Diegetic sound: ‘Any sound that originates from a source within the video or film’s world. It can be either on-screen or off-screen, depending on the source of the sound.’
Non-Diegetic sound: ‘Audio whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied in the action. This can include narrators commentary, added sound effects or mood music in the background’
In the film ‘You Were Never Really Here’ directed by Lynne Ramsay and starring Joaquin Phoenix as its protagonist. Throughout the film soundscapes are used cleverly to enhance the narrative. What fascinated me the most was the real-time interaction between the characters and diegetic/ non-diegetic sounds and music. This combination produces an abstract, yet powerful effect in the film.
The first example that comes to mind is the scene near the very beginning of the film where Joaquin Phoenix’s character is sat in a taxi. As a song is playing on the radio, originally written by Johnny Greenwood for the film, the lyrics ‘you were never really here’ silenced, while the taxi driver mouths them. I find it akin to the narrative method of ‘breaching the fourth wall’ yet in a sonic sense, raising all sorts of questions such as whether the character(s) are a aware, in some shape or form, of their presence as a character in the movie.
Furthermore the melding of diegetic and non diegetic sound and musical scores are evident. The kinetic pace of the film is aided by percussive industrial noises from its urban landscapes, integrating with string sections and dissonant chords. Paul Davies sound design and Johnny Greenwood’s score fuse to create a coherent yet overwhelming, and at times cacophonous, soundtrack that envelops the viewer, putting us in a claustrophobic headspace, similar to that of the troubled main character.
Researching further into Paul Davies sonic techniques I found out that a visit to an exhibition at the Tate Modern , informed the way in he chose to display sounds in the film. An installation by the American artist Charles Atlas consisted of several video screens, placed not all in a line, but in layers with four speakers in front of them. A different sound of New York City sounded out of each speaker. Experimenting with this idea of different sounds from the same sonic family coming from different locations, he found that the resulting feeling was that of dislocation and rupture, which certainly fits the theme of the film, whereby the protagonist feels alienated from the rest of the world due to his trauma.
Furthermore, when recording the sound of a train to use in the film, Paul Davies and Lynne Ramsay noticed strang, eerie harmonic sounds at certain points within the recording. Isolation that sound, they used it elsewhere as a basis to create unease, ( It features right at beginning, over the logos) showcasing another example of how the industrial sounds of the city were smelted into the film to create said sonic landscapes.
A final example would be the scene where we can hear the dialogue of Joaquin Phoenix’s character’s and another figure over the phone, specifically a payphone. In reality this conversation would’ve been private, yet the decision to allow us to hear what is being said on the other end of the line creates a sense of voyeurism. An invasion of privacy that only lends further to the taboo nature of the film.
This reconsidering of the border between diegetic and non diegetic sounds blurs the distinction between score and sound design, and is a technique I aim to explore in future work.
In a stereo mix, if sounds are simply moving, this alone can be enough to stimulate our brains to stay engaged. Ambisonics, first developed in the 1970s, has had a recent resurgence due to the possibilites it offers in immersive audio for Virtual Reality. Ambisonics allow us to create a 360 degree sound field that can be decoded into a number of different formats
Most of the time when recording, we typically use two mics, forming whats known as an X-Y configuration. When played back, one mic goes to the left channel, while the other goes to the right creating whats known as stereo playback.
Yet we can also record in stereo using other methods such as Mid-side recording. In this technique a cardioid microphone (top) is recording the middle sound while the other mic (Bi directional) records both sides in a figure of 8 pattern. Since one mic is recording the centre space and the other is recording the sides, it would not be aurally viable to just assign them to the left and right speaker as we would with stereo recordings. As a result, the signals need to be added together and decoded. This is also the case for Ambisonic recordings.
With the mid side technique, two microphones create one dimension of audio – left and right. For ambisonic recording all we need now in addition to left and right is another bi directional microphone for front and back and another for up and down, giving us a 3D recording.
Most ambisonic recorders, such as the H3-VR, don’t use bi directional microphones. Instead they have 4 cardioid microphones set up in a tetrahedral mic array. This creates 4 audio tracks that we combine together to create a 3d sonic image .
