the Tiwi Strong Women's Group, Ngarukuruwala, with whom he has appeared at festivals and performed on their two albums.

https://www.jasonnoble-clarinettist.com/

Triangle - Ciaran Frame / Claire Edwardes (percussion)

About

This piece uses dampening to explore the metallic textures of a triangle. It also explores these textures through dynamics, repetition and beater positioning. The score has no text. Instead the performer has to interpret the graphic notation much like a puzzle, revealing where and how the performer dampens and plays.

Technique Explanation & Demonstration

This video describes different ways to use the triangle beater, different amounts of 'dampening', and different places for striking the triangle.

Activities by Ciaran Frame

Listening

Alvin Lucier - Streetcar for the Orchestra performed by Claire Edwardes

About Ciaran

Ciaran Frame is a young composer, media artist and educator currently based in Melbourne. Having completed his honours at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Ciaran is passionate about cross-disciplinary collaboration and education, seeking a place in the world of data, technology and music. He has found a home in interactive and generative computer music, creating everything from sonification toolboxes to make music out of plants, to performance works where players must purchase their musical material. More recently, he has undertaken a residency in the Arctic Circle, where he has set out to explore the importance of music within other disciplines through collaboration with scientists. All the while, Ciaran is attempting to synthesise the rich history of contemporary classical music with a broader application of methodologies typically associated with nonmusical traditions such as Biology. He strongly believes in preparing a sustainable future of interested, informed young musicians - a belief that has formed the basis of the creation of the midge synthesiser.

http://www.ciaranframe.com/

About Claire

Internationally acclaimed Australian percussion soloist, chamber musician and artistic director of Ensemble Offspring, Claire Edwardes has been described by the press as a ‘sorceress of percussion’. In 2013 she was granted a prestigious Australia Council Music Fellowship, she is the first person to take home the APRA AMCOS Art Music Award for Excellence by an Individual (2016, 2012, 2007) three times and is the most recent percussionist to win the Symphony Australia Young Performers Award (1999). From 1999-2006 Claire was resident in the Netherlands where she developed a successful international career as a percussion soloist and revered chamber musician. Since returning to Australia 10 years ago she has been instrumental in leading, developing, and stimulating the art music scene back at home.

http://www.claireedwardes.com/

High Tides - Courtney Cousins / Lamorna Nightingale (flute)

About

The main idea behind high tides is a simple combination of two flute techniques; the tremolo, and harmonics. One compositional problem I encountered in this study was attempting to create a structured piece of music from a simple device. I considered potential pitch contours, and how changing dynamics and airflow influenced these, as well as the effect of changing the tremolo fingering. In structuring and organising all these possibilities, I simply decided to follow a general dramatic arc to create a sense of resolution at the end. In notating high tides, I realised that there were in effect two musical lines to follow for the performer; what notes are fingered, and what is actually sounded. Drawing pitch contours above the stave was a good compromise in that it was specific, and yet still allowed for the performer’s interpretation to form an important part of realising the work.

Technique Explanation & Demonstration

High Tides is based the combining of 2 techniques - harmonics and tremolo. Tremolo is the rapid alternation between two notes - like a trill but the notes are further apart. Courtney has requested using amplification to create a richer set of overtones - it can be a little bit dead sounding without this extra ‘help’. Some information for how harmonics work here.

Further listening 

Australian composer Anne Boyd uses a similar technique in her piece ‘Red Sun, Chill Wind’. The flute player is advised to play into the body of the piano with the pedal depressed to amplify the sound. 

About Courtney

Courtney’s first “serious” composition assignment was when she was fourteen, and had to compose a serialist piece in the style of Stockhausen. At the time, she had a slightly concerning obsession with Bach (which hasn’t quite slipped yet!), and so found this modern art music “all a bit weird”. Now it’s not quite the same story - she loves messing around with new sounds whatever the medium, whether it be instrumental, vocal or electroacoustic. She loves conceptual music, aesthetics, and the idea of music as a form of story-telling. 

Courtney is now in her 2nd year studying her BMus in Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium.

About Lamorna

Lamorna Nightingale is a freelance flautist, concert presenter, educator and publisher who is passionate about the future of art music in Australia. She is a core member of the new music group - Ensemble Offspring and has been performing with them since 2007. Lamorna has many years experience working in the orchestral sector performing regularly with many of Australia’s finest ensembles. In January 2016 she performed with early music ensemble Brugge Anima Eterna at the Sydney Festival and then the Lincoln Centre in New York. Since 2017 Lamorna has curated and produced a new concert series dedicated to new music in Sydney ‘BackStage Music’.

https://www.lamornanightingale.com/