As I delve deeper and deeper into the process of converting a complex, but segmented, narrative into an interesting, multi-movement, multi-media, chamber opera; I find that each conceptual signpost requires a very different musical manifestation. In these movements the characterisation, cultural representation, and narrative components do not connect to form a linear structure and instead form a series of unique mood-pieces that seek to abstract a conceptual, atmospheric, or perhaps emotive exploration of each 'act/scene' of the story.
So far, none of the component compositions of this large work have addressed the aesthetic qualities of animism, shamanism and the occult-like charms and fetishes of the Bomoh. While the 'trance dance' may be an example of a character development/focus for the protagonist, the 'Bullroarer' rite will function as a window into the mystic practices of the Bomoh, a supposition of the secrets of the medicine mans hut. The storytellers (from the podcast interviews) explain to us that the Bomoh was of the Aboriginal past of the Malayan penninsula, his people were known as the Boyanese.
Some information about the Bawean can be found here: http://www.ghettosingapore.com/the-boyanese-in-singapore/
Within the secrecy of a dying culture, mysticism and myth abound to fill the missing detail with legend. Therefore, in order to represent the culture of the Bomoh, in a tangible way, it will be important to use the musical equivalent of "stock" images: musical/sonic/artistic/cultural symbols that conjure a communicable notion of paganism, shamanism, aboriginality and the ritual occult. These musical achetypes will be required in order to produce the atmosphere and theatricality that this multi-media opera requires.
Of these musical symbols that suggest notions of paganism. The "Bullroarer" is an ancient soundmaking of uncertain origin. It was certainly used by the native peoples of the Oceanic continent, and still is. Instruments like these, that may have been tools or weapons before being applied as a sound/communication device, are the types of performance materials that would have been used for communication with the spirit world. A sequence of performance instructions, utelising instruments such as the 'bull roarer', will comprise the structure of this composition.
A bullroarer demonstration (;)): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Kf_RYVt2XQ
In keeping with the over-arching thesis abstract of combining traditional and new media elements in composition, it may be interesting to juxtapose the communicable functionality of the bullroarer, other object, and other object, with sonic objects and data that represents more contemporary modes of communication. Examples may include samples of ring-tones, SMS alert-tones, and sonicised data extracted from social media mircoblogs.
Some of this accompanying electronic material could be controlled by the action of the bullroarer itself, using an accelerometer device, like an arduino card, or a wii-remote.
Friday, 8 May 2015
Thursday, 23 April 2015
Composition Process: The "Trance" Dance [BoMoH]
The story-tellers of the podcast interviews, when discussing the Bomoh, are vague in terms of detail when recalling this mysterious figure, the culture he represents and the mechanics of his spiritual practice. The Bomoh, as a religious figure and social personality, is shrouded in many forms of intrigue, mistrust, secrecy and shame; these are the sentiments of my Grandparents (the interviewees) whom are noticeably skeptical and ashamed of their part in this story; their embrace of a pagan ritual is an insult to their Christian morality. In one of these component compositions the incomplete and obscure culture and identity of the Bomoh will need to be explored.
The Bomoh is described as a holy-man, a shaman, a witch-doctor, and a spiritual healer. His practices are described as animist (the belief in the spirituality of rocks, trees and animals), a dealer in "charms" (sacred objects in and of the subject of the spell or curse), a practitioner of "black" magic (spells and curses that can be used to injure or kill the intended victim). These concepts come together to sketch a fairly ominous and formidable picture, though with all the striking images that are conjured in this myth, there is a lot of important detail that is missing from this picture. These missing elements include concepts such as: language, religious institution, structure of the rite, the contents of the hut etc. The story-tellers continually reinforce the mystery that surrounds this central figure, thus those unknown elements require a substitution using musical detail.
The chief symbol associated with the Bomoh figure, is the mysterious jungle "hut" in which he lives, worships and keeps his host of spirits. There are other images, symbols and structures that may be used to communicate any general notions an audience may have about the culture of a witch-doctor. Though not all of these motifs are directly linked to this story, these communicable elements may serve to present an identifiable, though remaining exotic and "other", figure of magic and mystery. Some of these clichés and motifs include:
1. "Trance State"
2. "Blood Magic"
3. "Divination"
4. "Healing"
Of these common notions, familiar to all "magico-religious" rituals, only point "1" has any direct allusions to a musical realisation of the concept. The "trance" is a transcendental state of conciousness in which the practitioner succumbs to an altered state of conciousness by way of excessive exposure to cognitive loops (often in the form of ceaselessly repeating sonic objects, like a drum beat etc.).