The raw recording from one of these tetrahedral microphones comes in the form of a file known as the A-Format. These files are 4 channel audio files that contain the input of each mic in the tetrahedral array.
With the ambisonic tetrahedral array, the mics are separated into mid, side, up/down and front/back. More specifically they are normally labelled W for the centre omni-directional channel, X for the bi-directional front and back, Y for the left/ right and Z for the up/down.
Moreover, another file format known as B-format ambisonics, are essentially A-format files that have gone through one stage of conversion. There are two types of B-format files, namely AmbiX and FuMa. They order the channels in differeing ways and have different relative amplitudes so it is important to inspect the software or programme you intend to use the ambisonic files with, and understand what format is appropriate. One can convert AmbiX, FuMa and various other file formats between each other using softwares such as the Zoom Ambisonics Player or the downloadable Ambeo Orbit conversion tool.
Recording with first the tetrahedral mic array is known as first order Ambisonics. When more than four mics and audio channels are used, the resulting recording is known as higher order ambisonics. The additional tracks help create a fuller 360 degree sphere of sound, filling in the diagonal dead spots between the microphones.
Furthermore, ambisonic files must be decoded for playback. The great thing about ambisonic files is that they’re not channel dependent. This means that an ambisonic file can be decoded into any number of speaker configurations ( stereo or quad for e.g.)
Ambisonics offers us an intuitive way to of recording and hearing the sounds around us in a very realistic fashion. It use in immersive and virtual environments may hold answers to some of the future and contemporary audio challenges.
After going on a sound-walk with the H3-VR, I was able to familiarise myself with many elements of ambisonic recordings, such as the mics test tones and the various formats in which I could record in. I also experimented by recording certain sounds using different mic positions, specifically front facing, upside and end fire, in order to get a feel of how the recordings respective stereo images would differ when played back.
Idents: A sonic identification or label of a specific brand, device, tv channel/ program, etc. They typically last for about 10 – 20 seconds and are a clever device for marketing products as these ‘audio logos’ are recognised globally, despite differences in language. Some of the most famous idents are that of Brian Eno’s idents for Microsoft.
The link above is a short clip of audio I composed in Ableton a while back. Struggling to describe it’s nature to others I kept on referring to it as ‘introductory cinema music,’ yet after having learnt about sonic branding, ‘Ident’ seems like a much more fitting name.
Convolution Reverb Pro is a sample based Max For Live device that allows one to digitally simulate the reverberations of a particular space from the real world, referred to as Impulse Responses (IR), to a sound, creating the illusion that the input was recorded in that space. It is essentially the process of filtering a source sound through a digitally stored room sample. The application of this can give a sense of roominess, but also tonal character and width.
The method used to capture the reverberations of a given space involves playing a loud sound, such as a gunshot, into an area, phasing it out and thereby leaving us with a sonic footprint of this space. This makes convolution reverb an invaluable tool compared to other, more standardised versions of digital reverb that typically use algorithms to simulate acoustic reverb.
I experimented with this by convolving a sample using a kick drum as an impulse response. I found I was able to accentuate the low frequencies of the kick within the sound of the sample, while also dampening the frequencies of the sample that aren’t in the kick IR File. This served as a useful tool, allowing me to achieve a clearer bass sound without having to use a low-pass filter which would have cut many of the samples harmonics.
Used creatively, this device allows one to explore various spaces of sound, including unconventional ones such as the kick I used, to introduce a whole new texture to a sound or body of work. Furthermore the same device facilitates the combination of two IRs, in early and late reflections respectively. This hybridisation of multiple space further adds to the versatility of the Convolution Reverb Pro.
Another interesting thing I found was that Ableton’s Hybrid Reverb actually combines both convolution and algorithmic reverbs.
It is often found that artificial reverb effects use some combination of echoes with short delay times to recreate the acoustics of a particular space. By introducing enhanced harmonics of the input signal during the reverberation process we can create a shimmering effect. One such example of this would be to use real-time pitch shifting with feedback delay to acquire said harmonics.
