Harp Techniques.pdf

8/14/2019 Harp Techniques.pdf

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THE HARP EXTENDED:AN EXPLORATION OF RESONANCE, MIMICRY AND IMPROVISATION

CLARE M. COOPER

WRITTEN COMPONENT SUBMITTED IN

PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE DEGREE OF

MASTER OF FINE ART

COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, SYDNEY.

2008


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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.....(Page 3)

CHAPTER 1: Influence, Expectation and Evolving Ears (Page 4-19)

Promises the Harp makes simply by being a Harp

Cultural Baggage, Stereotype and Clich

The whole Harp and its co-conspirators

CHAPTER 2: This Music - the problem with defining approaches to extending the

vocabulary of an instrument.... (Page 19- 29)

This Music

Extended Technique and Non-traditional playing

Preparation

Know the rules before you break them

Lifting the sanctions

CHAPTER 3:Improvisation and Necessitating Sounds..(Page 30- 34)

CHAPTER 4: Mimicry.. (Page 35-37)

Mimicking machines: Field Recordings

CHAPTER 5: Exploring Physical Structure and Resonant Spaces (Page 38- 44)

Exploring the instruments physical structure and resonant spaces

Amplification and Electronic Extension

Feeding tones

CHAPTER 6: A Guide to Submitted Works .... (Page 45-47)

CONCLUSION ...... (Page 48)

References / Resources / Bibliography

List of Interviews conducted via Email

Performances / Collaborations / Residencies 2005-2007


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Introduction

This research project explores methods of extension of the pedal Harp vocabulary in an attempt to

develop a unique language that challenges the instrument's stereotype and better responds to a

range of contexts. I have investigated three key areas of extension: the physical structure of the

Harp and its internal resonant spaces, mimicry as an exploratory tool useful in better understanding

the Harp in relation to the Australian environment, and improvisation both free and structured used

to challenge the vocabulary of the Harp in solo performance and collaborative contexts. The

research stems from my longstanding curiosity with regards to the limits that a sanctioned or

stereotyped repertoire of sounds and techniques places on an instrument for those who engage both

as players and listeners.

This critical commentary documents the results of the three areas of exploration indicated above as

well as exploratory practice undertaken by other Harpists, it also discusses the problematic term

'extended techniques and draws on interviews conducted with progressive Harpists and improvisers

with regards to extending the vocabulary of their own instruments. The sixty concerts I have

performed internationally over the research period have also been central to my research.

The final work consists of three elements: a solo Improvised Harp performance in my family home

in suburban Sydney (filmed and recorded), a recording of Second Stabbing (Ohnedaruth), a Harp-lead

composition by my Berlin-based ensemble: Hammeriver, and a series of three short studies composed

of recordings of the resonant spaces inside the Harp entitled Spinal Fluid.All four pieces draw from

and address what I have learnt from exploring the resonant physical structure, mimicry and

improvisation. The result is a unique language that challenges the stereotypical profile of the Harp

as a decorative instrument by embracing both its unique resonance and capacity for darkness,

subtlety and texture. This language allows for a more flexible response to a broader range of

contexts.


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Chapter 1 Influence, Expectation and Evolving Ears

Promises the Harp makes, simply by being a HarpTo some degree, all musical instruments are trapped by the listeners pre-conceived notions of their

limits and the social context with which they are associated. Even before a sound is produced, the

audiences knowledge (or lack thereof) of the equipment/instrument/artist inevitably dictates their

experience and subsequent digestion of the sounds, approach, and performance. Having studied the

Harp for 12 years, I have come to see this as an annoyance as well as a challenge and advantage

more often than not depending on context. In the 8 years that I have been performing live as a

harpist I have felt certain expectation from an audience. What do they expect to hear from the harp?

How much does this expectation hinder a listening experience? Do my assumptions about what an

audience expects affect how I choose to play the instrument?

This audience expectation based on the clichs that result from the instruments limited public

profile has been problematic enough to deter me from playing the Harp for extended periods. I

grew defensive if people sighed in awe of the instrument, and resolved to liberate the harp from its

stereotype. If I assume that the majority of the audience has not seen a harp up-close then the

physicality (engagement of all limbs) and the revelation that the instrument is filled with a complex

mechanical system is bound to surprise. How much of what I choose to play is fuelled by this

reaction? After discovering improvisation, the next phase of exploration was purely reactive and, in

hindsight, quite hypocritical (being that I silenced much of the instruments voice in order to bring

to the fore hitherto unfamiliar sounds and radical approaches). I consciously rejected and avoided

any pretty or decorative sounds on the harp, choosing to employ preparations that were as much

performative as they were tools to create new timbres (corks, plastic bags, nails, forks and spoons).

As a performer I embraced the stereotype by confronting it at the first opportunity: attempting to

maximise the shock factor violently slamming and thrashing the strings and soundboard within

the opening moments of a performance in the knowledge that most audience members had not seen

this angelic instrument in person, let alone heard it sound like a lawnmower. I soon grew tired of

this performance art, shock-tactic approach to sound making. A number of people shared their

frustrations with my aggressive approach to playing the harp asking for just a taste of the

beautiful sounds every now and again I found that these people were listening for something that

I, as an artist, had not promised to provide but the instrument itself had - simply by being a Harp.


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Cultural Baggage, Stereotype and Clich

What is the clichd image or stereotype of the Harp? What expectations does this instrument set-up

by its physical aesthetic and does this determine what people expect from its aural aesthetic?

Overused and limiting descriptions, contexts and pop-culture references for the classical Harp

abound (see Images 5-12). American Harpist Zeena Parkins describes her harp as a sound machine of

limitless capacity1, but more often than not Harps are associated with rich and religion-laden

imagery, heavenly cherubs, gargoyles, mermaids, gold leafed virginal figureheads or, at its most

experimental the comic skits of Harpo Marx. When replying to those who ask what instrument I

play, I more often than not hear a wistful sigh and cocked head; I looooove the harp! How beautiful!

indicating to me that in their minds they hear the classic angelic song of the harp,2I doubt they

would have such a reaction if they had been exposed to the Harping of Emi Maeda,3Anne LeBaron4

or Rhodri Davies.

The Harp carries cultural baggage, in that assumptions are made about the instrument and its role

that inhibits a fuller understanding of situations where contemporary performance techniques are

applied to it. It is up to the listener whether the baggage is a burden that hinders freedom, or a

wealth of experience that can inform exploration into new territories.

1 From Artists website: www.zeenaparkins.com- accessed August 2006

2It is important to note that Harpists from non-classical circles (eg. Celtic/folk) will have experienced different

expectations from their communities/audiences.

3Japanese Harpist based in Helsinki who works with feedback and distortion on the harp.

4See Interviewee Biographies
http://www.zeenaparkins.com/http://www.zeenaparkins.com/http://www.zeenaparkins.com/


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5Harpist Anna Maria Mendieta - picture from www.dancedress.com- accessed July 2007

6Australian Harpist and Soprano singer Emma Horwoodhttp://emmahorwood.wedd.com.au - accessed July 20077http://reigninggifts.com/WINDCHIMES.htm- accessed July 2007

8Photo from a Busby Berkeley spectacular -- Fashions of 1934 www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/pembfun/busby_harp.jpg -accessed May 2007

9"Lady with a Harp: Eliza Ridgely", portrait by Thomas Sully, 1818 www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/emharpld.html-

accessed July 2007

10Section of King David stained glass window from Christ Church Riverton new Jersey. Image from

www.churchgiftshops.com/riverton/index.htm- accessed November 2007
http://www.dancedress.com/http://www.dancedress.com/http://www.dancedress.com/http://emmahorwood.wedd.com.au/http://emmahorwood.wedd.com.au/http://emmahorwood.wedd.com.au/http://emmahorwood.wedd.com.au/http://reigninggifts.com/WINDCHIMES.htmhttp://reigninggifts.com/WINDCHIMES.htmhttp://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/pembfun/busby_harp.jpghttp://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/pembfun/busby_harp.jpghttp://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/pembfun/busby_harp.jpghttp://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/emharpld.htmlhttp://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/emharpld.htmlhttp://www.churchgiftshops.com/riverton/index.htmhttp://www.churchgiftshops.com/riverton/index.htmhttp://www.churchgiftshops.com/riverton/index.htmhttp://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/emharpld.htmlhttp://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/pembfun/busby_harp.jpghttp://reigninggifts.com/WINDCHIMES.htmhttp://emmahorwood.wedd.com.au/http://www.dancedress.com/


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Technical Illustration of a double action pedal Harp

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The Harp my research is based on is the Double-action harp model, this refers to the set of seven

pedals used to sharpen or flatten each note in the scale, allowing for complex chromatic changes.14

The complex mechanical system is designed in such a way that the resonant wooden frame, often

elaborately decorated, masks all but the pedals.

