Shift Access Overview

Every effort has been make to make this event as accessible as possible for those with various needs. Unfortunately we have been somewhat limited by the possibilities in the venue but below we have outlined what is available in the venue. Below we are sharing pre-show notes outlining the sounds you will encounter in each of the pieces as well as visual descriptions of the artists. We have created a Visual Story of how to travel to the venue and get to the accessible entrance from the front of the building. Please let us know your access requirements when you register for your ticket and will try our best to accommodate them. If you have any access questions, please don’t hesitate to email Lamorna at info@backstagemusic.com.au or speak to her by phone on 0402051903. 

BUILDING ACCESS

• The Church has wheelchair access via Allen Lane (to the rear of the building) into the performance space.

• There is no accessible parking available but parking in Mitchell Road is usually plentiful on weekends.

• Visual signage will be available to signpost the different areas in the space.

• Braille descriptors are not available in the building.

• Guide Dogs are welcome.

• The Church does not have a hearing loop but live captioning will be provided for the panel portion of the event. Captioned Performance: Captions are text descriptions that display the session’s dialogue, identify speakers, and describe other relevant sounds that are otherwise inaccessible to people who are d/Deaf or who are Hard of Hearing. Captions will be projected onto the screen.

• The Church has no wheelchair accessible bathrooms, there are, however, accessible bathrooms available in nearby Alexandria Park .

• If you need a break, the doors to Allen Lane will be left open throughout the performance.

VISUAL STORY - How to get to the space.

Here is some information to help you plan your visit to The Church for the performance of ‘Shift’ .

WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE TOILETS MAP

PRE-SHOW NOTES

Full Program Notes also available.

Nat Bartsch - Hope

Nat will perform three pieces at the piano with a laptop creating ambient, gentle electronics as she plays. These pieces are called The End of the Decade, Big World and Forever, and No Time At All. There will be a soothing sensory video behind her, with a liquid-like effect, and a slowly evolving colour palette of blues, purples, pinks and similar colours.

Her music will be lullaby-like and gentle, using repetitive piano patterns, lyrical melodies and improvisations. There will be subtle ambient electronics, creating long meditative reverb sounds, and glitchy repetitions of melodic notes, underneath her playing.

Kristin Rule – Shine

Shine is a musical composition by composer / performer Kristin Rule for solo electro acoustic live looped viola and moving images. It is approximately 12 minutes and is divided into two parts of similar length.

 Moving Images : Shine begins with a pre-recorded poem and moving images expressing Kristin’s own lived experience with a traumatic left-hand injury. The poem will be captioned on screen. As the music builds abstract animations of water drops, lens flares, colourful lights, patterns and landscapes will feature with creative footage of hands and hand gestures. The moving images provide visual hints of the music, following the pulse and themes as they weave in and out.

 Music Section 1 : The viola enters softly with a gentle repetitive pulsating melodic pattern that is heard for almost the full duration of the work. New layers are added one by one, ebbing and flowing through the full dynamic range from soft, gentle and melodic sounds to louder lush and uplifting moments. At times the music will build strongly and sound orchestral. There are no percussive, unexpected or harsh sounds in this work. Section 1 ends with a brief pause marked by a long low note on the viola.

 Music Section 2 : Kristin will use her voice and sing into the viola. This will sound very etheric and other worldly. After the vocal section, there will be a brief build in volume before entering into a lighter texture of soft high pitched notes, forming a bed of sound for an improvised viola solo. The piece then has one final build before concluding with the vocal melody and long low notes bowed on the viola.

Georgia Scott - My3LiNAti0nS 

My3LiNAti0nS, pronounced Myelinations, is a piece for solo flute which is amplified with a small microphone. In this concert, it will be played by Flautist Lamorna Nightingale. 

It is inspired by a quote from music theorist Laurie Stras who states, “The disrupted voice conveys meaning even before it conveys language”. The piece was devised by slowing down moments of disrupted voice and exploring the beauty and patterns present within these moments.

 The piece is around 4 minutes and 15 seconds long but might be slightly longer or shorter as Lamorna may play some sections slightly slower or faster than written. My3LiNAti0nS contains lots of sounds that aren’t often heard in flute playing. It contains high whistling sounds, percussive sounds made with the performer's mouth, spoken words, growls, singing and vocal noises as well as conventional playing. Some of these sounds can be quite loud, especially the first note which is quite loud and high-pitched.

