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

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