Instead of using the shimmer reverb VSTs downloaded on my computer, I set about trying to recreate it myself, using Ableton’s stock plugins. Drawing up an Audio Effect Rack, I created an effects chain. It consisted of a Reverb, Grain Delay, Ping Pong Delay and another Reverb, in that order, as the distillation of ingredients in a shimmer effect is the combination of a sound diffusing (Reverb) whilst the resulting diffusion shifts in pitch (Grain Delay). I further spread this diffusion out with the following reverb and some slight delay.
Firstly, bypassing the first instance of Reverb, I went about setting the frequency of the Grain Delay to about 5Hz, taking the pitch all the way up to 12, and leaving its random pitch and feedback setting to 0. I altered the dry/wet mix to 75 percent and unchecked the sync box, allowing me to set the delay time all the way up to 128ms.
Turning the first Reverb back on, I increased it’s size and also the decay time to about 10 seconds. After applying some input processing by cutting out a little bit of the lows I brought the modulation speed up to just above 1Hz in early reflections. I then increased the volume of the diffuse slightly, all of which made the Grain Delay’s pitch shifting a little less prominent in the mix. The Ping Pong Delay, just after the Grain Delay also helped spread things out in the stereo field, so that nothing about the resulting shimmer effect was too centred, in order to achieve the appropriate ambience, allowing it to flourish in the background. Using another instance of Reverb at the end of the effects chain, with similar processing to the the one that preceded it, I continued to tweak settings, such as the feedback, in order to explore and apply more characteristics to the shimmer, aiming for a ethereal, cavernous feel.
Possibly my favourite speaker from the visiting practitioner series, Khyam Allami offers a very different perspective on the relationship between the western musical system and other more marginalised musical cultures. Specifically honing in on tuning systems and microtonality, his opinions on the subconscious western bias we are all subject to has definitely made an impact on the way I now view western confines of music.
Khyam Allami – Background
Born in Damascus, Syria, Khyam Allami migrated to London at the age of 9. His renewed interest in cultural history and ethnography was born from the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Spurred by a need to reconnect with his roots he started playing the Oud as his primary instrument in his twenties, achieving much renown as a performer of the ancient instrument. Alongside this he studied ethnomusicology at the university of SOAS, specialising in Arabic and Iraqi music. He is currently in the process of finishing a PhD in composition at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, giving him the platform to further his research into the application of ‘contemporary acoustic, electro-acoustic and electronic compositional techniques and processes to Arabic music through the use of technology and various instrumentation.’
An ancient short-neck lute-type, pear-shaped, fretless stringedinstrument
Pythagoras and Historical Misconceptions
Khyam’s research into microtonality and tuning systems lead him to the ancient Ionian Greek philosopher Pythagoras. Not only credited with ‘many mathematical and scientific discoveries’ he is widely seen to be the discoverer of the relations between music and mathematics. Upon deeper introspection however, the reality of it is that many of the ideas that Pythagoras, and the pythagoreans that followed him, developed were already being practiced across the east. Some examples include a clay tablet in Mesopotamia, dated to 2500 B.C. that talks about a specific tuning system that was used to tune the Mesopotamian lyre. There is also documentation of a Chinese technique for creating tuning systems using bamboo panpipes, dated at around 1700 B.C. Cross referencing this to Echo Ho’s work, it brings to mind the Guqin instrument that can be traced back to the Zhu dynasty in China (1046 BC – 771 BC) and is ‘one of a few instruments which changes the pitch tunings in order to change the key.’ Paradoxically, Pythagoras and his theories are only dated back to around 500 B.C. and according to Greek theorists, documentation of divisions of strings originated from the revered mathematician Euclid at around 300 A.D., revealing a very worrying discrepancy between the actual origins of tuning systems and the western view on the matter.
Origins of Western Bias On Music Theory
Khyam Allami claims that Pythagoras is the first point in the musical bias that society has developed. The misplaced reverence of Greek history and philosophy and the historical view of ancient Greece as a hub of western civilisation unwittingly ostracises many important practices within other ancient cultures that have made transformative contributions to contemporary western society. This is controversial as the representation of the Greeks being the centre of these ideas nestles into the heart of discussions about music theory. These inherent biases are then inherited by following generations creating a mass confusion and misinterpretation of musical history.
Equal temperament and the Limitations of Digital Software
The majority of digital tools today use equal temperament which is the western system for dividing the octave into 12 equal steps. This default tuning system thats available in the majority of sound based softwares and hardware we use today is representative of western music theory, yet is used by countries all over the world, a lot of whom use tuning systems that don’t rely on equal divisions of the octave.