And, finally, we arrive at the substance of the musical offering for this composition. In order to represent the power and spirituality and mystery of the Bomoh (shaman), a long form, minimalist, full ensemble, electronic dance music inspired, Trance (dance) work will be composed. Utilising a host of techniques from a multiplicity of genres that will inspire this work, the following musical details will be added to its structure:
- Percussive loops
- Trance-style "build-up" and "break down" textures
- Long form (gradual) timbrel/tempi/textural alteration
- Spectromorphology
- Gradual (slow) transformation of motifs
- Ceaselessly iterative sonic objects
This is a musical structure that may threaten to be over-simplistic and uninteresting. However, it is my hope that in developing a structure of very gradually altering materials, this composition will be surprising and interesting over the span of an exaggerated musical form.
The Bomoh is described as a holy-man, a shaman, a witch-doctor, and a spiritual healer. His practices are described as animist (the belief in the spirituality of rocks, trees and animals), a dealer in "charms" (sacred objects in and of the subject of the spell or curse), a practitioner of "black" magic (spells and curses that can be used to injure or kill the intended victim). These concepts come together to sketch a fairly ominous and formidable picture, though with all the striking images that are conjured in this myth, there is a lot of important detail that is missing from this picture. These missing elements include concepts such as: language, religious institution, structure of the rite, the contents of the hut etc. The story-tellers continually reinforce the mystery that surrounds this central figure, thus those unknown elements require a substitution using musical detail.
The chief symbol associated with the Bomoh figure, is the mysterious jungle "hut" in which he lives, worships and keeps his host of spirits. There are other images, symbols and structures that may be used to communicate any general notions an audience may have about the culture of a witch-doctor. Though not all of these motifs are directly linked to this story, these communicable elements may serve to present an identifiable, though remaining exotic and "other", figure of magic and mystery. Some of these clichés and motifs include:
1. "Trance State"
2. "Blood Magic"
3. "Divination"
4. "Healing"
Of these common notions, familiar to all "magico-religious" rituals, only point "1" has any direct allusions to a musical realisation of the concept. The "trance" is a transcendental state of conciousness in which the practitioner succumbs to an altered state of conciousness by way of excessive exposure to cognitive loops (often in the form of ceaselessly repeating sonic objects, like a drum beat etc.).
And, finally, we arrive at the substance of the musical offering for this composition. In order to represent the power and spirituality and mystery of the Bomoh (shaman), a long form, minimalist, full ensemble, electronic dance music inspired, Trance (dance) work will be composed. Utilising a host of techniques from a multiplicity of genres that will inspire this work, the following musical details will be added to its structure:
- Percussive loops
- Trance-style "build-up" and "break down" textures
- Long form (gradual) timbrel/tempi/textural alteration
- Spectromorphology
- Gradual (slow) transformation of motifs
- Ceaselessly iterative sonic objects
This is a musical structure that may threaten to be over-simplistic and uninteresting. However, it is my hope that in developing a structure of very gradually altering materials, this composition will be surprising and interesting over the span of an exaggerated musical form.
Monday, 20 April 2015
Composition Process: The "Motet" [BoMoH]
A thematic constant in the narrative backbone of this chamber opera is the juxtaposition of incongruent religious traditions. In this story contrasting ideologies usually take the form of an opposition between the ethnically Eurasian Singaporean sub-group, and all other religious traditions evident in the other ethnic majorities in Singapore: the Contemporary Malays (Muslim), the Indigenous Malaccans (Animist) the Sub-Continentals (Hindu) and the Chinese (Buddhist).
In the podcast interviews we hear both story-tellers (interviewees) assert their faith with a number of self-affirming statements: "...we are catholic...", "...as catholics...", "...we don't believe in that because we are Christian"; inherent is a fundamental scepticism for other traditions of belief and ritual, though rather than being dismissive of the power of these alternate traditions, the story-tellers are attempting to show loyalty to their cultural group and avoid the scorn of their peers. This complex relationship with the religious institutions of the day, this life of multifaceted worship and religious mashup, this syncretism, is reflective of the Singaporean condition particularly in the 1960's and is a chief concern for the programmatic materials of this chamber opera.