Rebecca Bracewell – Spirals

Spirals is an electroacoustic work that features hearing aid feedback from a collection of hearing aids. The piece begins with small, sporadic feedback sounds reminiscent of birds and crickets. As Rebecca places the hearing aids into her collection of small glass jars, the hearing aids begin resonating, creating sustained and vibrating feedback loops that gradually become more layered to create a shimmering texture. 

Although there are no sudden changes in this piece, the mood shifts subtly from a calming and consonant feel, to something darker and more dissonant. This change occurs in the last third of the piece. The resonating feedback creates a constant pulsing feel throughout, but there is no clear rhythm or beat. Spirals is approximately 10 minutes in length.

Molly Joyce – Form

Two movements from Molly Joyce’s work Form have been re-arranged by Molly Joyce for Voice, Flute, Clarinets and Vibraphone. Titled Conform and Reform, these movements will be performed by soprano Ria Andriani, flautist Lamorna Nightingale, clarinettist Jason Noble and percussionist Claire Edwardes. The overall work Form is a song cycle exploring themes surrounding physical conformation, deformation, reformation, and transformation. 

 Conform creates a reflective and meditative atmosphere through long, held notes by flute and clarinet and a repetitive vibraphone pattern that underpins much of this movement. There are repeated patterns in the clarinet and flute line later in the movement, but these are not loud or percussive. Much of the soprano line is in quite a high register but is at a soft volume. There are no sudden loud noises or repetitive drumming in this movement. Conform is 5 minutes and 30 seconds long but this timing may vary slightly in performance.

 Reform is performed at a quiet consistent volume with steady beats. It begins with a soprano solo and a repetitive percussion ostinato that sits below the ensemble throughout most of this movement. There are repetitive, slow descending and ascending lines in the clarinet and repetitive flutters in the flute line. The soprano line is high in the register but soft in volume. At 3-minutes and 30-seconds, the repetitive vibraphone pattern moves into a higher register where it remains for the rest of the movement with occasional interjecting low chords. At 5 minutes there are higher clarinet and flute lines and held notes with a soft dynamic which fade out as the movement draws to a close. Reform is approximately 5 minutes and 45 seconds long.

ARTIST DESCRIPTIONS

(see full artist bios with program notes.)

Lamorna Nightingale (she/her) is a musician in her late 40s. She is of medium height and build, with pale white skin. Her face is framed by a blue-tinted bob and straight fringe. She wears bright colours complimented by stylish and bold glasses, round with red frames. She plays the flute in Georgia Scott’s piece My3LiNAti0nS and in Molly Joyce’s Conform and Reform and will introduce the program.

Georgia Scott (she/her) is a composer in her early 30s. She is shorter in height with a slim build. She has pale white skin and dark brown, straight shoulder-length hair that she usually wears in a bun. Georgia is the composer of the piece My3LiNAti0nS. This title encompasses letters and numbers which gives the visual appearance of the word myelinations.

Kristin Rule (she/her) is a composer and musician in her mid-40s. She has white skin with a fair complexion, and straight blonde hair that falls past her shoulders. She is of average height and medium build. She plays the viola and is the composer of the piece Shine. 

Nat Barsch (she/her) is a composer and musician in her late 30s, with fair skin and mid length wavy brown hair. She is just above average height and has a slim build. She wears rounded clear frame glasses, pairing this with bright lipstick. She plays piano and electronics and will perform the pieces The End of the Decade, Big World, and Forever, and No Time At All which she composed.

Rebecca Bracewell (she/her) is a sound artist and composer in her mid-20s. Her oval shaped face, blue eyes and expressive dark eyebrows are framed by short, dirty blonde hair which is soft in texture. She is just above average height, with a slim build, and wear dark coloured clothes. She has composed the work Spirals. 

Ria Andriani (she/her) is a writer and musician in her early 30s. She is of Asian heritage and has tan skin. She has silky, straight dark hair, parted on the left and falling to just below her shoulder length. She of average height and build. Ria is a singer who will perform Molly Joyce’s Conform and Reform.

Claire Edwardes (she/her) is a percussionist in her mid-40s. She is of average height and medium build, with olive skin and brown hair worn short in a funky asymmetrical haircut. She wears round black framed glasses and colourful clothes. She plays the vibraphone in Molly Joyce’s piece Conform and Reform. (Molly Joyce will not be present in person for the performance of this work and so has not been described in these notes.) 

Jason Noble (he/him) is a musician in his mid-40s, of average height and an athletic build. He has white skin and has short brown hair, slightly receding with grey highlights. His short, well-trimmed beard is also flecked with grey. He plays the clarinet in Molly Joyce’s Conform and Reform.