Khyam opened up about his experiences with digital softwares, expanding on how the encoded equal temperament led him in a different direction to his Arabic foundations. The tools intrinsically went against the way he had learnt the Oud and music in general. The difficulty he met from using such softwares and the resulting frustration drove him to work on a creative solution for applying more marginalised tuning systems to digital music making. His work in max for live saw him create a device called ‘Comma’ that enabled one to tune any synthesiser by ear using specific values.
Whilst studying for a PhD on composition, focusing specifically on contemporary and experimental Arabic music, he again found himself developing pastiche ideas based on his predecessors in composition. Dissatisfied in his approach to his work he realised that, whilst his previous imperative had always been to find some sort of end result in which he could apply his accumulated knowledge, his underlying aim had always been to liberate himself creatively as opposed to having a means to an end. In a more understandable sense, the ability to discover a creative spark through the process of making music, instead of trying to execute a preconceived idea within the confines of western technology. This ultimately lead him to his work with the browser based applications Apotome and Leimma.
The Apotome Project
The Apotome project is a transcultural musical venture based on two browser based software applications, Leimma and Apotome, that provides a formula for the creation and exploration of tuning systems. While Leimma solely focuses on the creating of individual tuning systems, its sister application Apotome is a generative music making environment focused on making tuning a fundamental element of it.
A4 = 440Hz is a well known figure in western music and has become ‘the tuning and manufacturing standard for instruments.’ In reality tuning is a far more complex matter than simply ‘A being 440hz.’ This very idea contains an exclusion of other musical cultures that uses scales with more notes than the traditional ones used in the west.
Remnants of colonial perspectives of what music is supposed to be is inherited in the tools and softwares we use. Apotome and Leimma are so crucial to unpacking these biases as they deconstruct scale systems and de-colonialise musical preconceptions. These tools treat musical culture as equally as possible, but also encourage not only cultural, but individual identity.
After having tried Leimma myself, I found it to be a very user friendly and intuitive application. Through creating my own tuning system, mapping chosen frequencies to my midi keyboard, I was able to hear things I normally wouldn’t, exposing myself to a whole world of compositional ideas and concepts. Moreover, one can send their personal tuning system by simply copying and pasting its URL link making collaboration and feedback very accessible. I was disappointed to find however that I was limited by the amount of keys on my keyboard, unable to create a tuning system with more than 12 notes in one octave. Liberated in a sense by this application, yet once again confined by the amount of piano keys in one octave. I wonder whether seeking out a midi enharmonic keyboard, if one even exists, would alleviate this problem.
A screenshot of my work in Leimma
Another interesting thing to note is that ‘Comma, Leimma, and Apotome, all take their names from ancient Greek terms used to describe specific microtonal intervals that result from various mathematical nuances associated with creating tuning systems.’ The re-appropriation of these terms are fitting as they subtly expose misconstrued histories but also ‘advocate for celebration of difference across cultures’
Eggs – A Metaphor forSocietal Crutches
At one point in the lecture Khyam tells of the unexpected dissatisfaction he experienced with the culmination of his initial Max For Live project (Comma). Despite having a tool he had yearned for so long at his disposal, he was unmotivated as the difficulty in developing the idea was the main drive in the first place. He likened this realisation to, what I found to be, a very intelligent anecdote describing a group of housewives asked to bake a cake.
Instructed only to add water to a provided cake mix, most of these housewives felt like they were not able to creatively represent themselves in the process. Consequently, the egg was removed from the mix and a new line was added to the packets instruction, asking its users to add a single egg themselves, whilst following the rest as required. As soon as this update was undertaken the cake mix soared in popularity.
He compares the idea of this ‘egg’ to the way in which people approach composition, but also life in general. I agree with his observations of people and the sense of agency that is generally needed to feel good about what we do. This agency has fused with instant gratification in todays world and causes society to rest on the crutches of technology in order to complete a task. “Most music technology that we deal with today revolves around this idea of the egg – all these defaults and settings are in place and all we are asked to do is break an egg and feel like we have some sort of agency or ownership to what we are doing – the ingredients are all laid out for us and they’re framed in a way that harbours a specific way of thinking about music”
So eloquently put, I feel this comparison really puts form to the pitfalls of western modern man in a spectacular way. It asks us to be self critical and to make sure the choices we make are not just ‘eggs.’