As a direct homage to these complexities of religion, ritual and worship in Singapore, this next composition (working title "Motet") will embody the inner conflicts of a character who desires the social acceptance of the outwardly devout, though is altogether seduced by the healing and spiritual power of other religious traditions. The musically corollaries that exist between the "catholic" traditions and other such "pagan" or "foreign" rites is a rich trove of traditions that will offer much in the form of melodies, ornaments and other such musical structures.
In this "Motet" composition, the multi-text, multi-voiced, polyphonic paradigm will be explored in a number of ways, in order to explore this (uniquely Singaporean notion) of four ethnic majorities as represented by four distinct religious affiliations:
1. Christianity (Portuguese Catholicism)**
2. Islam (Malay Muslim Worship)
3. Shakyamuni Buddhism (Chinese Buddhism)
4. Animism (Malay Shamanism)*
*In the above list the pagan Animist religion is cited, with the Malay cultural connection listed twice, however there is no reference to the Indian/Hindu religion. This story is connected chiefly to symbols and concepts from Malay Animism, Islam, Christianity, and in smaller part, Buddhist rites and practice. Animism, as central to the narrative, though existing in the fringes of modern Malay society, replaces the Hindu religion as it is more relevant to this narrative and composition.
**The Kristang people (now known as Eurasians of Portuguese descent) is the exact ethnic lineage my family represents: institutionalised Catholics living amongst Portuguese missionaries, whom are the descendants of European sailors that took native Malaccan women as wives. This history of Singapore's catholic roots stretches back as far as the 16th Century, to a time when Christian fanaticism reached its height during the Protestant reformation. Late medieval polyphony seems perfectly poised to represent the musical linage of the 'Church' in Singapore's European history.
Furthermore, these aforementioned religious institutions can be symbolised by historically relevant traditions of chant and other such styles of vocal performance:
1. Plainchant/Polyphony (Medieval Christian Musical practice)
2. The Adhan (A Florid Melodious Call to prayer) ***
3. The Smot (A South East Asian Buddhist Chant tradition)****
4. Pagan Spoken word chant*****
*** The Adhan is already mentioned explicitly in the podcast interviews. The interviewees describe this call to prayer, not in terms of a vocalisation, but as a cacophony of 'wooden' noise and objects. This chorus of wooden objects, as a musical/sounding aesthetic, is to be explored in another composition in this chamber opera. For the purposes of a "motet" composition, the more common (and perhaps contemporary) vocalised Adhan (as a melismatic chant or vocal solo) will be used to colourize the melodic writing in this polyphonic work.
****Perhaps the weakest of the musical/programmatic associations for the representation of culture, the Buddist link has less to do with the narrative and more to do with the characters concerned. Particularly in the modern day, the general Western public sees Singapore as a largely Chinese national ethnicity; from the history we know of this city-state, Singapore is much more ethnically diverse. In truth the Chinese community in Singapore has been as actively involved in Catholic practice as the Eurasians themselves, and like those Singaporean's whose lineage is as mixed as their relationship with syncretic religious practice, these Chinese descendants would struggle personally with their connection to the rites of Buddhism and Catholicism. In Singapore, unions between Chinese and Eurasian citizens was less prohibitive than unions between Islamic Malays and non-Muslims, thus the Chinese connection to this story is interwoven in the characterisation, if nothing else.
*****Finally, as attested in the podcast interviews, little is known of the culture and religious traditions of the Bomoh (the namesake of this chamber opera). With this some creative thinking will be required. More research is required here, perhaps, and in the absence of a better musical realisation, the vocal line that represents the pagan rites of the Boyanese (Indigenous Malays from the Malaccan peninsula) will feature a mono-tonal intonation. This is a very base and simplistic metaphor for the polytheism and animistic beliefs of our pagan forebears, however, it is important to reach for communicable musical solutions for these programmatic concerns.
This composition, betrayed by its working title "motet", will exist as a multi-text polyphonic vocal work for four singers. At its core, it will seem as a motet of the polyphonic vocal tradition that the Catholic church of the medieval age can usually boast. In keeping with the thesis of this dissertation, the musical document for this composition will take a traditional media form and alter it with a variety of new media tools and techniques. New media concepts including: the "Mash-up", "data replacement/imputation" and of course "metamedia" (the reworking of old compositions using new media tropes) will be explored in the structure of this composition.