11http://cdxonline.co.za/product_info.php?cPath=95&products_id=1077 - accessed July 2007

12http://www.gabrielleangelique.com/music-light.html Cover art for Gabrielle Angelique solo CD - accessed July 2007

13Technical illustration drawn by Clare Cooper

14The single-action harp was created in 1770, but the disadvantage of this design was that not every key could be played.

The double-action pedal harp was patented in1810, the design included the seven pedals that could be depressed twice and

each string passed through two pronged discs instead of just one. When a pedal was depressed into the first notch, the

upper disc turns holds the string so that it sharpens a semitone. To further sharpen another semitone, the pedal is

depressed again into the base notch and the bottom disc grips the string.
http://cdxonline.co.za/product_info.php?cPath=95&products_id=1077http://cdxonline.co.za/product_info.php?cPath=95&products_id=1077http://www.gabrielleangelique.com/music-light.htmlhttp://www.gabrielleangelique.com/music-light.htmlhttp://www.gabrielleangelique.com/music-light.htmlhttp://cdxonline.co.za/product_info.php?cPath=95&products_id=1077


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Is the Harps typecast problematic? If so, who for?

Not all harpists in the field of new and experimental music feel that the Harps stereotype imposes

limitations on their approach or their audience. One such Harpist is Victoria Jordanova15from the

former Yugoslavia, she is based in the USA and composes for Harp and real-time processing/

electronics

I like to think of the harp's typecast/clich as a precious and wonderful tradition;

the tradition in which many people had invested their whole lives in: the craft of

making the instrument and the craft of playing it. Both crafts transmitted from

generation to generation, from the master to the student and so on, until today.

Every tradition in order to be preserved has to be standardized, and codified,and so it has to take its chance in becoming a clich. I see it rather as a grid of

diverse manifestations. 16

Many of the reviews listed on her website mention surprise at her approach to the Harp,17but when

I asked her how much of her research and composition is fuelled by challenging expectations she

said that surprising people has never been her goal

I merely pursued my ideas as a composer and in the process I was developing my

own vocabulary of sound. In my case the sound gestures or the sound colors

came into being spontaneously as part of making music and often during

improvisation. But in those instances when I needed a specific sound I had to get

it from the harp, because that was the only instrument I had.

In my experience, this typecast is problematic for Harpists who are working with extended

vocabulary. It is not uncommon to hear audience members begrudge a harpist who has not included

angelic glissandi in her/his performance. So when working with a primarily textural, electronic or

percussive piece this limited and clichd view paints the player as cheating the audience (or the

15see Interviewee Biographies

16Email interview 30/08/2007

17Victoria Jordanova will confound your expectations of what the harp can sound like. Her music is alarmingly beautiful -

San Francisco Bay Guardian, May 18, 1997

As much as anyone alive, Victoria Jordanova has tried to haul her harp away from the shadow of the raised Steinway lid.

She has added a bark to the plucky voice by using electronic enhancements. She often abjures the conventional,

subserviently seated position, stands up to her instrument and berates it with dozens of tools from her magic bag...

- 20th Century Forum News Letter, March , 1997 : From the Artists website


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instrument) of its mother tongue. Radical Harpist and composer Anne LeBaron agrees with this

statement and also acknowledges the value of the stereotype

The harp is for most people, an anachronism, a ghost-emblem of the romantic

past. I believe its difficult for most listeners (meaning the general public) to let

go of the fantasy...but this would be true of most instruments that are played

with non-standard techniques. Yet the clichd image and sounds elicited that one

might also call clichd also have their place in the scheme of things, bringing joy

to newlyweds and their friends and families, reverie to patrons of restaurants, and

comfort to the dying. Most harpists, even those who took a more radical

direction, began by performing in such venues. 18

As I noted earlier, I had vowed to liberate the harp from its stereotype, as I believed it was

restricting to me as a player and to the audience. I questioned whether this was simply a personal

obsession until I shared the idea with a number of other improvisers. Do other Improvisers make a

conscious decision to change the way people listen to their instrument? Does it contribute anything

to music to have this goal? Is it a pointless exercise? If it is, then why do so many improvisers see it

as positive when an audience responds that they have never heard X instrument sound that way

before?

Among the most gratifying comments I hear from people in audiences is "I'venever heard music like that before." To which I think to myself, "Thanks, there

are thousands of people playing it all over the world."It's hard for me to judge

whether I've had any particular effect but I suppose if I've been told that I've

played music that someone's never heard before, then maybe I have in some way.

- Chris Forsyth (New York)19

On recordings or even at concerts sometimes people (mostly non musicians)

couldnt tell where the sound came from, how I produced it and so on. That

changed their picture of the piano I think.

- Magda Mayas (Berlin)20

18Anne LeBaron email interview 27/12/2007

19Email interview 15/11/ 200720Email interview 21/11/ 2007


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This comment infers that it is a positive thing that an audience member cannot identify the source of

a sound.Does this signify a change in their listening or simply a confirmation that they ascribe

particularsounds to particular instruments and are, therefore, easily surprised?

I play my chosen instrument (guitar) because I love the instrument, it's sound, it's

feel, it's clichs, and its potential. My composition and playing are fuelled by a

desire to challenge and express myself. - Chris Forsyth (New York)21

[Audience expectation is] problematic for improvisers/performers who want it

to be a problem. Its problematic for audience members whose consciousness is

determined by the popular images they have absorbed. It's not a problem for

open-minded, exploratory performers or listeners.

- Warren Burt (Wollongong)22

Eugene Chadbourne doesnt see the audiences expectation as a problem, but a bonus:

For example, I can get a reaction from certain people just by having a banjo on

stage. Already I am ahead of people whose instruments cause no reaction at all.

Then by playing anything other than expected banjo music, another excited

reaction. So for some instruments, just reaching outside what is expected already

creates some interest. 23

This comment suggests that it is in the Improvisers interest to get a reaction. Chadbourne is a

well-known entertainer and humorous performer. It is something that sets him apart from many

other improvisers who do not engage in humour or see themselves or their music as entertainment.

Thinking back to when I first started to explore an extended language on the Harp I had a similar

attitude to Chadbourne, searching for a reaction. I have since come to find a less provocative

playing/listening experience much more rewarding. I am fascinated by the power of subtlety and of

extended exposure to a minute but highly detailed sound world. American Trumpet player Nate

Wooley is not concerned with the relation his sounds have to the expectation of his audience and

considers it a pleasant surprise if he happens to challenge their perceptions of what the trumpet is

capable of.24He notes his experience of the negative affect jazz tradition has had specifically on

American musicians finding their own voice on their chosen instruments:

21Email interview 15/11/ 2007




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I don't know if it is a problem with the audience, but as a student, it is very

difficult to find your own language when the culture tells you that the greatest

statement you can make can only be contained within a certain lineage. 25

Is it possible to change the way people listen to an instrument by extending its

vocabulary?

If so, how much of an improvisers playing /composition /research is fuelled by challenging an

audiences expectations of their instrument? Karlheinz Stockhausen noted that his experiments and

compositions were not a reaction against the music that had come before him, but that he was

continuing and widening26the tradition. Is it possible to widen the way people listen to an

instrument? Can a single musicians development of their own vocabulary on their instrument havean effect? Arguably the most famous Harpist, Harpo Marx demonstrated that it was possible to

change the way people listen to the Harp by providing an alternate context slapstick comedy

through film and television. Certainly, he drew on the Harps more traditional vocabulary and

repertoire, but through including the Harp in this unique context he questioned and mocked the

instruments association with upper class, and religious institutions.