Cultural/ Social Ramifications
A final point to make is that the western dominance of the musical software and hardware market is another issue, in that it imposes its ideologies through its software onto people of other cultures. People, who may have differing notions of music to the ones coded into a certain device’s framework, have no choice but to use the western softwares they are limited to. Another interesting point, in the form of a question asked in the Q n A session, shone a light on the price of Ableton and its inaccessibility for those of a certain class. The very fact that people seem to be drawn to Ableton for its notoriety as the most (or rather coming closest to) creatively freeing music software brings social ramifications with it when considering the class based disenfranchisement that can occur for people from a poorer background.
Conclusion
I feel Khyam Allami is a prime example of someone who engages in consistent self reflection, constantly recreating himself in line with his changing theories on music and life. It can be hard to dig deep into our self conscious in a self critical way and unpack the biasses that we’ve inherited. Yet Khyam demonstrates the huge advantages that come with it. I feel as if his work resonates with me on a strong level as I often times feel disconnected from my heritage. His work has spurred me to get in touch with my roots more so then I have currently done. As someone who has a deep appreciation of many musical cultures outside the western sphere, whether that be the Malian blues of Boubacar Traoré, the ancient sounds of the Persian Ney or the Brazilian funk of Azymuth, Khyam has taught me the dangers of western centric, surface level exotification of said genres, and that personally delving deeper into these marginalised forms of music will only aid me in my outlook on music.
References
“Apotome: Khyam Allami X Counterpoint — Khyam Allami.” Khyamallami.com, khyamallami.com/Apotome-Khyam-Allami-x-Counterpoint. Accessed 19 May 2021.
Festival, C. T. M. “Microtonality and the Struggle for Fretlessness in the Digital Age.” Microtonality and the Struggle for Fretlessness in the Digital Age, www.ctm-festival.de/magazine/microtonality-and-the-struggle-for-fretlessness-in-the-digital-age.
“Guqin Tunings.” Wikipedia, 1 Aug. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guqin_tunings#Method_of_tuning. Accessed 19 May 2021.
“Roel’s World – Blog» How Did A4=440Hz Became the Standard?” Roel’s World, 19 Oct. 2013, roelhollander.eu/en/tuning-frequency/standardization/. Accessed 18 May 2021.
Wikipedia Contributors. “Pythagoras.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Mar. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras.
A refreshing lecture in which Tatsuya documents his progress from an amateur teenage engineer in suburban North-West London to working in Japan for the renowned electronics company Korg. He has been involved in designing and creating the Korg Monotron (the first analogue synth Korg released since the 1980s), Monotribe, Volcas, Ms20, a reimagined Arp Oddyssey and the Microkorg to name a few.
After working with Aphex twin on the Korg monologue, he discovered a more intuitive way of designing and engineering hardware by collaborating with other musicians during the process. Where Korg as a company would have typically made decisions internally without much input from actual users, the Korg Minilogue’s creation was informed by Aphex twin, giving it many interesting features otherwise not seen in previous models, such as micro-tuning with preset scales, an ‘OLED oscilloscope for visualising sounds, filter, modulation, drive’ and ‘LFO controls capable of generating powerful basses and sharp leads, among others.’ An enlightening process that lead Tatsuya to leave the company and Tokyo shortly thereafter to seek out more interesting ventures with more of a collaborative grounding.
Korg Minilogue
After securing another job at Yadastar – the brand agency for Red Bull – he was commissioned to work with the renowned sound artists Ryoji Ikeda on his sound installation ‘A [For 100 Cars]’.