More simply, here is an example of a traditional media document in the style of 16th Century Portuguese Polyphony: http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/images/9/97/Clamabat_autem_mulier_Escobar.pdf
This "motet" will be a composition that will use an original medieval score as the source document from which inherent musical data will be replaced with information from conceptually relevant sources; a polyphonic score extracted from a shared Christian lineage will be re-imagined with the religious chant traditions of a number of other institutions, related to the theme and concept of this opera.
In the podcast interviews we hear both story-tellers (interviewees) assert their faith with a number of self-affirming statements: "...we are catholic...", "...as catholics...", "...we don't believe in that because we are Christian"; inherent is a fundamental scepticism for other traditions of belief and ritual, though rather than being dismissive of the power of these alternate traditions, the story-tellers are attempting to show loyalty to their cultural group and avoid the scorn of their peers. This complex relationship with the religious institutions of the day, this life of multifaceted worship and religious mashup, this syncretism, is reflective of the Singaporean condition particularly in the 1960's and is a chief concern for the programmatic materials of this chamber opera.
As a direct homage to these complexities of religion, ritual and worship in Singapore, this next composition (working title "Motet") will embody the inner conflicts of a character who desires the social acceptance of the outwardly devout, though is altogether seduced by the healing and spiritual power of other religious traditions. The musically corollaries that exist between the "catholic" traditions and other such "pagan" or "foreign" rites is a rich trove of traditions that will offer much in the form of melodies, ornaments and other such musical structures.
In this "Motet" composition, the multi-text, multi-voiced, polyphonic paradigm will be explored in a number of ways, in order to explore this (uniquely Singaporean notion) of four ethnic majorities as represented by four distinct religious affiliations:
1. Christianity (Portuguese Catholicism)**
2. Islam (Malay Muslim Worship)
3. Shakyamuni Buddhism (Chinese Buddhism)
4. Animism (Malay Shamanism)*
*In the above list the pagan Animist religion is cited, with the Malay cultural connection listed twice, however there is no reference to the Indian/Hindu religion. This story is connected chiefly to symbols and concepts from Malay Animism, Islam, Christianity, and in smaller part, Buddhist rites and practice. Animism, as central to the narrative, though existing in the fringes of modern Malay society, replaces the Hindu religion as it is more relevant to this narrative and composition.
**The Kristang people (now known as Eurasians of Portuguese descent) is the exact ethnic lineage my family represents: institutionalised Catholics living amongst Portuguese missionaries, whom are the descendants of European sailors that took native Malaccan women as wives. This history of Singapore's catholic roots stretches back as far as the 16th Century, to a time when Christian fanaticism reached its height during the Protestant reformation. Late medieval polyphony seems perfectly poised to represent the musical linage of the 'Church' in Singapore's European history.
Furthermore, these aforementioned religious institutions can be symbolised by historically relevant traditions of chant and other such styles of vocal performance:
1. Plainchant/Polyphony (Medieval Christian Musical practice)
2. The Adhan (A Florid Melodious Call to prayer) ***
3. The Smot (A South East Asian Buddhist Chant tradition)****
4. Pagan Spoken word chant*****
*** The Adhan is already mentioned explicitly in the podcast interviews. The interviewees describe this call to prayer, not in terms of a vocalisation, but as a cacophony of 'wooden' noise and objects. This chorus of wooden objects, as a musical/sounding aesthetic, is to be explored in another composition in this chamber opera. For the purposes of a "motet" composition, the more common (and perhaps contemporary) vocalised Adhan (as a melismatic chant or vocal solo) will be used to colourize the melodic writing in this polyphonic work.
****Perhaps the weakest of the musical/programmatic associations for the representation of culture, the Buddist link has less to do with the narrative and more to do with the characters concerned. Particularly in the modern day, the general Western public sees Singapore as a largely Chinese national ethnicity; from the history we know of this city-state, Singapore is much more ethnically diverse. In truth the Chinese community in Singapore has been as actively involved in Catholic practice as the Eurasians themselves, and like those Singaporean's whose lineage is as mixed as their relationship with syncretic religious practice, these Chinese descendants would struggle personally with their connection to the rites of Buddhism and Catholicism. In Singapore, unions between Chinese and Eurasian citizens was less prohibitive than unions between Islamic Malays and non-Muslims, thus the Chinese connection to this story is interwoven in the characterisation, if nothing else.