27


26Lecture V: Four Criteria of Electronic Music (KONTAKTE) and Questions and Answers on Four

Criteria of Electronic Musicgiven at the Oxford Union on May 6th 1972.

27Dal sent Harpo a Christmas present: a harp with barbed wire for strings and spoons for tuning knobs, wrapped in

cellophane. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/05/26/baharpo126.xml - accessed August

2007
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/05/26/baharpo126.xmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/05/26/baharpo126.xmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/05/26/baharpo126.xml


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I can't help but be aware of past and recent developments on the violin. I have

had many people come up to me after a performance remarking that they'd never

seen a violin played that way before (even more complimentary when it comes

from people I consider vaguely contemporaries). Though that initial 'surprise' is

flattering, it's a 'quick fix' of feedback to the performer, and might eventually

create a vicious escalation in which the improvisor becomes a trained monkey

forced to come up with new tricks continually. - C. Spencer Yeh (Cincinnati) 28

I am often told by people that they are surprised about what I can get out of a

mixing board. This sort of surprise is not something that guides me while

playing. Although I'm flattered by such comments, I also find them somewhat

disappointing since the mere fact that I'm generating sounds with a mixing board

draws that much attention. I often feel that some listeners pay more attention to

the technical phenomenon rather than to the sonic and musical result.

- Peter Blamey (Sydney)29

It is currently a bigger challenge for me to surprise an avant-garde audience with

unexpected conventional playing - Kai Fagaschinski30

It appears that I must divide the audience here, as I have found that the expectation I initially set

out to investigate is that of new listeners (in terms of improvised and experimental music). As GaryButler noted in our correspondence, the seasoned experimental music audience (the converted) is a

different animal altogether:

[Audience expectation] can be an issue if the audience insists on hearing the instrument

played in the way they're used to. Generally not an issue when the audience has some

experience of avant-garde techniques (eg. the NOW now and What Is Music? Festivals

audiences are comfortable with instruments being played in various ways), but sometimes

a problem for an audience who has only heard the instrument used in limited ways.

There are times when I deliberately refer to those expectations (eg. playing a short

excerpt from "Stairway to Heaven", or an AC/DC riff, or a Bach excerpt), although this is

generally in a context where the "conventional" sounds seem surprising (eg. in the midst

of a noise guitar/atonal assault, there might be a couple of bars of "House of the Rising

Sun").31



30Email interview 15/11/ 200731Gary Butler (Wollongong) - Email interview 15/11/ 2007


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Chicago-based percussionist Michael Zerang believes that it is the artist that must change the way

he or she listens to their instrument, as it would suggest a continued evolution of the improvising

artist he also notes that is not possible to speak to listeners approach to listening and all of the

expectations and baggage they bring to it.32

I think that people that can be changed will [be], those who can't won't hear our

music anyway. My approach has changed things for me; I can't speak for anyone

else. - Nate Wooley (New Jersey)33

I disagree with both Zerang and Wooley here with regards to their attitude towards the listeners

or audience, as I think it is pivotal to reaching new audiences that one learn what their expectations

might be and that through understanding the lay-mans knowledge or expectation of an instrument

(or a whole music tradition) one can create contexts in which open listening is at maximum capacity

be it by addressing the venue, the mode in which the event is publicised, the acoustics, the line-up,

time of day etc all elements of context which can either widen or limit the listening experience of

an audience. It is an apathetic, defeatist viewpoint rampant in experimental music circles that there

is a predisposed, elite audience for this music, and there is nothing we can do to change it. Do we

not attempt to lead new listeners to this music because we cant make them hear it?

Using new modes of performance, alternate contexts, exploration of amplification, electronicmanipulation, innovative techniques, preparations and improvisation a handful of Harpists are

contributing to a new, multi-dimensional profile of the Instrument.

32Michael Zerang (Chicago) - Email interview 15/11/ 200733Email interview 15/11/ 2007


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The whole Harp and its co-conspirators

Looking more to drummers or other instrumentalists for inspiration, my search for a personal

language on the Harp was underway before I had heard of any of the following Harpists. Their

collective contribution to a broader public perception of the Harp has been significant.

Welsh Harpist Rhodri Davies34is widely acclaimed for developing a new voice for the Harp,

exploring the intersection between improvisation and composition and aspects of noise, silence and

time. Apart from the conventional upright pedal Harp he also plays table-top harp (allowing for

gravity reliant preparations and has restrung his lever Harp with guitar strings enabling him to use

electronics extensions such as e-bows) and playing the harp pillar-down.

35

He is a celebrated Harpist in the field of experimental and improvised music as well as Chamber,

Orchestral and Welsh folk music. Rhodris unique exploration of resonance made a significant

impression on me. From the first time I listened to his solo harp album Trem36I identified with his

approach more than with any other harpist Id ever heard. In 2004 I visited Davies in London, keen

to collaborate and learn more about his approach. We performed a Harp duo concert to a seasoned

Improvised music audience in London that, without previous discussion, navigated our distinctly

different textural vocabularies.


35Image from the artists website www.rhodridavies.com- accessed August 2005

36Tremis Rhodri's first solo harp release on the Confront Recordings label. Recorded live during 2001 at the West

London church St Michael and All Angels.
http://www.rhodridavies.com/http://www.rhodridavies.com/http://www.rhodridavies.com/


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Figure 1 - Rhodri Davies with lever harp strung with guitar strings.37

Davies approach has been lauded by the press as downright revolutionary.38The following quotes

from music critics39are representative of the publics limited expectation with regards to what the

Harp has to offer outside its clichs:

as if he's determined to set the harp free from any of the usual preconceptions

we civilians might have about that instrument... Rhodri Davies throws the

rulebook out of the window, and I can only guess from this recording what

violence he's doing to conventional playing techniques. The harp has never

sounded so bizarre, so impolite, or capable of a dirty sound - as near as acoustic

improv gets to heavy metal!

- Ed Pinsent (The Sound Projector)

"Forty minutes of Bisset and Davies serves as a Cubist journey around both

instruments: rediscovered as resonant still-life subjects, they are viewed anew,

free of cultural baggage or musical precedent."

- Stewart Lee (Sunday Times)

"His unorthodox approach and technique is transforming the role and scope of

the harp and confirms why he is an important innovator who is transcending the

traditional limitations and perceptions of the role of his instrument."

- Cadence Magazine

37Photo from artists website www.rhodridavies.com- accessed February 2006. Please note that Davies is already

upsetting the traditional profile of the harp by being photographed against a defaced public wall and casually leaning on

the pious instrument.

38Ed Pinsent- The Sound Projector (from the artists website www.rhodridavies.com- accessed February 2006)39All quotes taken from the artists website www.rhodridavies.com- accessed February 2006
http://www.rhodridavies.com/http://www.rhodridavies.com/http://www.rhodridavies.com/http://www.rhodridavies.com/http://www.rhodridavies.com/http://www.rhodridavies.com/http://www.rhodridavies.com/http://www.rhodridavies.com/http://www.rhodridavies.com/


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Davies continues to be proactive in the Harp community, and has recently commissioned 18

composers to write new works for the Harp of an experimental, reductionist or improvisatory

nature.

Dr. Anne LeBaronis an accomplished harpist, and recognized internationally for her pioneering

work in developing original techniques and electronic enhancements for the Harp. Based in the

USA, LeBaron often approaches the harp in such a way that the composition leads to unexpected

places, often surprising herself. In an email interview with LaBaron, I asked her how she felt the

physical structure of the Harp informs her approach to playing it, with particular regards to

extending upon its sanctioned language:

The harp is an instrument that is basically diatonic, diabolical, and diverting due

to its size and dramatic shape. Its large size means that there is more territory

offered for exploration. My investigations into an expansion of the typical ways

of playing the instrument stemmed from a desire to take it in directions that were

challenging to the stereotypical sounds---namely, finding ways to sustain the

tones (various bowing techniques); to bend the pitches and play microtonally

(using slides and physically bending the strings, and live detuning); to vary the

timbre (preparations); and to heighten the percussive potentials (playing with

mallets and brushes).

