Two Works by Catherine Schieve performed at TENOR 2019 Conference

Catherine Schieve was one of the keynote speakers at the TENOR 2019 conference on music notations and music technologies held in late July 2019 at Monash University.  As part of this conference, two pieces by her were played: Ink Jungle, performed by members of the Decibel Ensemble, and Repentistas, performed by Catherine and Louise Devenish and myself. Here are videos of the events - complete for Ink Jungle, and a 1 minute excerpt from Repentistas.

Catherine Schieve's graphic score Ink Jungle performed by members of Decibel - Lindsay Vickery, clarinet; Louise Devenish, percussion; Aaron Wyatt, violin; and Tristen Parr, cello.  Performed at the Performing Arts Centre, Monash University, July 23, 2019.  Video by Warren Burt.  Ink Jungle is a 3 meter by 3 meter canvas mounted and displayed in a free standing manner in the performance space.  Players read the various symbols and gestures on the score in specific ways, following instructions from the composer. This was the opening event in TENOR 2019, an international conference on music notations and music technologies that was held at Monash University Department of Music this year. Catherine was one of the keynote speakers at this conference.

Repentistas are the troubadours of north-eastern Brazil.  They play slack-tuned guitars with highly ornate rhyming lyrics in a very rough voice style.  Repentistas by Catherine Schieve is a work in homage to these musicians.  The work, in this outing, was for toy piano (played by Louise Devenish), viola (played by Warren Burt) and electronics (performed by Catherine Schieve).  The original version of the work was for the reconstructed Grainger-Cross Electric Eye Tone Tool (a light controlled synthesizer based on plans by Percy Grainger and Burnett Cross); stringed instrument, toy piano and organ.  The large (1 meter by 2 meter) original graphic score for the light-controlled synthesizer was photographed and used in the iPad app Virtual ANS.  The organ part was transcribed into another score for another iPad, also with Virtual ANS on it.  The toy piano part remained the same, and the viola was used in this version as the stringed instrument.  The viola part is a large spiral shape (about 1 meter by 1 meter) which indicates bowing, dynamics and timbre, but not exact pitch or rhythm.  The toy piano evokes the slack-guitar strumming style of Repentista guitars.  The electronics are played live, and the interaction with them provides much of the sound material of the piece.  It is an essential part of the piece that none of the performers are experts on the instruments that they are playing. The entire piece is about 10-12 minutes long.  This is a one-minute excerpt from the piece, taken by our colleague Nic Lam, during Catherine Schieve's keynote talk at the TENOR 2019 conference at Monash University in July 2019.  Thanks to Nic for giving us a copy of his video.  Editing by Warren Burt.