Ryoji Ikeda – A [For 100 Cars]
In the form of a unique site-specific project, 100 cars were gathered in Los Angeles in order to explore the phenomena of standardised sound. Each driver was given a special device that generates various sine waves, known as the ‘fundamental building blocks of sound,’ all tuned to the historical concert pitch of ‘A’ at slightly differing frequencies. The fascinating thing about this is the oscillation that occurs when slightly different sine waves of the same pitch are played together, creating complex textures and resonances. Ikeda designated each driver with a simple musical score to follow. 100 cars. 100 unique sound-systems – 100 custom built synthesisers – 100 different tunings of the note A – all amassing to the worlds largest orchestra of superimposing sine waves, creating on ocean of sound from individually colourless tones. A study, I feel, into the complex interactions that can arise between innately simple sources.
As with most projects there were obstacles to overcome. People typically tend to customise and tune their car’s sound-systems by cranking the highs and boosting the lows. The frequencies being emitted were all around 440hz and without much happening in the mid-range frequencies of these sound-systems Tatsuya and Ryoji had to push the sound to get the required levels they needed. The sine wave synthesisers had a calibration mode fitted that enabled Tatsuya to measure the sound pressure level of each car throughout the frequency spectrum, allowing him to correct it. This was done 400 times. Tatsuya had numbered each car according to what their audio specs were on a spreadsheet and they were placed in a specific way on a grid in order for the performance to work. The sheer mass of cars however provided difficulties in navigating this, even with the help of hired valets. The opportunity to hear Tatsuya speak on these difficulties gave me an insight into the unapparent pitfalls during any projects conception, and a deeper appreciation of installations in general.
An arial image from A [for 100 cars]
Tatsuya briefly touched upon the self destructive nature of working on such an installation, as the devices made for it were only ever intended to be used once. A stark contrast from the mass production of hardware he was so used to when working for Korg. I find this outlook interesting as it perhaps can make the creative process more meaningful. Could it perhaps alter the way in which one approaches a task? As there is only one opportunity to get it right. A mindset that could be beneficial in my approach to some of my personal work. There is a beauty to this way of working, but also quite wasteful perhaps as I am yet to find in my research that these sine wave synthesisers have been reutilised in some shape of form instead of becoming obsolete forms of technology.
Another interesting thing to consider is the fact that this installation was only made possible by the funding of a very big marketing campaign for the drinks brand Red Bull. It made me ponder on whether corporate involvement in the creative sphere is inherently bad or not. Does the facilitation of creativity by corporate companies, that can bring important issues to light, cancel out their unethical or unsustainable practices? A rhetorical question on integrity and art. How much is one willing to sacrifice to showcase their work?
Tatsuya Takahashi and life after Yadastar
After being cut loose by Yadastar he was immediately rehired by Korg to build and help run a headquarters for the company in Germany. Hindered by the 2020 pandemic they have only recently started fabricating and designing prototypes for upcoming synths and other kinds of hardware and he claims that by the end of next year they will be mass producing products. Despite being back at the company he started working for, it seems that Tatsuya has learnt a great deal from his hiatus from the company. He stated in the visiting practitioner lecture that he intends to be very strict on the instruments he puts out from his branch of the company. ‘Not creating and releasing products because it is required of them, but because the world needs it.’ An abstract statement but a revitalising ethos nevertheless.
References
“How We Built 100 Sine Wave Synthesizers with Ryoji Ikeda.” Daily.redbullmusicacademy.com, daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2017/10/ikeda-tech-feature. Accessed 18 May 2021.
“Korg’s New Monologue Synth Includes Presets Made by Aphex Twin.” Fact Magazine, 1 Nov. 2016, www.factmag.com/2016/11/01/korg-monologue-analog-synth-aphex-twin-presets/. Accessed 18 May 2021.
“Ryoji Ikeda | A.” Www.ryojiikeda.com, www.ryojiikeda.com/project/A/. Accessed 18 May 2021.
The oldest traditional Chinese string instrument, Guqin, is made from two pieces of wood with 5 strings, although modern versions of it include 7 strings on its body. The instrument is acoustically low in tone, with its open strings tuned in the bass register. It has a range of around 4 octaves. Traditionally, the Guqin’s strings were made from very thin pieces of silk twisted together. After the 50’s however, nylon strings are now used on the instrument giving it a fairly different sound aesthetic. The dots on the Guqin shows the position of harmonics on the instrument. In total there are 91 possible harmonic sounds that can be made on it. It is seen as the “father of Chinese music” by the Chinese and is tied to Confucianism and other modes of spiritual practice and philosophical thought. A culturally important and ancient instrument that has not only been a tool of music, but a catalyst in the conception of prehistorical concepts such as Qi and Tao.