Another name synonymous with unconventional Harp playing is American Multi-instrumentalist,

composer, and improviser Zeena Parkins.40Known for popularising the electric harp, she also

extends the language of the acoustic harp through extended technique, preparations (household

objects and hardware store finds such as alligator clips, rubber erasers, rubber tubing, felt, metal

candy lids, hair clips, glass jars, and discarded strings) and extensive digital and analogue

processing. Critical responses to Zeenas approach to the Harp are as filled with as much frenetic

expression as the music to which it refers:

Parkins, one of the only avant-garde harpists around, uses both her acoustic and

an electric harp complete with wah-wah (whammy) bar to dance the tarantella on

the stuffy Harpo Marxist image her instrument has. She is not afraid of its

natural beauty and sophistication but more often than not her hands are dirty to

the elbows in discordant tangents, Hendrix distorto-feedback, and fierce multi-

phonics WDC Period



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"Zeena Parkins..is my favorite living harpist... kucks of sonic gristle that she

pulls from it are dandy as jack. A truely ginchy exploration of forgotten string

potential." Spin Magazine

"Parkins takes her celestial axe-heretofore thought of as delicate - and gets

tough, unafraid of its recourse. Its what some listeners used to call abstract

lyricism, and the way Parkins deftly deploys her spur-of-the-moment ideas is

refreshing." The New Paper

I attended an intimate solo Harp performance by Parkins in a New York dance studio in 2005.

Needless to say I was full of anticipation, and my expectation was to have my expectations blown

away. Indeed they were. What I heard was akin to a toy music box drowned in its own kitsch, with

Parkins moving from excessive use of delay and sample pedals on a toy xylophone to the small

electric harp at its most sugary and decorative. Her performance was a wet blanket on everything I

have felt she had worked for in regards to breaking the typecast of the harp. I left a disappointed

hypocrite: someone who wants her audience to be open to the entire language that the Harp has to

offer, annoyed that Parkins had not dished out her Harps famous hardcore-electro-acoustic-noise

guts.

Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4, Figure 5 : Zeena Parkins electronics and preparations41

41From Artists website: www.zeenaparkins.com- accessed August 2006


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Figure 6: Zeena Parkins performing with electric harp42

42From Artists website: www.zeenaparkins.com- accessed August 2006


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Chapter 2 This Music - the problem with defining approaches to

extending the vocabulary of an instrument

Many of the terms associated with extending vocabularies of instruments with a limited public

profile are themselves fraught with cultural baggage extended techniques, prepared instruments,

and even improvisation. I have not been satisfied with any of the popular definitions of these terms

or the motivations behind them. The terminology associated with this exploration is loaded and, by

being a definition, essentially limited. Gary Butlers thesis [Prepared Instruments in Improvised Music:

Precedents and Purposes]4 is a detailed discussion of the artists engaged in extending the vocabularies

of their instruments primarily through preparation and extended technique. Butler admits early

on in the paper the problems associated with defining what it means to prepare an instrument and

how it differs from extended technique, and although he goes to great depths to provide a morepractical definition of these terms, it is in his case-studies and discussions with other musicians

about their personal application of the terminology where most is revealed.

This Music

Her style defeats categorization, and is therefore all the more interesting

The New York Times (on Zeena Parkins)44

Our shit is beyond the people who are trying to define it

Lester Bowie45

It is common these days to hear musicians engaged in improvisation/experimental music/contemporary

composition/sound art/noise/instant composition/graphic scoring/free-jazz etc referring to the illusive

This music. I believe this is due, in part, to the growing number of musicians who are not interested with

being associated with a particular definition or genre. It is a recognition of the deliciously un-categorisable

nature of the music we are engaged in, not a decisive rejection of other loaded terminology associated with

methods of music making unsanctioned by the conservatoriums or the mainstream. The most fascinating

aspects of this music are the elements that dodge definition, that are instinctive and are by their very nature,

un-categorisable.

43(University of Wollongong 2000)

44www.zeenaparkins.com- accessed August 200645Quoted at the beginning of Sun Ras The Immeasurable Equation


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Extended Technique and Non-traditional playing

With relation to music, the term extended technique is used to describe non-traditional methods of

playing a traditional instrument. Those on the outside of this practice may use terms like

unconventional, unorthodox and improper. The term is problematic for the simple reason that it

suggests that there is a condoned or sanctioned vocabulary on an instrument, and everything

outside of this is a rebellion against it. What is regarded by the academy as Extended techniques

have been used widely in contemporary music for the last 100 years or so and of course in

improvisation, jazz, rock and pop. If Erik Satie inserted paper between the strings of his piano

during his performance of Le Piege de Mduse in191446, why is it still considered new to prepare a

piano?

Perhaps it comes down to the over-exposure to a limited number of sanctioned techniques on an

instrument. Perhaps, if one of the sanctioned sounds of a violin was that of emulating a drum as

soldiers go to battle, then more violinists would thread parchment between the strings and beat

them with the bow as per the direction of the composer of The Battle, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber

(1644-1704), in the late 1600s.47

Extension of an instrument is now synonymous with improvisation. Most Improvisers that I

interviewed agreed that it is not necessary for an improviser to extend upon traditional techniques

or to use preparations, but encouraged the search for new forms, shapes and colours in sound. Of

course it very much depends on how, with whom and in what context a musician wants to make

music. Some musicians choose to improvise as they are drawn to searching for new sounds and new

ways to communicate with other musicians. There are many musicians who do not extend their

instrument through preparation or new techniques but perhaps through the context in which it is

heard, the musical influences, or simply through the act of improvising itself.

46In The Battleby Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704), the violone player is instructed to thread parchment between

the strings and beat them with the bow, emulating a drum as the soldiers go to battle (Gary Butler PHD

correspondence with Double bassist improviser/composer Barry Guy)

47The first use of a prepared piano in classical music occurred during the premiere of Le Piege de Mdusein 1914, when

Erik Satie, apparently on impulse, . . . inserted paper between the strings of the instrument . . . (Dearling ,7647).

Maurice Ravel used the same technique as a substitute for the luthal47in LEnfant et les sortilge(1920-5) (Brooks, 348;

Orenstein 258). [Butler PHD]


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An improvising instrumentalist should always be searching for an expanded

palette. That might mean preparations or just further exploration of the

traditional techniques that are employed on a specific instrument

- Michael Zerang (Chicago)48

For the development of my music it was very important to explore sounds;

leaving the piano the way it used to get played. By playing the keys I couldn't

find a musical language that satisfied me. Looking for sounds that I like

(developing "extensions") is an essential part for me.

- Andrea Neumann (Berlin) 49

I suppose it depends on the definition of "extension." As I understand it, in the

most general sense it could be a catch all term for pushing the sonic limits of

ones instrument.

- Chris Forsyth (New York)50

As I believe there is no conclusive definition of the above terms, I have collected a series of questions

and suggestions from musicians I admire in the hope of getting closer to an understanding of the

practice of extending the vocabulary of an instrument:

I do think that calling something an extended technique detracts from what isactually going on. The guitars of Son House and Jimi Hendrix - the Inuit vocal

'games' - traditional shakuhachi - Korean court music - Pharoah Sanders on

Coltranes Ascension. These all have extraordinary sound/technique qualities

that are necessitated by the music - not by the idea of a conventional instrument

that has 'extensions' added to it. Maybe that way of thinking comes from

composers who work on paper, and it nearly always sounds terrible - certainly

what Ive heard in the realm of reed instruments. It seems to make more sense for

strings, i.e. from Heinrich Biber to Cage's prepared piano, maybe because these

are more reproducible by different players.

- John Butcher (London)51





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As I worked deeper and deeper I realized I was moving further and further away

from the instrument (does a trumpet being blown into the sound-holes of a violin

count as "playing the violin" still)? Say I establish myself as "yeah, the violin

player" -- but next time I'm seen I have replaced the back of the instrument with

a drumhead and a snare (similar to a banjo) and I blow a trumpet against it.

How many members of Guns n Roses can you replace before it's no longer

Guns n Roses, you know?? Or is it just Axel that can remain constant?

- C. Spencer Yeh (Cincinnati)52

Is it considered traditional to drag a horsehair bow across the strings of a violin?