*****Finally, as attested in the podcast interviews, little is known of the culture and religious traditions of the Bomoh (the namesake of this chamber opera). With this some creative thinking will be required. More research is required here, perhaps, and in the absence of a better musical realisation, the vocal line that represents the pagan rites of the Boyanese (Indigenous Malays from the Malaccan peninsula) will feature a mono-tonal intonation. This is a very base and simplistic metaphor for the polytheism and animistic beliefs of our pagan forebears, however, it is important to reach for communicable musical solutions for these programmatic concerns.
This composition, betrayed by its working title "motet", will exist as a multi-text polyphonic vocal work for four singers. At its core, it will seem as a motet of the polyphonic vocal tradition that the Catholic church of the medieval age can usually boast. In keeping with the thesis of this dissertation, the musical document for this composition will take a traditional media form and alter it with a variety of new media tools and techniques. New media concepts including: the "Mash-up", "data replacement/imputation" and of course "metamedia" (the reworking of old compositions using new media tropes) will be explored in the structure of this composition.
More simply, here is an example of a traditional media document in the style of 16th Century Portuguese Polyphony: http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/images/9/97/Clamabat_autem_mulier_Escobar.pdf
This "motet" will be a composition that will use an original medieval score as the source document from which inherent musical data will be replaced with information from conceptually relevant sources; a polyphonic score extracted from a shared Christian lineage will be re-imagined with the religious chant traditions of a number of other institutions, related to the theme and concept of this opera.
Friday, 10 April 2015
Composition Process: The "Dawn Chorus" [BoMoH]
Although the "overture" composition will involve many of the references to the sound and structures of Islamic musical culture and its influence on the Singaporean/Malay culture that this chamber opera pay homage, the concept of "cacophony" and the sound of "wood" is otherwise unexplored. In her vivid description of culture and its manifestation in sound, the narrator describes a dawn chorus of wooden frames, hollow drums and wooden objects that resound in a noisy summoning to worship. She mentions it as a disruptive and unavoidable sonic force, though accepted as a reality in their world.
In another composition, a "floating" movement that may feature at any point used as an underscoring texture OR signposting event, will be structured of a mass of wooden sound. Despite the tendency of cachophonic textures to suggest randomisation, I would prefer this fixed-media work with its acousmatic aesthetic, to feature a highly deliberate form.
For this composition I need to develop further conceptual notions regarding two musical elements:
SONIC OBJECTS
A multitude of closely mic-ed wooden objects will be recorded, as a series of short strikes, surface scrapes, rattle and jette articulations. This catalog of wooden sounds will become the vocabulary of samples to be structured in a way that is at once organized and chaotic.
STRUCTURE
"Organic" wood and "synthetic" structure will be juxtaposed by a pair of mathematical entities that mirror the proposed figurative dichotomy. The Fibonacci series and Pascal's triangle, two interconnected yet vastly different concepts, manipulate the hindu-arabic numeral system in interesting ways. I wish to harness the quality of sequences in the structure of the sonic objects, which will be catergorized and varied in a way that will facilitate a modular application to the macro-structure.
Some additional reading:
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PascalsTriangle.html
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/FibonacciNumber.html
In another composition, a "floating" movement that may feature at any point used as an underscoring texture OR signposting event, will be structured of a mass of wooden sound. Despite the tendency of cachophonic textures to suggest randomisation, I would prefer this fixed-media work with its acousmatic aesthetic, to feature a highly deliberate form.
For this composition I need to develop further conceptual notions regarding two musical elements:
SONIC OBJECTS
A multitude of closely mic-ed wooden objects will be recorded, as a series of short strikes, surface scrapes, rattle and jette articulations. This catalog of wooden sounds will become the vocabulary of samples to be structured in a way that is at once organized and chaotic.
STRUCTURE
"Organic" wood and "synthetic" structure will be juxtaposed by a pair of mathematical entities that mirror the proposed figurative dichotomy. The Fibonacci series and Pascal's triangle, two interconnected yet vastly different concepts, manipulate the hindu-arabic numeral system in interesting ways. I wish to harness the quality of sequences in the structure of the sonic objects, which will be catergorized and varied in a way that will facilitate a modular application to the macro-structure.
Some additional reading:
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PascalsTriangle.html
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/FibonacciNumber.html
Composition Process: The "Overture" Composition [BoMoH]
Extracted from the podcast interviews, the story tellers offer us a vivid description of the cultural setting of the narrative. In this description we are offered recurring themes that involve various forms of spirituality, though among the most common is Muslim culture and Islam.
