Kupka’s Piano: Sonic Objects

With new music ensemble Kupka’s Piano, I presented a concert of recent small chamber works that featured everyday objects in different capacities. I considered my Categorical Framework in programming the concert as a method to understanding the various ways of working with everyday objects: Sonic Objects, Multisensory Objects, Silent Objects, and Prepared Instruments. These works are sprinkled throughout Chapter 3 of my written PhD document and explained in further detail, but here I provide live footage from this concert along with the notes that were originally included in the printed program.

I extend my thanks to my fellow members of Kupka’s Piano: MacArthur Clough (clarinets/objects), Liam Flenady (guitar/objects), Hannah Reardon-Smith (flutes/objects), and Angus Wilson (percussion/objects).

Sonic Objects took place on 13 September 2019 at Ian Hangar Recital Hall at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University. Video documentation was captured by Will France and audio was managed by QCGU.

I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which this concert took place, the Jagera and Turrbal people, and I pay my respect to their elders past, present, and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.

Meaghan Burke: MD-PhD (2018)

Meaghan Burke is a New York based cellist, singer and composer. She composed MD-PhD as a reaction to an ironic concert situation when she was on stage performing. The work calls for a very soft improvisation by a solo musician, indicating on her text-based score ideas for the performer to use as inspiration: “Fade to nothing. Wait a while. Leave”. The “Quiet Hero” of the work is slowly revealed. A sketch for MD-PhD was premiered in by Burke’s trio Dead Language (of which Jodie Rottle is a member) in 2013 and was later updated for violin in 2018. The composer has kindly allowed the work to be adapted for clarinet for this performance.

This work is an example of Multisensory Objects

Rei Munakata: Buckle in the Air (2011)

The composer writes: “Please take your seat comfortably and enjoy your relaxation time.”

Rei Munakata wrote Buckle in the Air for his ensemble Curious Chamber Players. This work explores extended techniques of the instruments and blends them with sounds of objects. There is no dedicated percussion part, rather the part is described as “sound objects”. Some of the instrumental performers double on objects, and this weaves together the expected sounds of wind instruments with the surprising sounds of paper, whirling tubes, and almonds. The version presented this evening was later expanded for a larger ensemble and included more objects in each of the player’s parts, further blurring the lines between object and instrument sounds. Munakata is explicit in stating that sound is the most important element and that the work should not be theatrical.

This work explores Sonic Objects

Malin Bång: Hyperoxic (2011)

Swedish composer Malin Bång frequently composes instrumental music involving objects. Her duo Hyperoxic categorises objects according to their method of sound production: air.

She writes:

“Hyperoxic celebrates the oxygen as a human necessity and foundation for wind instruments, and explores different means of letting air pour through the bass flute; either with massive air pressure, or as gentle gusts, or using the smallest amount of air possible. There are many everyday objects that use air in their basic functions and I have chosen a collection of objects that can challenge the flute with their unique sounds, but also seamlessly merge with the palette of air timbres created by the flute. The focus is air in three different appearances: the communicative air that we use for speaking and whispering; the organic air that we experience as breathing, winds or breezes and finally the mechanic air which is used in several simple tools and machines. These three prototypes have influenced the music on different levels such as the many shades of air timbres, the specific characters of the different gestures, the interaction between the performers as well as the form being based on a gradual movement from the communicative and organic air to a noisier, loop-based mechanic air.”

This work explores the Sonic Object

Jodie Rottle: BOARD! (2019)

BOARD! is a work for five players on board games. It explores the sounds related to the action of playing the games and also the game pieces as objects. I wanted to find a way to explore the sounds of the games through both their intended functions and as simple noise makers. Inherent to playing a game are physical gestures and emotions. This is explored in Movement I of the piece, which I notated as text-based instructions. Movement II is a graphic score that explores the sounds of the game pieces in detail: pencil on paper, dice rolling, the bouncing of game pieces. Each Player is assigned a character and must use this as a theatrical and aural tool. For example, the character of Player 5 is “too cool for games” and thus silently explores a stacking tower game...until it all falls.

This work is an example of Multisensory Objects and Silent Objects

Michaela Davies: Obstructed Recitals (2013- )

Michaela Davies’ (AUS) Obstructed Recital is a series based on the concept of involving a physical limitation to performance. The requirements for work are to choose a piece of existing music that a performer knows how to play well, but then add an obstacle into how one would normally make sound. Previous performances of her work have included a percussionist placing large boxes in between her and her vibraphone; a pianist fastening rubber bands around his fingers and playing Satie; and a vocalist singing in a closed closet. Flutist Hannah Reardon-Smith has chosen to perform Debussy’s Syrinx with the obstacle of playing with socks on her hands.

This work explores the Prepared Instrument

Tomi Räisänen: Balloon Work (2011)

Tomi Räisänen’s Balloon Work is an exploration of the different sounds of balloons. Four balloon players inhale, inflate, squeak, rub, and deflate a balloon in a rhythmic pattern. Musical elements like vibrato (possible by pulsating the air opening while squeaking), dynamics and improvisatory sections elevate the simple sounds of a balloon to a substantial ensemble work. Acoustic guitar is played with a superball mallet, which is one of the only appearances of the prepared instrument on this program. No indication is made by the composer as to what colour the balloons need to be, nor are there any notes on potential theatrical elements. Perhaps these impressions are to be left to the audience to decide.

This work is an example of Prepared Instruments and Multisensory Objects