In this case, is the bow a part of the Instrument, or is it considered and

"extension"? Similarly with drum sticks, plectrums etc... Are these part of the

traditional instrument or are they too extensions. The reason for this simple

question is that the result is more important than the tool. A violinist can

certainly create very new and innovative sounds from their instrument with just

bow and fingers, without ever resorting to the introduction of other implements.

Also, when does a technique or implement go from being "experimental" to

being traditional?


Sydney-based Improviser and academic Peter Blamey does not consider the term extendedtechnique useful outside of the context of the post-war era European avant-garde (used as a way of

breaking the tonality deadlock caused by serialism, and therefore now relatively institutionalised)

and instead considers a spectrum of approaches from mastery to ineptitude capable of producing

interesting results.

Ive always considered the concept of extended technique to have its roots in

musicology and the academy, and as such defined a set of practices largely

considered a kind of performative surplus - in other words, a kind of rhetorical

defence mechanism that reinforced doctrinaire composition and performance

practices that defended a core or 'proper' technique against outside influences.

- Peter Blamey (Sydney)54




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motors.63He has also made more permanent changes to the instruments such as putting frets in

random places, adding extra strings, attaching toys to the body of the guitar & wiring the output

from the toy directly to the guitar output, using a childs playmat as a substitute for footpedals. He

has also nailed a guitar to a cross.

Butlers PHD lists a great number of different musicians approaches to preparing their instruments.

An insight into the personal origins of such exploration is given by Irish double bassist Barry Guy:

The idea to explore different sticks and beaters began when Tony Oxley accidentally threw his

drum stick across the stage - I caught it and started beating the pitches.64

The list of preparations I have experimented with to date pale in comparison to Butlers. Mine are

made up of mainly household or found objects such as (in chronological order of discovery) plastic

bags, corks, cutlery, Violin and Contrabass Bows, assorted mallets, glass cups and glass ornaments,

sheets of paper, plastic, foil, cardboard, tin, ribbons of fabric, CDs, sticky tape. Some examples of

playing the preparations used on the harp include: hitting the strings with mallets and drumsticks

(muted or un-muted), holding a glass jar or cup on the string when plucked, alligator and bulldog

clips attached to strings, hanging small objects from the disks to bounce off the strings when played,

weaving objects such as chopsticks, drumsticks, plastic bags, paper and wire through the strings,

sliding metal or my nails down the strings.

Due to practicality when touring, I have limited my preparations to a few mallets, a cello bow and acustom built steel brush given to me by improviser, sculptor and instrument builder Rod Cooper.

Along with his unique sculptural instrument inventions, Cooper has custom made extension pieces

for Australian improvisers Will Guthrie, Clayton Thomas, Mark Harwood, Dale Gorfinkel, Rory

Brown to name a few. In my email interview I had used the term extensions so I asked Rod Cooper

whether he considered these creations to be instruments unto themselves or does he refer to them as

preparations. He prefers to refer to them more as subversions that add to the array of preparations

an Improviser might already have on hand:

Ideas are triggered by the specific way an individual performer incorporates a

selection of found objects, to expand the very personal relationship they have

with their instrument. I feel it is the unique gestures a performer makes when

playing, that triggers my subconscious into realising a new design possibility.65

62(held over the pick-ups) Talking dolls, radio, portable cassette player

63(held over the pickups) vibrators, cordless power tools, wind up toys

64Gary Butler Personal Correspondence 17/11/07.



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Know the Rules before you break them

One of the unfortunate reactions to musicians looking to extend the vocabulary on their instruments

is that it is unorthodox, irregular or unconventional all of these terms imply that there is a

correct way to approach playing music. In my experience an audience often gives credit to a

musicians innovation with regards to their approach to the instrument only if they know that they

are also capable of playing their instrument properly.

It goes without saying that dissonances and noises are welcome in this new

music. But so is the dominant seventh chord if it happens to put in an appearance.

- John Cage66

Opinions about free music are plentiful and differ widely. They range from theview that free playing is the simplest thing in the world requiring no explanation,

to the view that it is complicated beyond discussion. There are those for whom it

is an activity requiring no instrumental skill, no musical ability and no musical

knowledge or experience of any kind, and others who believe it can only be

reached by employing a highly sophisticate, personal technique of virtuosic

dimensions. - Derek Bailey67

Does throwing a guitar from a 3rd storey window or chopping it up with an axe

count as "extending" it?? - Gary Butler (Wollongong)68

Ed Pinsent said of a recent performance by Harpist Rhodri Davies He is one who knows his

chosen instrument back to front and inside out; he is fully informed as to the liberties he may take.69

I asked a number of improvisers how they felt about the old saying know the rules before you break

them with regards to Pinsents comment:

Pinsent's statement seems to conflate two ideas - one about a technical facility on

the instrument, and one about an awareness of a history of performing and

listening (to his own sounds, and others) - and it's the second one I find more

cogent. One doesn't need to be a virtuoso in order to do 'fucked up shit,' just to

avoid the accusation of being unable to play. That kind of accusation is more

often than not a safeguard against having to ask why someone is doing what they

do, rather than what. I think there is little music that really involves a

66Silence (p.11)

67Improvisation (p.85)

68Email interview 15/11/ 200769Review of CD Trem - The Sound Projector, Issue 12 2004


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transgression, and even then only when considered from particular stances.

However, a knowledge of the history of your art-form is always a good thing, as

long as it does not become a source of incapacitation. We all need some breathing

space. - Peter Blamey (Sydney)70

Of course music can result from an untrained approach to an instrument. A focus on skills and a

singular school of thought is by nature going to limit how one can respond to various contexts,

particularly within improvisation. New Zealand saxophonist Reuben Derrick suggests that Pinsents

statement is valid when commenting on a defined style of music, The spirit of new and

experimental music is by nature constantly challenging and re-thinking previous developments. The

same was true of jazz a long time ago.71

In my own experience Ive found the deeper I understand the rules which are

many and varied, the more room I have to move, the more fuel for ideas and the

more subtle and complex the relationship I am able to have with silence and

other musicians. I played a lot of concerts before I knew anything about music,

but now that Im learning a bit I do feel greatly liberated and inspired by that

knowledge. - Clayton Thomas (Berlin)72

This is no doubt a classic question and issue that has bounced around quite a few

skulls. One knee-jerk response is to ask if the Ramones needed to be able to playKing Crimson before they did their thing, presented their visionIt's interesting

because often this inquiry happens just as much within the [improvised music]

world as outside of it. I know of few improvisers who are able to break the curse

of one player, one instrument willingly, or to avoid having that tag put on them

altogether. It's always been my thought that a good improviser should be able to

pick up most any instrument and object and create something interesting

Whether or not it becomes a decades-long fruitful investigation of the broom and

dustpan, or the singing toilet remains to be seen, but for the time being the

improviser should be able to work around these tools. Same way a stranded

military man should be able to make a rifle out of branches and leaves, and take

down a whole enemy squad with it (or at least trick them down a canyon).

- C. Spencer Yeh (Cincinnati)73





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how does one know if one is breaking the rules if one does not know what they

are? - Michael Zerang (Chicago)74

To suggest that someone is "fully informed as to the liberties he may take"

implies that some liberties can't be taken, and I don't accept that - ANY sound is

permissible, and ANY method of producing that sound is reasonable if it

produces interesting results (barring certain ethical considerations - amplifying

the sound of a human sacrifice might be going a bit too far these involve legal

rules rather than aesthetic ones). Gary Butler (Wollongong)75

Can a musician evade expectation? Does the pressure to subscribe to a sanctioned vocabulary

depend on the choice of instrument? Instrument builder Rod cooper noted that one of his

motivations for building instruments was that he didn't want the audience to know how his

instrument should be played - by designing the instrument from scratch hes free to determine the

way to play it. I feel a great deal more freedom playing on the ancient Chinese Guzheng than I do on

the Western classical harp, both of which are afflicted with a host of clichs. I attribute this to the

lack of knowledge of sanctioned sounds and techniques a western audience assumes will be

produced by the instrument. Only since the release of Stephen Chows Kung Fu Hustle(2004) have

most non-Asian audiences had a pop-culture reference for the Guzheng.76Im sure this would be a

different story should I be living in Asia. I have only performed on the Guzheng in Asia twiceduring a visit to Japan in 2004, the context for both concerts was to an exclusive and well-informed

converted audience.77Although I assumed that a Japanese audience would have much more of an

awareness of the instrument (being that the Guzheng is very similar to the Koto), it was unlikely

that I would offend its ancient tradition in this context. I noted the difference in the atmosphere of

pre-concert expectation due to the absence of initial curiosity that generally occurs in non-Asian

countries.