In one podcast the narrator describes the scene of the possession as a site that is at once an eerie swamp of mystical trees and a Muslim burial ground. The speakers alert the listener to the pervasive influence of Malay culture which is described as "ancient", "aboriginal" and "Islamic". The central figure of the narrative, the Bomoh, is a symbol of the diverse spirituality of Malay culture. It is this protagonist that embodies the complex intertwining of ancient animism, indigenous spirituality and mythology, as well as some of the most iconic elements of the Muslim tradition.
The cultural setting described in the source interviews also offers detail from the perspective of sound and music. In another podcast the narrator describes a dawn chorus of wooden frames, hollow drums and other wooden objects to signal the Islamic call to prayer. The listeners are informed that the sonic presence of Malay culture, particularly in regards to the formal elements of institutionalized religion, is noisy and cacophonic.
It is from all of this detail that inspiration will be found for the development of the musical document for the overture or introductory composition. This music document will be inspired by these notions of "antiquity", "aboriginality" and "Muhammedism". These three concepts will be realized with respect to musical aesthetic and notation; the sound of the music as well as the design of its performance document will recall the cultural inheritance of Islamic and Animistic traditions in Singapore.
For the aesthetic of bombastic Muslim music, I wish to draw upon my personal experience, which sounds a little something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFYmqLIGHYs
This clip encapsulates, from the drums, rhythmic interplay, call-and-response structures, instrumental timbre, the sound of a celebratory religious ideal. It has the vibrancy and color to offer an ostentatious introduction to the cultural/motivic collage that this chamber opera represents.
Missing from the above clip is the timbre of wood and the idea of cacophony (although the clip is noisy!). To fulfill this requirement, I plan on utelising computer music technology and the acousmatique.
For the notation of this overture I wish to draw inspiration from a recent discovery; the Oldest known musical document: the Hurrian Hymn from Ancient Mesopotamia. Some rudimentary/introductory information is available here:
http://individual.utoronto.ca/seadogdriftwood/Hurrian/Website_article_on_Hurrian_Hymn_No._6.html
This ancient document, discovered in what is modern day Syria, is written in cureiform script and outlines a system of musical terms and subsequent numbers. The correct musical interpretation for this cuneiform notation is unclear and there is continuing dispute among specialists, however, within this interpretive speculation is a wide ranging set of possibilities for musical exploration of a language that is the cultural inheritance of all Middle-Eastern cultures, including Islam. According to the research offered by sources including the link above, most historians agree that the vast majority of those terms scripted in cuneiform refer to a series of musical intervals and related numbers. I will use the visual aesthetic of the cuneiform script, as well as the system of musical intervals and numbers, as inspiration for the development of the "overture" musical document.
This "overture" composition will be an energetic introduction to the multimedia chamber opera. It will not directly "summarize" the musical materials of the entire work. Rather, this opening composition will represent the deep sense of "antiquity" that the thematic and symbolic source material embodies.
This composition will be scored for two high reed instruments (probably altissimo saxophones) and computer music.
In one podcast the narrator describes the scene of the possession as a site that is at once an eerie swamp of mystical trees and a Muslim burial ground. The speakers alert the listener to the pervasive influence of Malay culture which is described as "ancient", "aboriginal" and "Islamic". The central figure of the narrative, the Bomoh, is a symbol of the diverse spirituality of Malay culture. It is this protagonist that embodies the complex intertwining of ancient animism, indigenous spirituality and mythology, as well as some of the most iconic elements of the Muslim tradition.
The cultural setting described in the source interviews also offers detail from the perspective of sound and music. In another podcast the narrator describes a dawn chorus of wooden frames, hollow drums and other wooden objects to signal the Islamic call to prayer. The listeners are informed that the sonic presence of Malay culture, particularly in regards to the formal elements of institutionalized religion, is noisy and cacophonic.
It is from all of this detail that inspiration will be found for the development of the musical document for the overture or introductory composition. This music document will be inspired by these notions of "antiquity", "aboriginality" and "Muhammedism". These three concepts will be realized with respect to musical aesthetic and notation; the sound of the music as well as the design of its performance document will recall the cultural inheritance of Islamic and Animistic traditions in Singapore.
For the aesthetic of bombastic Muslim music, I wish to draw upon my personal experience, which sounds a little something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFYmqLIGHYs
This clip encapsulates, from the drums, rhythmic interplay, call-and-response structures, instrumental timbre, the sound of a celebratory religious ideal. It has the vibrancy and color to offer an ostentatious introduction to the cultural/motivic collage that this chamber opera represents.
