in Motion (tbn, perc, pno, vln, vlc) and pick the Gun up (cbcl, perc, egtr)
- Submitting institution
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University of Durham
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 116853
- Type
- J - Composition
- Month
- -
- Year
- 2018
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- These pieces were commissioned by TAL Trio for a premiere at Flatterschafft (Basel 26.06.2017) and subsequent tour of Norway, Switzerland, and Germany, and Alpaca Ensemble for a premiere at Only Connect Festival in Oslo (25.05.2018). The works are the result of Egan’s research into noise-based timbral spectra (focussing on timbre over pitch) and the discovery of complex instrumental textures, where the individual parts are spectrally associated with one another. The initial stage of research consisted of a series of experimental workshops with the musicians, aimed at discovering novel, interconnected, noise-based spectra through a series of technical experiments on each of the instruments. The sessions were recorded and analysed, using FFT analyses to substantiate Egan’s initial intuitive conclusions. From this process he selected a small set of sounds for each instrument. The next step in the research process involved workshop sessions with the ensembles, focusing on this set of sounds, with the aim to discover complementary sounds on the other instruments (sounds that approach the original set in quality, from a harmonic as well as a timbral perspective). This resulted in a number of novel techniques, including the bowing of a pecan nut to complement a cello multiphonic (in Motion), and the combination of e-bow, volume-pedal, and distortion on a guitar to complement a bowed marimba bar (pick the Gun up). Egan also discovered a series of sounds that could be manipulated to move gradually from complementary to drastically contrasting timbres. The results of the research were presented within aesthetic frameworks focusing on the notions of social catalysts (in Motion) and revolt (pick the Gun up). This allowed Egan to work with the notions of contrast as well as conformity, so these new areas of timbral interaction could be revealed within a broader sonic and conceptual framework of development and contrast.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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