76Includes a unique fight scene in which the Guzheng is used as a weapon from which ghostly deadly swords shoot

through the air at the opponent at each strum of the strings.

77One concert at Offsite the other at Enban Record store, both rooms with a 12 person capacity and virtually non-

existent publicity, or motivation to expand their audience.


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Lifting the Sanctions

Educator and musician Warren Burt believes that knowledge of extended techniques and

preparations is necessary and not only for improvisers, but also all composers, performers, sound

designers and foley artists. The idea that an instrument is simply an open-ended set of sound-

making resources, of which "traditional usage" is just a small part, should be well and truly common

knowledge by now.78At a recent performance in Berlin79, Australian composer Liza Lim spoke of

how thrilled she is when a musician divulges a secret about their instrument to her a new

approach, a new sound, a personal extension of the instruments vocabulary. Like Lim, most

contemporary or new music composers strive to represent a broad vocabulary on the instruments

they write for, interestingly enough even including particular improvisers in their compositions

due to the particular sounds they, and only they are able to achieve on their instrument.80

Some extended techniques are almost impossible to achieve, or require an instrument in a particular

condition either top condition (Alvin Lucier writing for Robin Haywards Tuba), or disrepair

(Ross Bolletors ruined pianos). For example, there are a number of sounds in my vocabulary on

both the Harp and the Guzheng that rely on the strings being at breaking point as well as actually

breaking.

I tried to forget I had a saxophone and, in a playing situation, not think what

can the sax do here but think what musical input do I want to make - what

sound, structure, density etc. It meant really exploring the tiny details of the

instrument and learning to control areas right on the edge of instability.

- John Butcher (London)81

The use of extended techniques and preparations is a way of achieving new, fresh

and exciting sounds. Initially pioneering, the results of extended techniques and

preparations become standardised over time.

- Michael Sheridan (Sydney)82

78(Wollongong) Email interview 15/11/ 2007

79Liza Lim & Ensemble Mosaic Konzert, Ballhaus Naunynn, 24.10.07

80For John Butcher by Tim ODwyer, performed by the Elision Ensemble




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The following is a list of some techniques that I employ regularly when performing with the harp.

The list demonstrates that non-traditional techniques do not necessarily require the introduction of

ancillary objects.

Bowing the strings with violin bows and mallets

Playing rapidly with the nails of one hand with the nails of the other placed at close range to

create buzzing

Slow muting of the bass strings to create harmonics with the knuckles or fingers

Flicking the strings

Punching/ Karate chop the strings to create resonance without singular attack (plucking)

Scratching/tapping on the underside of the sound board though the holes

Muting and Harmonics (can also be considered a traditional technique)

Semi-pressure on the pedal to create buzz on the tuning disks

Tapping or rubbing the soundboard


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Chapter 3 Improvisation and Necessitating sounds

When asked why he is involved in Improvisation Dutch pianist and instrument builder Cor Fuhler

made the following observation:

I would reverse this question, why isn't everybody involved in improvisation? It

is the most natural way to make music. One learns to talk first and then read, not

the other way around. I think we associate "the written" with something "true",

and the oral tradition as something random and less valuable. Which is very

wrong I think.83

I was introduced to Improvisation, or should I say the rich history and current international

community of Improvisers when I was 18 years old, six years into my Harp education. Over the lasteight years I have engaged with improvisation as my central artistic focus, and have learnt that

Improvisers are engaged in the ongoing exploration of any (or all) of the following: a personal

language/vocabulary, new/deeper/immediate forms of communication, spiritual endeavour,

intellectual stimulation, potential, novelty, challenge, uncharted sounds, freedom, anti-hierarchical

social forms and more. Derek Baileys book [Improvisation] is a no-nonsense account of

improvisation as an artform and life pursuit that still resonates with improvisers over a decade after

it was written. When I discuss improvisation here the idiom to which I refer is Baileys definition

of Free Improvisation.

In the mid 1970s Derek Bailey observed that that the term improvised music was used reluctantly

by many practitioners as it had become almost a term of abuse it had a widely accepted reputation

as a practice without preparation or considerationfrivolousinconsequential, lacking in design

and method,a musical conjuring trick, a doubtful expedient or even a vulgar habit. Bailey

suggested that there is no musical activity which requires greater skill and devotion, preparation,

training and commitment, and that the widely accepted view of the term improvisation completely

misrepresents the depth and complexity of an Improvisers practice.

Bailey wrote his book with the intention of presenting the views of those who know and use

[improvisation], and to retain the term improvisation for two reasons: firstly because I dont

know of any other which could effectively replace it, and secondly because I hope that we, the other

contributors and myself, might be able to redefine it.84

I align myself, and the music that I make with the rich tradition of improvisation. I do not consider

the bad press the field has suffered as having limited my opportunities to engage in music. I find the

83www.adlimb.cominterview - accessed October 200784Introduction Improvisation: Its nature and practice (1980)
http://www.adlimb.com/http://www.adlimb.com/http://www.adlimb.com/


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ongoing circular debate between composers and improvisers to be boring and obstructive.

Naturally, those engaged in conventional methods of composition are going to hold a more

respected position in the sanctioned music world as it is a process more susceptible to academic and

bureaucratic acceptance and scrutiny before during and after its performance. I agree with Bailey

that the lack of recognition and status suffered by improvised music and those that practice it is

astonishing:

Improvisation enjoys the curious distinction of being both the most widely

practised of all musical activities and the least acknowledged and understood.

While it is today present in almost every area of music, there is an almost total

absence of information about it. Perhaps this is inevitable, even appropriate.

Improvisation is always changing and adjusting, never fixed, too elusive for

analysis and precise description; essentially non-academic. And, more than that,

any attempt to describe improvisation must be, in some respects, a

misrepresentation, for these is something central to the spirit of voluntary

improvisation which is opposed to the aims and contradicts the idea of

documentation.

As a result of the almost total absence of comment concerning improvisation and the hopeless

misconceptions usually expressed in the criticism he had observed over the years, Bailey concludes

that there is an important part of improvisation not easily indicated or conveyed by its results tothose not involved in doing it and therefore is difficult to appreciate or comprehend. He observes

that among Improvising musicians there is endless speculation about its nature, and suggests that

the most meaningful way to discuss and consider Improvisation is through a practical and personal

point of view, noting that there is no general or widely held theory of Improvisation.

If one of the statements I made about why people use these techniques in

improvised music context rings true - that players come across their sounds and

approaches through a process of improvisation - then whatever they do forms the

set of techniques used in that music, on that occasion, for that duration, etc. so

the notion of extension of technique, based on the idea of comparison with a

norm, does not so readily arise.

- Peter Blamey85

Something common to most improvised music is that different constituents do

not have obvious hierarchical values. Anything which can be considered as

85Response to email interview 15.11.07


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decoration, for instance, is not in some way subservient to that which it

decorates. The most powerful expression of the identity of a piece might be in the

smallest details

- Derek Bailey86

The less familiar areas I pushed into with the saxophone came about through

trying to find what was needed to work with the people whose music I was

interested in. It was influenced by the sound of many things and, certainly,

contemporary composition and electronic music gave me some ideas - but a lot of

the material I found I could work with came out of a performing context, not

through abstract research. It needs to come via the playing (cf. studying books

of multiphonic fingering) for the sound and the language to make sense

together

- John Butcher87

Playing in ad-hoc collaborations has been an essential motivator for me to extend the vocabulary of

my instrument. Through placing myself in new/unique musical collaborations I found that I m

much more likely to come up with new solutions in the music making process and therefore new

sounds and techniques, for example Improvising with a reel-to-reel tape player requires a different

approach to playing with a saxophonist. Paradoxically, as a person engaged in free-improvisation I

am interested in self-imposed limits and boundaries within open fields of sound, not to confine theimagination, but to challenge it to find minute worlds within worlds. I find that I am more creative

when I have set myself certain restrictions. I am drawn to improvising with musicians who

challenge me to extract ever more extended sounds; working with electronics players has thus far

yielded more interesting results for me than with other acoustic musicians.