Missing from the above clip is the timbre of wood and the idea of cacophony (although the clip is noisy!). To fulfill this requirement, I plan on utelising computer music technology and the acousmatique.
For the notation of this overture I wish to draw inspiration from a recent discovery; the Oldest known musical document: the Hurrian Hymn from Ancient Mesopotamia. Some rudimentary/introductory information is available here:
http://individual.utoronto.ca/seadogdriftwood/Hurrian/Website_article_on_Hurrian_Hymn_No._6.html
This ancient document, discovered in what is modern day Syria, is written in cureiform script and outlines a system of musical terms and subsequent numbers. The correct musical interpretation for this cuneiform notation is unclear and there is continuing dispute among specialists, however, within this interpretive speculation is a wide ranging set of possibilities for musical exploration of a language that is the cultural inheritance of all Middle-Eastern cultures, including Islam. According to the research offered by sources including the link above, most historians agree that the vast majority of those terms scripted in cuneiform refer to a series of musical intervals and related numbers. I will use the visual aesthetic of the cuneiform script, as well as the system of musical intervals and numbers, as inspiration for the development of the "overture" musical document.
This "overture" composition will be an energetic introduction to the multimedia chamber opera. It will not directly "summarize" the musical materials of the entire work. Rather, this opening composition will represent the deep sense of "antiquity" that the thematic and symbolic source material embodies.
This composition will be scored for two high reed instruments (probably altissimo saxophones) and computer music.
Thursday, 2 April 2015
Composition Process: The "Monkey" Composition [BoMoH]
One of the most pervasive symbols offered by the story-tellers is the "Monkey" that appears to the possessed child. As this image is largely manifest in the minds and recollections of the characters, it seems to me (the composer) that this concept would be most effectively developed into a work for voice.
Vocal performance lends itself to the theatricality required of this dissertation project (a multimedia chamber opera). With words comprising the main source material for this component of the work it would be prudent to develop that material in an many ways as possible. Additionally, as a working title I have decided to call this component composition the "Simian Song Variations", thus making reference to various materials developed and altered in the structure of the work.
The words of this source material will be extracted from readily available scientific data which describes and categorizes the language of modern primates. This language will be explored in performative and conceptual ways. In an exploration of the dichotomy contained in the thesis of this dissertation, new media structures will be used to influence the format of the musical document. Social Media concepts such as "Microcontent", "Tag Clouds" and "Mashups" will be used in this composition. Using these concepts and structures, the word data extracted from the scientific articles which detail the language of monkeys will become the substance of the musical document that will be realized in a work of vocalizations and performance art.
It is this performance/musical document that will be developed first.
Another central symbol, that will be used to support the pervasive monkey theme, is the motif of the "tree". In the story, the tree is another symbol that represents the possession of the protagonist, it is in the tree that the evil spirit resides and it is at the tree that the protagonist recalls meetings and playing with the monkey. It is possible that the "evil spirit", "monkey" and "tree" are one in the same, figuratively speaking. If the language of the "monkey" is realization of its concept, then the "tree" as a symbol will require a form that represents all that this concept embodies: the house of a malevolent spirit, an object of curiosity and play, and the perch for the central symbol (the monkey). In keeping with the exchange between new and tradition forms of media, I have chosen to represent the "tree" using what is not only a performance prop but is also a device for augmentation; the computer laptop. The laptop as a support symbol represents the "tree" in many direct and indirect ways: for children of today a portable computer is like the tree as an object of learning and play, as a spiritual object the tree and computer contain the essence of our memories and social networks and all of those elements that define and complete our sense of self (spirit?), as a device of augmentation both a tree and a computer (when connected to a source of energy) absorb what little influence we offer and continue to grow with or without our leave.
The use of the computer laptop as performance device will represent the tree in the above ways as it processes the performative aspects of the musical document. The max/MSP patch that will handle the processing of the performance will be developed in a later entry in this process blog.
Vocal performance lends itself to the theatricality required of this dissertation project (a multimedia chamber opera). With words comprising the main source material for this component of the work it would be prudent to develop that material in an many ways as possible. Additionally, as a working title I have decided to call this component composition the "Simian Song Variations", thus making reference to various materials developed and altered in the structure of the work.
