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.
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