Guqin instrument
Slowqin
Echo ho, a Phd candidate researcher at the Tangible Music Lab, is an experimental performer and composer. Her main body of work has involved reinventing the Guqin into a more modern context, driven by an interest in exploring gesture-based composition. Named the Slow Qin in ode to it’s predecessor it is made from transparent plexiglass, fitted with a piezo pick up under its bridge and boasts ‘7 switches, 4 pushbuttons, 8 potentiometers, a light sensor, 2 pressure sensors, and a long slide potentiometer’ to allow for gesture based composition and provide ease in ‘wireless connection to computer software.’ Primarily using the software Supercollider which intelligently facilitates ‘real time data and sound sampling and processing,’ Echo has hybridised the instrument in a way that enables many possibilities within improvisation.
Echo playing a Slowqin
A cross cultural challenge
The Slowqin is so contemporarily engaging as its very nature brings together the ancient and the modern, paving the way for Echo’s cross cultural work that interweaves Chinese traditions, Western experimental music and the Guqin’s representation of a practical philosophy. Grounded in Confucianism and Taoism, the Guqin is historically seen as a medium to cultivate ones mind and an interface between man and nature. Tied to these philosophies the instrument has rarely been explored outside of its meditative qualities and ancient scores. Treated as a ritualistic object, it is believed to have been created by anceient shamans. While the historical imperative of the Guqin remains important, it can be said that these old values may impede the progression of the Guqin as an instrument in its own right.
I feel that ‘Crossroad Bridge Chronicles’, an installation and karaoke performed by Echo and Karin Harrasser serves as a metaphor for this. Inherently a science fiction and ethnographic performance, it tells a story of two woman who travel to Chinese cities in 2020. One of them is possessed by the idea of playing the Qin, going back to old traditions and becoming more in tune with nature, while the other is an ethnographer fascinated by the magic of modern megacities. Two personalities. Two states of mind. Yet both have a justified outlook on what they wish to safeguard and explore, respectively.
‘Substituting the environment of nature with the landscape of contemporary mega-cityscapes, skyscrapers become the new mountains, highways the new rivers, and the SlowQin becomes the new Guqin.‘
Performing with the Guquin and Slowquin
Ancient Guqin tablature is known to have been accompanied by images of animals that poetically evoke the type of gesture needed to play the instrument successfully.
Top: a flowing spring illustrates juan: three fingers pluck inward as one Bottom: a crane dancing in a breeze illustrates pi: inward thumb pluck
Examples of animal representation in ancient Guqin tablature
Echoes work with the Slowqin takes this a step further by using the Supercollider application to open up her articulate artistic gestures to a world of self reflective improvisation, continuously rethinking the Guqin’s possibilities. This is evidenced in her work on her performance and installation ‘Still Noise’ for ‘Guqin, SlowQin, and electronics to be performed in public space’. Featuring modular structured improvisation and an electronic ensemble, an elaborate sonic landscape is created where performers react to one another by triggering sounds in response to a graphical notation on a sheet of manuscript paper, all of which increase the immersivity of the sonic environment .
Taken from the article ‘The SlowQin: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Reinventing the Guqin’
Related works that also delve into the gesture based nature of the Guqin include the ‘Physical Gesture acquisition system for Guqin Performance,’ developed by Jingyin He. It involved a ‘wearable sensor system for the Guqin player’s hand, enabling Guqin playing technique to become meaningful physical gesture control that interacts with a computer.’ Another individual, Eng Tat Khoo used an interactive system of lasers and physical sensors to allow performers to use full body gestures to play notes on a VST Guqin.
Conclusion
I feel that the Guqin, an instrument rich in historical context, has been given even more context in todays society via Echo’s philosophical and sociopolitical work with the Slowqin. Her historically informed performances bring light to many modes of traditional thought that must be challenged in order to reap the benefits of the old and the new. The ideologies attached to the Guqin and of Echo ho have helped me reconnect with the concept of physicality within art and how motion is exceedingly important in expressing oneself. I see the Slowqin as a device that naturally allows one to tap into their creative stream more intuitively, providing inspiration for an open-ended design process, conjoining the mechanical body and digital brain. I view both the Guqin and the Slowqin as not only an instrument but a vehicle of thought.