My interest in blurring the line between acoustic-electronic-sounding-sounds and actual electronic

sounds has manifested itself intensively in my duo project with Chris Abrahams, Germ, a thorough

exploration of shared territory between the outdated Japanese synthesiser (DX7) and the ancient

Chinese Guzheng. This project also had a profound effect on how I collaborate/improvise on the

Harp with musicians working with a range of electronics. The Berlin based edition of my group

Hammeriver consists of seven improvisers from varying cultures and areas of musical education. It

is with this ensemble that I chose to experiment with the Harp as group leader in a Jazz related

context. Jazz is not unfamiliar territory for the instrument, but one that often relegates the Harp to

a decorative or melodic role. The submitted piece Eis an experiment in leading from within, in that

86Derek Bailey, Improvisation (p 5 Indian Music,)

87John Butcher, personal correspondence 19.11.07


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the Harp is providing the backbone of the piece, not the soaring, decorative melody. This piece is

also a key example of my acoustic-electronic vocabulary on the harp. The composition embraces the

relationship between the Harp and the electronic samples, and the weight shifting between them.

Had I not spent hours listening to the resonant spaces within the instrument, and collaborating with

electronics musicians in the past, I would not have been equipped to respond with the instrument in

this context so effectively.

Whether it requires the use of preparations or techniques that are not sanctioned by the western

classical tradition, most improvisers are developing apersonal language on their instrument and one

that embraces a large range of communicative resources, be that timbral or expressive. Canadian

double bassist Joe Williamson noted that it was interaction with electronic music that necessitated

extending the palette on his instrument.88Peter Blamey suggests that Improvisers employ all the

parameters of music making (i.e. pitch, rhythm, harmony, melody, timbre, dynamics, etc.) to make

musical statements and that by confining oneself to a single parameter or traditional view of an

instrument one reaches a limit; I think most improvisors commit to this kind of music because it is

a potentially limitless activity.89Chris Forsyth suggests that it is simple necessity, a scientific

approach to sound and an outgrowth of Western musical history and practice that brings musicians

to extending a vocabulary on their instruments through improvisation.90

Even though many of the improvisors noted that the term extended technique was problematic,

most had no problem answering the question: How do you extend your instrument?

Finding all of the different sounds an instrument can make is an ongoing process.

Expanding the palette and fluency of an ever-growing array of sounds and

approaches on an instrument gives the player the flexibility to move in many

sonic directions during the course of an improvisation. The extensions should

be discovered, applied and assimilated over a lifetime for the player to be as

versatile as possible. Regarding my approach to percussion, I have recently been

exploring friction and vibrating elements and the resultant long tones that this

approach produces on drum heads and other materials.


88Many people use these noise elements to augment the typical tonal methods of putting sounds together. If you only have

the 12 diatonic notes to work with you run out of room fast. Plus it sounds good. It allows one to interact with "electronic"

music on equal terms. - Joe Williamson (Canada/UK) improvising double-bassist. Email interview 26/11/ 2007





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I'm not sure the computer can be 'extended' as it presents itself as an unlimited

resource and this is something I am finding very challenging about the

instrument

- Lawrence English (Brisbane)92



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Chapter 4 Mimicry

Familiar sounds from unfamiliar sources fascinate me. I choose to listen out for new sounds, new

combinations of frequencies and textures (regardless of source) at every opportunity this also

explains my interest in mimicking unlikely sounds on strings (such as rain, machines, birds) as they

are, by nature of the source material, bound to produce a unique result. It is this exploration of these

sounds that has equipped me to engage in an improvised dialogue with a great variety of musicians

and instruments in a wide variety of contexts. German pianist Magda Mayas explores new sounds

on her instrument to more accurately mirror or project the sounds around her day-to-day life, and

finds that these new sounds facilitate more common ground or overlap with the sounds of other

instruments; suddenly the piano can sound distorted, produce almost electronic sounds or the cello

sounds like a toilet flushing.93

I began classical study of the harp at the age of thirteen, with a conservative and suitably merciless

classical harpist. I saw an instrument that required immense physicality to be played, and I heard an

instrument trapped. Although I had a healthy appreciation of classical music, I felt that it was not

my music to make; its intentions having little correlation with me being a teenager in Sydney in the

early 21stCentury what was my music? What sounds reflected my life? What place did a harpist

have in a working class urban Aussie Family? Two musicians in particular have influenced me

through their commitment to a music that reflects the Australian vernacular, environment, history,

and culture; both Jim Denley and Jon Rose have been inspirational in their attempts to re-write

Australias history of selective hearing particularly our inability to recognise our own unique

music as Australians. Long before I met these advocates, I was questioning the incongruity of the

Harp in an Australian context how could an instrument so at home in a European orchestra pit

relate to Australia? As shown in the accompanying video, I choose to perform my solo Harp

improvisation in a domestic Australian setting, exploring and experiencing this incongruity

firsthand.

Is it more appropriate for someone living in Australia in the 21st century to

pretend to be living in Vienna in the 18th century (or in the 1920s for serial

composers), or to pretend to be living in Harlem in the 1940s? To ask the

question is to acknowledge how silly it is. Gary Butler94

In his MA thesis, Robin Fox points out that the obsessive mimicry of European musical styles in

Australia actually hampered the development of a uniquely Australian musical voice. This is largely

due to a post-colonial mindset that was desperate to produce or mimic the tropes of a civilised



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society. In many ways any subsequent attempt to create an Australian music has been met with

cultural cringe.

My earliest interest in sound and recording can be traced to an 11-month trip exploring the coastal

regions of Australia when I was 8 years old. My mother encouraged me to listen to everything

around us, particularly to birdsong but also the wind, the ocean, the silence, and what I knew as the

echo of a space.95Apart from Aboriginal shows for tourists there was little exposure to genuine

indigenous ceremony, art and music. It was in one of the regional Information centres in Victoria

that I first learned of the Lyrebird96and its unique powers of mimicry. I also learned that mimicry

played a large part in the storytelling, hunting and ritual of the indigenous peoples of Australia.

the art of quotation and mimicry has been around since the beginnings of

music itself. Mimicry is a transforming technique, it doesnt just lead to tribute

bands, without it we wouldnt even have the western canon.

- Jon Rose97

Mimicry has been central to the extension of my vocabulary, and to my relationship with the

instrument, not only as a means to communicate with electronic instruments but also in response to

my surroundings. I was engaging in the mimicry of machinery before I was aware of it listening

back to my solo Harp and Guzheng recordings from 2003 I can hear not only machinery98but the

simulation of circular breathing on strings,99

rain and thunder storms,100

birdsong,101

and aconversation between the textural and percussive language of the instrument with that of its

sanctioned melodic voice.102

95I remember in particular the incredible shift in my balance and awareness of the change in the sound vibrations when I

would enter into the chasms and gorges of the Hamersley Ranges and the immense caves of the Bungle Bungles of North

Western Australia.

96Please note that I have been well aware of this natural phenomenon and the impression it has had on my sound

explorations, but only recently realised the coincidence of the birds name Lyre (from the shape of its Plumage) and the

Harp.

97Peggy Glanville-Hicks Address, Australian Music Centre 2007.

98dribble not yet dried Track 1 Gut CD.

99pools soaking down Track 2 Gut CD.

100Not to the surface, slip, down Track 4 Gut CD.

101Missing a Lip Track 7 Gut CD draws inspiration more from the call of the Bell Bird than it does any cascading

contemporary classical harp composition.

102Catch Soak Become Track 5 Gut CD.


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Mimicking Machines: Field Recordings

The most deliberate aspect of my research into mimicry has been collecting field recordings of the

now obsolete human-powered farm machinery at the Coolamon Up To Date Store. I recorded ten

different farming machines in motion as part of my artist residency at Charles Sturt University

Wagga Wagga, and then transcribed the different samples for string instruments. My initial aim

was to draw parallels between the Harps hidden mechanical insides and farm machinery in an

attempt to break down the image of the Harp as an upper-class instrument incapable of responding

to an environment such as an outback town, or farming community. During the recording and

subsequent mimicry of these sounds I found that this was not as ridiculous a partnership as it first

sounded. The texture and detail of these machines in motion did not sound unfamiliar to the

vocabulary I had already arrived at with the instrument, in my celebration of grit and a repetitive

digging into restricted sonic areas to reveal detail.