The words of this source material will be extracted from readily available scientific data which describes and categorizes the language of modern primates. This language will be explored in performative and conceptual ways. In an exploration of the dichotomy contained in the thesis of this dissertation, new media structures will be used to influence the format of the musical document. Social Media concepts such as "Microcontent", "Tag Clouds" and "Mashups" will be used in this composition. Using these concepts and structures, the word data extracted from the scientific articles which detail the language of monkeys will become the substance of the musical document that will be realized in a work of vocalizations and performance art.
It is this performance/musical document that will be developed first.
Another central symbol, that will be used to support the pervasive monkey theme, is the motif of the "tree". In the story, the tree is another symbol that represents the possession of the protagonist, it is in the tree that the evil spirit resides and it is at the tree that the protagonist recalls meetings and playing with the monkey. It is possible that the "evil spirit", "monkey" and "tree" are one in the same, figuratively speaking. If the language of the "monkey" is realization of its concept, then the "tree" as a symbol will require a form that represents all that this concept embodies: the house of a malevolent spirit, an object of curiosity and play, and the perch for the central symbol (the monkey). In keeping with the exchange between new and tradition forms of media, I have chosen to represent the "tree" using what is not only a performance prop but is also a device for augmentation; the computer laptop. The laptop as a support symbol represents the "tree" in many direct and indirect ways: for children of today a portable computer is like the tree as an object of learning and play, as a spiritual object the tree and computer contain the essence of our memories and social networks and all of those elements that define and complete our sense of self (spirit?), as a device of augmentation both a tree and a computer (when connected to a source of energy) absorb what little influence we offer and continue to grow with or without our leave.
The use of the computer laptop as performance device will represent the tree in the above ways as it processes the performative aspects of the musical document. The max/MSP patch that will handle the processing of the performance will be developed in a later entry in this process blog.
Thursday, 26 March 2015
Composition Process: Introduction [BoMoH - Multimedia Chamber Opera]
In fulfillment of my Doctoral degree at the University of North Texas, a series of self-contained, yet conceptually linked, compositions will comprise the macro-structure of a multimedia chamber opera. The subject of the chamber opera is modeled on the "true story" of my own father's exorcism by a Malay Animist-Shaman (Bomoh) in the early 1960's, in Singapore.
In a series of interviews with a pair of eye-witnesses, Felicity and Tano Oliveiro (my grandparents) explain the myths, religion, rites and social settings that contextualise this story. A selection of excerpts from these interviews are available on soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/markusmusic-1/sets/the-bomoh-interviews-march-03
It is not the intention of this project to offer a linear or literal re-telling of this story. Rather, most poignant in the themes, images and detail of the story is the recurrence of common symbols, metaphors and other such poetic device. It is from these motives and themes that each composition will draw develop its structures and material.
Some of these symbols/metaphors/themes include:
- The "Monkey"
- "Trees"
- "Shaman" and "Medicine Man" culture
- "Islam" and "Muslim" culture
- Burial
- Spirits and Possession
- Culinary culture: "Saffron"/"Chilli"
- Charms
- "Pontianak" (female succubus type ghost)
- The "hut"
- "Suso" (power)
Each of the component compositions (or movements) will explore the various notions set forth by the visceral themes and symbols explained in the podcast.
These interviews (link above), may be used as additional source material at the discretion of the post-production team.
In a series of interviews with a pair of eye-witnesses, Felicity and Tano Oliveiro (my grandparents) explain the myths, religion, rites and social settings that contextualise this story. A selection of excerpts from these interviews are available on soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/markusmusic-1/sets/the-bomoh-interviews-march-03
It is not the intention of this project to offer a linear or literal re-telling of this story. Rather, most poignant in the themes, images and detail of the story is the recurrence of common symbols, metaphors and other such poetic device. It is from these motives and themes that each composition will draw develop its structures and material.
Some of these symbols/metaphors/themes include:
- The "Monkey"
- "Trees"
- "Shaman" and "Medicine Man" culture
- "Islam" and "Muslim" culture
- Burial
- Spirits and Possession
- Culinary culture: "Saffron"/"Chilli"
- Charms
- "Pontianak" (female succubus type ghost)
- The "hut"
- "Suso" (power)
Each of the component compositions (or movements) will explore the various notions set forth by the visceral themes and symbols explained in the podcast.
These interviews (link above), may be used as additional source material at the discretion of the post-production team.
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