Audio Sample
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Performance by Patrick Vaughan from the CD MOMENTUM Performances from the 2024 Peggy Glanville-Hicks Address. |
Non-Commercial
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Digital Audio Album
MOMENTUM Performances from the 2024 Peggy Glanville-Hicks Address.
Score
Umwelt : Solo Bass Clarinet in B♭ / Christine Pan.
Library shelf no. 788.65/PAN 2 [Available for loan]
Work Overview
Dr Davyd Betchkal is a soundscape scientist whom I had the pleasure of meeting on my 2022 trip to Alaska as part of the Composing in the Wilderness Program. It was through them that I learnt about soundscape preservation; determining whether a sound is intrinsic to its environment.
Soundscape preservation is a relatively new field of study. Previously, standard formulas based on urban environments were used to measure national parks, leading to inaccurate readings that underplayed our acoustic pollution. Dr Betchkal and their team recently developed a new standard that could be used to measure an accurate residual sound level of natural environments. This is just one of the ways they approached nature preservation holistically, applying the 'umwelt' mindset. '
Umwelt means "lifeworld" or understanding that each living organism experiences the world differently based on needs and priorities. It may seem straightforward but our previous mistake of using urban standards to measure natural soundscapes showed how we prioritised our experience of the world over the experience of the organisms we are trying to protect.
Umwelt can mean a holistic outlook on life. Growing up in an immigrant family means growing up in an intercultural space. As a child, I felt resentful like I never truly belonged anywhere. It was only in recent years that I was able to understand and appreciate the sacrifices of my parents and those that came before me that led to my priviledged and peaceful life today. It took long-term active listening and empathy to bring us closer together.
For this solo piece titled Umwelt, I musically represented the natural world through bass clarinet fingerings and endangered species through pitches. A player actively controls their coordination and air to make sound. What is interesting is that with just the right amount of enbouchure and air pressure, a multiphonic can start oscillating its pitch with the pitch aimed by the clarinettist. These oscillations are representative of the balancing act between our needs and the needs of other living creatures.
The piece starts with subtones, mismatched fingerings, false pitches and keyclicks, sonically sounding quite alien. As the piece builds, the gestures, pitches and multiphonics layer on top of another until they carefully result in multiphonic oscillations.
Work Details
Year: 2024
Instrumentation: Bass clarinet in B♭.
Duration: 6 min.
Dedication note: Special thanks to Dr Davyd Betchkal for research and Katherine Howarth for experimenting on the bass clarinet.
Commission note: Commissioned by Momentum Commissions.. Commissioned as part the MOMENTUM 2024 commissioning project.
First performance: by Patrick Vaughan at 2024 Peggy Glanville-Hicks Address (The Ian Potter Southbank Centre, Hanson Dyer Hall) on 2 Dec 2024
Performances of this work
2 Dec 2024: at 2024 Peggy Glanville-Hicks Address (The Ian Potter Southbank Centre, Hanson Dyer Hall). Featuring Patrick Vaughan.
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