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Chapter 5 Exploring the Physical Structure and Resonant Spaces

of the Harp

How much does the physical structure of an instrument dictate how one makes sound with it? Can a

musician extend the language of their instrument through deconstruction and reduction by

exploring each of the instruments characteristics and honing in on specific areas such as the

instruments resonant spaces or mechanics?

Deconstruction of the instrument and its various elemental sounds and spaces reveals new sounds

and new approaches to recording and performance. Sydney based artist Brendan Walls considers

that he has exhausted the possibilities of extended technique and preparation on the guitar (his first

instrument) to the point where he now feels he must make things from scratch to realise [his]ideas103, he is now notorious for playing a different instrumentation/set up every time he performs.

Blue Mountains based improviser Matthew Earles music is celebrated for its simplicity and process

of reduction through embracing the subtleties of cracked technology. He plays a guitar but

considers that it only appears as a guitar, you couldn't play 'stairway to heaven' on it104he also

plays a sampler that can no longer play samples. Warren Burt extends the language on his

instrument, the laptop, by considering any sound it can make as legitimate. He sees almost every

use of his electronics and software design as an extended instrument, creating the instrument

(analog/patching) anew for each performance.105

In an email interview106I asked Harpist Rhodri Davies about the relationship between the alternate

positioning of the Harp and how it affects his exploration of sound. He notes that the detail and

richness of what I hear sitting next to the harp is different to what somebody sitting five feet away

hears. He has been playing the harp in traditional upright positioning for twelve years,

experimenting with the table top and suspended harp for the last few years

I first tried [alternate positioning of the Harp] for practical reasons because I

wanted to place E-Bows on the strings, leaving my hands free to do other things

with the harp. This placing of the harp on a table makes it strikingly similar to a

prepared piano. It offers a way of distancing myself from my instrument. I hear

the harp differently from a distance. It instantly demands a new approach to

playing the instrument.107

103Email interview response 15/11/ 2007



106Oct-Nov 2007107Email interview 15/11/ 2007


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Exploring resonance, decay and sustain, Davies has also created a piece for the harp and e-bows

where 40 of the possible 47 strings are plucked (by four people) and the resulting clusters are

recorded from inside the soundboard. This experiment inspired me to search for the ultimate

resonant spaces on (and inside) the harp, more often than not seating myself at the opposite end of

the instrument, with the soundboard holes facing towards the audience. The directional resonance is

at its maximum in this situation, and I am afforded greater flexibility, visibility and access to the

longer strings and darker tones.

Amplification and Electronic Extension

The most singular division in music is that which has occurred in our time:

electronics. Electronic music may be defined as anything issuing from a

loudspeaker and classical music re-defined as music not issuing from aloudspeaker.

David Ahern108

Recently I discovered the possibility of amplifying the same sound with different

pick-ups. Because every pick up sounds different you get several interpretations

of the same source. I use this method on the last track of the 3 inch solo CD

(Berlin strings) called end of a motor noticed by five pick ups.

- Andrea Neumann (Berlin)109

Why do musicians working with acoustic instruments integrate electronics into their performance

and in what contexts do electronics musicians/improvisers take on acoustic instruments to expand

their sound pallets? Are acoustic instruments considered more limited than electronic instruments?

What does amplification allow that un-amplified does not when it comes to expanding the

vocabulary of an instrument?

In the first stage of my research, my aim was to include an inbuilt microphone system for the harp

that highlighted the mechanical sounds of the complex inner pedal system. I soon found that the

harp has been engineered not to make any mechanical sounds within the soundboard of the harp,

these have long been muted by the use of felt along each of the pedals, as well as a separated lever

system. I was disappointed when discovering this, as I had noted in my journal: the in-built miking

system for my harp will allow me to boost the sound of the mechanics of the instrument and to

process the resonance of the harp sound on the soundboard. The primary sound source will be the

108Telatopa leaflet (1971) with thanks to Jim Denley



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mechanics the clicks and clunks of the pedals each pedal will also act as the interface for

triggering these effects.

I recorded a number of sessions at BJB studios in Sydney with experienced sound engineer and

studio owner, Chris Townend. We recorded the harp with contact mics on the internal mechanics,

on the neck of the harp, several along the soundboard, on the pedals themselves and on the strings.

These recordings helped me to hear the harp from different resonant perspectives. I soon found that

contact microphones on the pedals produced a unique result metallic resonance. Never had I heard

the harp sound as sharp as when the microphone is attached to the mechanics. The resulting

multiphonic tone lasts much longer than when resonating through the wooden soundboard. This

was achieved by maximising both the gain and compression when recording the softest possible

attack of the mallet on the steel bass strings.110I have performed solo with these recordings only

once. The PA at the performance was capable of delivering clear low frequencies and I improvised

along with a composition of the pre-recorded material I had developed mimicking farm machinery

sounds. The experience was not ideal as I performed behind the PA with no foldback, therefore

unable to hear the resulting mix of the live and pre-recorded material. Audience feedback was

positive, but the experience of improvising along with a pre-recorded composition did not appeal to

me philosophically, prompting me to research the possibilities that were available through live

sampling with MaxMSP.

My interest in extending the instrument electronically only went as far as highlighting unfamiliarsounds that were presented by the unique structure of the instrument. On the Guzheng, I had

already spent the previous year working on mimicking electronics as I found the line between the

acoustic, electronic-sounding-acoustic-sound, and electronically effected sound interesting;

attempting to bridge the oft-gaping hole between sound source and processed result.

I invited my Melbourne based substitute supervisor, Dr. Robin Fox, to assist me in developing and

testing a new patch for the Harp.111This process required a more extreme use of the effects testing

their limits. The resulting recording is a veritable electric-harp-soup. The sounds were bombastic

and animated a far cry from the subtle effects I had aimed to achieve. My plan was to refine the

use of the patch when I had purchased the appropriate equipment.112

110These recordings are largely used in the submitted Spinal Fluidstudies

111SydneyFriday 25th Monday 28thAugust 2006. The TeaBox interface and all Sensors on loan from UTS, thanks to

Alex Davies who also assisted in the patch testing and refining.

112I was unable to delve as deeply as I would have liked into the live sampling and MaxMSP research initially proposed.

Aside from the financial impracticalities of adopting this new technology, I have realised that it is much more relevant to


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Figure 7: Cooper Harp Patch by Robin Fox

Figure 8 and Figure 9: Pedal Harp with sensors

Sensor Type Located Activated by Function/Notes1x SLIDE LONG SENSOR Attached to the upward

facing left side of thesound board.

Activated by thefingers.

Function: speed of sample rate (100 pointsfrom 0-1)

1x BEND SENSOR Attached to the upperstring bolts near thehead.

Activated byleaning the headinwards.

Felt ridiculous to activate.

3x PRESSURE SENSORS Attached to the existingfoot pedals.

Activated by thetoes/feet

Function: 1x select sample, 1x activatessampling, 1x volume of sample

Notes: the pressure sensors on the pedalswere a completely natural extension oftraditional harp playing.The sampling sensor could be replaced bya switch sensor i.e. no need for pressurewhen the variables are start and stop.

LIGHT SENSOR Attached to the footpedal

Activated by thetoes/feet

Activates sample collection

INFRARED PROXIMITYSENSOR

- - NB: Hardware unstable.

this research that I attempt to extend the Harps vocabulary as much as possible without employing electronic effects.


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Problems:

Experiments were conducted without headphones using the living room stereo for playback,

therefore re-sampling affected sample in preview.

The level of pressure needed to activate pressure sensor was distracting

By applying the pressure sensors to the pedals we affectively changed their function as

opposed to adding to it for example, if I want to change the register of the C pedal then I

must also activate a sample. Either I must select a pedal that I decide not to change the

register of during a performance, or I need to reconsider an alternative. One suggestion was

to place the pressure sensors on the small feet of the Harp. This, in some ways n

Harp Techniques.pdf

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