Personal notes
PLEXIGLAS® is the brand name of the transparent plastic acrylic, just like Perspex. … Acrylic has a very high light transmission and with 92% this is much higher than glass. In addition, it is 25 times stronger than glass and only half as heavy. Acrylic is also easy to work with and will not shatter, which glass does.
Particularly fascinated by the concept of image based gesture notation, I wonder if a similar tablature can be made, or exists for a more well known instrument like the piano perhaps…
References
Behance. “Slow Qin.” Behance, www.behance.net/gallery/13587311/Slow-Qin. Accessed 17 May 2021.
“Guqin Aesthetics.” Wikipedia, 24 July 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guqin_aesthetics#Philosophy_of_the_qin.
Ho, Echo, et al. The SlowQin: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Reinventing the Guqin.
“Qin Playing Technique.” Www.silkqin.com, www.silkqin.com/07play/fngrng.htm. Accessed 17 May 2021.
“Zo-on Slows.” Goechospace, goechospace.com/echospace/performance/crossroad-bridges-chronicle. Accessed 17 May 2021.
‘The term thick descriptions was first used by Ryle (1949) and later by Geertz (1973) who applied it in ethnography. Thick description refers to the detailed account of field experiences in which the researcher makes explicit the patterns of cultural and social relationships and puts them in context.’
In a shabby dim-lit basement room, underneath an Italian Restaurant in Dalston, somewhere around 50 sweaty people huddle around a low rise stage, occupied by various machines adorned with wires wrapping around one another like vines. Blueish purple hues of light intermittently scatter over their heads as a silhouette emerges onto the stage. As the overhead light reveals the figure in a flurry of deep red, wolf whistles and applaud fill the room, drowning out the remains of quiet chatter. Seemingly transfixed on the hardware in front of him, he proceeds to engage with its knobs and buttons. Before anyone has a chance to prepare, a cascade of notes dance into everyone’s ears, shortly followed by a wall of soothing bass tones. The crowd sways in response, moving as one, to the rich chordal harmonies emanating from a sound-system hidden behind a sea of people. As if in some form of premeditated choreography. As the music comes to an end the clink of glasses and the shuffle of footsteps slowly become audible again. A second figure steps onto the stage, warmly welcomed by cheers and whistles. After briefly addressing the crowd he makes a hand gesture to the first figure and the sound of a drum loop cuts through the room. Dusty in texture and solid in pocket, all members of the crowd succumb to its groove, invited to move their bodies in unison with it. Flesh rubs on flesh as people compete for space to express themselves through movement. The heat contained within this relatively small room starts to become more and more noticeable. Beads of sweat glimmer in the hazy lighting as the crowd, one by one, start stripping off their outer layers. The second figure starts to rap into a mic, decorating the drum loop with poetic efficiency. The heat, whilst borderline unbearable, is forgotten about for a brief moment as the crowd find themselves hypnotised by the performance. United in a common appreciation for this particular vibe, the crowd is comforted in the unspoken camaraderie that a shared music taste can bring.
Sat in front of a piano and a blank piece of manuscript paper, John cage famously subjected his audience to 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence. Widely misunderstood as a deliberate provocation or a hoax, aimed at mocking the audience, its meaning is still debated. Whatever the supposed intention, I feel this Cagean silence acts as a catalyst for its listeners to expand the mind to the fact that all sounds are music. A deeper, perhaps more meaningful approach to listening. This notion of silence reminds me of an animated film I once saw called ‘The Red Turtle’ (dir. by Hayao Miyazaki). While the film is not silent, there is zero dialogue throughout. I found myself sitting in anticipation for the moment that the protagonist would utter his first words. But the moment never came. I think it may have served as an important lesson, much like Cage’s 4’33, to abandon expectation in the face of silence, freeing up your mind to its immersivity and in turn paying it the respect it deserves. To be truthful, there is no such thing as complete and utter silence on our planet, unless fabricated by some acoustic/ technological means. Which only shows that there is always something to tune into, whether we realise it or not.
