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Vanvidd

‘Vanvidd’ is a 60 second composition, written in the Dada style. The composition features a section of discussion between Melvyn Bragg and Carrolyn Larrington, taken from Melvyn’s BBC radio show, In Our Time. The piece also features “Capitel II : Soelen Gaaer Bag Aase Need” by Norwegian band, Ulver. Both elements are centred on the Norse Creation myths, which are, in their own way, being quite serious when discussing the topic. I chose these elements as it highlights the “this is not art” movement of Dada. I’ve taken two serious works, spliced and mashed them back together to create a mockery of the original works. The title Vanvidd is Norwegian for ‘frenzy’, which I found appropriate for a Dada work. 
The inspiration for Vanvidd came from Marcel Duchamp and his work with chance compositions, as well as elements from the Aleatoric music and ideas from Indeterminacy. “The Creative Act” by Duchamp was what I based my own form from; the vocal track with is accompanied by an underlying music track. My composition method falls within the boundaries of the “second group” of Indeterminacy in music, that being;

“Notated events are provided by the composer, but their arrangement is left to the determination of the performer”


I am the performer, as I have taken the compositions (the discussion and recording) and arranged them in a manner that I determined. My method of determining the order is where the chance element comes into play, as both the length of each section and its order in the track were determined by the roll of a 12 sided dice. 

Discussion Track:

First Roll: The first roll was to determine the length of each cut made to the discussion track; I rolled a 2 so the minute long excerpt was cut at ever 2-second interval.
Second Roll: This roll determined the order in which the excerpts appear in the track.  Being a 12-sided dice, I knew I had to fit 30 excerpts into the 60 second recording. To prevent double ups, after each roll the number was covered and if the number came up again, a second roll would be made. After the dice had been completely filled the dice were reset and the order began back at 1, following from the last excerpt placed.

Music Track:

First Roll: This roll determined the length of the cuts. I rolled at 4 so each cut was made at 4-second intervals. 
Second Roll: These roll also determined the order in which they feature in the track. This mirrors the method used in the selection of the discussion track.

I chose chance as a composition medium as its something I’ve never really considered when I think of writing a song. I feel it takes away from the creative nature of composition, leaving compositions somewhat sterile and void of human emotion. However, once I read into the topic I found it was a very appropriate form of expressionism in breaking the mold formed by previous composers and intellectual figures, a big middle finger to the restraints forced upon them.


Vanvidd

VOID


‘Void’ is a composition I made a few years ago that I have adapted to fit within the confines of the Futurist movement. I have written the piece from the perspective of a modern day Futurist, as I felt the movements early themes such as mans battle over nature, industrialism, and technology have all become day to day events that we over look. The theme of my composition is focused on Space exploration, as it is arguably one of the fastest and technologically advanced sciences we have today. Space exploration terrifies people; the fear of the unknown drives people into fits of paranoia rather then inspiring them to search for what’s out there. In a sense it is peoples fear I wanted to encapsulate in my piece, the aloneness of a vacuous void conveyed from the perspective of a floating astronaut. 

I built my ideas for ‘VOID’ around the manifestos of Filippo Marinetti and the work of Marcel Duchamp in his Futurist compositions. In his manifesto, Marinetti, advocates for the modernization of Italy, as he felt they were culturally ready for a major shift in society, and this is what I wanted to convey in my piece. 
I have used these two men as ‘contextual inspiration’, rather than base to build my composition from. Understanding the movement’s core values was more important for me that trying to emulate what another has done before me.

Artistic inspiration came from sources away from Futurism, using works such as Vangelis’ soundtrack for Blade Runner and the film itself to stem ideas from.  I also did some reach into Space Music , and found some of Brian Eno’s work (as well as Vangelis’) fit well into that genre and still was approarite for a Futurist piece. 

TRACKS:

1.	The synth sections on VOID have been constructed in Reason to sound very similar to the pads used in the opening scene of Blade Runner (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaR5wVL9x2I). Vangelis was able to capture the bleak, dark tones of the city below through layering of synth pads, and it was this that I wanted to convey in my own composition. I have layered several of my own patches to create the dissonant tone through out the piece. I have used panning and long decay times to create a sweeping effect, which highlights the vast openness of space. Im no piano player, so I cant tell you the chords exactly as I was only playing in what I thought sounded the best and edited it in the midi window, changing the last note of the phrase to the down chord to help create more dissonance.
2.	The vocal section in ‘VOID’ is simply comprised of two words; Lost, and Hope. I have run those through tape saturation, EQ plug-ins and voice changing plugins to create the ‘Transmitting effect’, as if the Astranaut is communicating back down to earth. The other ‘voice’ noises are simply a sample taking from the Hollywood FX sound library of a Robot making noise. 



Void - Futurism

Still

“Still” is an Impressionist composition used to create an atmosphere of stillness or quiet. The composition invokes the listener’s imagination, taking them to a place their mind associates with feeling quiet or still, and it is them who create their own setting for the piece. The composition itself tells no story; it is the listener who imposes these boundaries on the recording. The compositional elements allude to an event, yet never explicitly say what or why.
Keeping as far away from traditional Romantic composition is a crucial element of Impressionism, and it is this that formed my choice of the Shakuhachi for my instrument section of the recording. The Shakuhachi is a traditional Japanese Bamboo flute popular in the 6th century, which resurfaced in the Edo Period (1603 – 1868). The piece being played is called ‘Choshi’, a traditional warm up piece, tuned in a Minor Pentatonic Scale. Unconventional scales are another crucial element of Impressionism composition. 

Claude Debussy and his exploration for musical equivalents for abstract events was the main basis of my impressionist work. Expressing things such as rain, fog, or water musically is one of the many methods he used in his compositions. My favourite work of his is the cliché “La Cathedrale Engloutie’. His composition and choice of phrasing in this piece takes my imagination directly underwater to inside the sunken building, with the dissonance used perfectly to create an underlying feeling of unrest. 

TRACKS:
1.	The First element on the recording is the Shakuhachi.  I chose to use this as my main focus as it is traditionally used in Buddhist Zen meditation, a feature that immediately associates the listener with a sense of calm and quiet. I also used it as a throw back to Debussy, as it utilizes short phrasing and is in a Minor Pentatonic Scale. 
2.	The second element in the composition is the ambient recording of a Tawny Owl hunting at night. I used this recording to allude to the listener that the recording may be depicting a night atmosphere, but as far as the listener is concerned the bird may be found in day or night.
3.	The fire recording. This is another allusion to a night atmosphere, but is dependant on how the listener intrepts the noise. It may be a simple campfire, or wild fire destroying the forest.
4.	Water. Again, this is another allusion. The water may be a stream, rain or a person watering their garden, I have left it all up the listener.
5.	The fourth element in the piece is the chopping of wood. It is the only human element in the piece and is a direct throw back to traditional impressionist artists. They wanted to get away from the confines of Romantic composers, just as the axe wants to destroy the serenity around it. 

Impressionism is a tough concept for me to wrap my head around, and distinguishing between alluding to an atmosphere and setting a scene was the most difficult part of the composition. 




James_Davison

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