An improvisation from the archives for this year's Piano Day

In The Next Room (Piano Day)

Circulations

The Place All Over

Rhythmic Morph 1

Rhythmic Morph 2

Bringing

Remain

Remember

So this track was inspired in equal parts by some art and some words. After being at an amazing exhibition about the air around us and the skies above us, I was walking along listening to the ‘Meet the Composer’ podcast, and Laurie Anderson said the following:

“You can go and get a $20 ukulele and make an incredible piece of music from it, it depends on you, it’s not the tools you’re holding… …so the best thing you can do is make your music, and look up at the sky and appreciate the astounding nature of the world”

It not only resonated with feelings from the exhibition and its subject matter, but also with recent thoughts on the idea of constraints in music making - particularly using fewer elements and focusing more on the immediate materials to hand. In this regard I was also a little bit inspired by Matmos, who often make tracks and records using one or two sound sources, and who also talked on this particular podcast episode.  

So it seemed fitting to try to write a piece of music today, inspired by the air and skies, using only my cheap ukulele. Every sound in this track is made with it (apart from the vocal snippets, which are samples of Laurie speaking on the podcast.) It was made very quickly as I didn't want to dwell on it. Whilst being far from 'an incredible piece of music', it was an enjoyable and interesting exercise in incorporating rigid limitations, and in trying to express myself within these boundaries. 

It’s dedicated to my partner, who has done so brilliantly to exhibit an amazing set of work at the exhibition mentioned above. Her work can be found here: http://www.jemmagrundon.co.uk/mono-no-aware/
And here's the exhibition: https://www.rwa.org.uk/whats-on/air-visualising-invisible-british-art-1768-2017
Finally, here's the brilliant podcast: http://www.wqxr.org/shows/meet-composer/

Jim Cornick

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