This collection of new music responds to anonymous contributors who have offered lyrics, a riff, or a musical hook that they use to help themselves through tough times. 

In response to these personal starting points, to repetition and looping, and to ideas around self-soothing and lullabies, tracks were created by Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian, Cutter/Nash, dmf (Sop), Katy Rose Bennett, and Rhiannon Armstrong. You can find out more about these individual artists in the information on each track. 

Created as part of a commission for Wellcome Collection in 2020, 'How to Hold, Behold, and Be Held'. For more information go to: www.rhiannonarmstrong/net/projects/howtohold

How to Be Held: songs of self-soothing

Can Ye Sew Cushions Layered With Baby Yuna 5 Mins

One of three tracks made through remote collaboration by Rhiannon Armstrong, Lucy Bowen, and Sam Bowen in 2021.

Vocalists (in order of appearance) Rhiannon Armstrong, Sam Bowen, Lucy Bowen. Beats sampled from Glue by Bicep.

Sam had this to say about the experience: 

"Lucy is learning disabled and non verbal, in that she doesn't use spoken language in the way most people do. But she does communicate and we do understand each other, we chat and sing all day most days and music is a big part of our lives.

Lucy has always not only been motivated by music but also loves making it and has a huge selection of instruments including a guitar, several drums, chimes and many more exciting shakers. 

I've always loved singing and find it very freeing, i sing "you are my sunshine" to Lucy every night when I put her to bed, listen to the words and you'll realise the poignancy in them when you have a disabled child with complex health needs. I also really love dance music and discovered Bicep during lockdown (attending their online concert!) When the chance came to work with Rhiannon and create a unique piece with Lucy I jumped at the chance.

I can't quite believe the result which sounds both professional and moving. I cried when I first heard it as this combines our voices beautifully and captures the lullaby in a new and refreshingly modern way. I'm grateful for the chance to have created this with Rhiannon and it was definitely a positive lockdown memory."

The idea was to use field recordings from home life and some information discussed in interview to create tracks through a mix of collage and musical response. The process would be particularly attentive to Lucy's musicality, considering possibilities for remote creative collaboration across time and distance, and without relying on linguistic communication.

The initial aim was to create a track that would have both Sam and Lucy's individual sound worlds represented, which they could listen to together through our sensory listening device - Tilde. Lucy and Sam's vocals were sent by Sam (Lucy's mum) via WhatsApp, as part of a collection of recordings made at home. They were recordings made in separate moments as Sam and Lucy went about their day.

After isolating Lucy's vocals Rhiannon heard some striking connections and decided to attempt a duet between Lucy and her mum. The duet mixes Sam's favourite dance track 'Glue', and the song 'You Are My Sunshine', which Sam sings to Lucy every night.

Lucy And Sam Sunshine Duet

One of three tracks made through remote collaboration by Rhiannon Armstrong, Lucy Bowen, and Sam Bowen in 2021.

Instrumentalist and lead vocalist: Lucy Bowen
Backing vocals: Rhiannon Armstrong 

The idea was to use field recordings from home life and some information discussed in interview to create tracks through a mix of collage and musical response. The process would be particularly attentive to Lucy's musicality, considering possibilities for remote creative collaboration across time and distance, and without relying on linguistic communication.

Following an online interview exploring the role of music in Lucy and Sam's life, recordings of Lucy playing and vocalising at home were sent to Rhiannon by Sam (Lucy's mum) via WhatsApp. The resulting tracks were compiled and composed by Rhiannon as an attempt at remote, time-lagged, non-linguistic, creative collaboration.

Lucy Percussion

Tracks made in sensory sound making sessions with three students at a time at a specialist school using a BOSS loop station, tin foil, dried leaves and pinecones, bubble wrap, straws, and our voices.

Class 11 Group B

Class 11 Group A

Class 10 Group D

Class 10 Group C

Class 10 Group B

Class 10 Group A

Class 9 Group D

Class 9 Group C

Class 9 Group B

Class 9 Group A

Sensory sound making sessions were conducted in the morning with pairs of pupils from Blue Class using everyday materials, a loop pedal, and our voices. In the afternoon, a listening session took place in class where DJ Sayang live mixed the loops from the morning sessions. The mix evolved in response to the actions of the students listening in the room. 

Teacher Ceri fed back: 
"Overall, the pupils in blue class gained so much from being part of this project. They were deeply respected as collaborative artists and given a huge amount of agency in terms of how they wanted to contribute. Every contribution was acknowledged, valued, and celebrated. The artists went out of their way to ensure that pupils felt safe, comfortable, and confident. I feel that being recognised as artists in this way has contributed to pupils’ confidence and wellbeing and will further inspire them within their continued artistic journeys."

The White Noise Factory West SILC Leeds, Blue Class listening session DJ'd by Sayang

Audio from a site specific project on the Hamfrith Estate, made as part of Newham Heritage Month and held in June 2024. Residents share their memories of the estate and each other, and their hopes for the future.

McGrath Road Legacies

delivered as a phone call in the interactive adventure Hutong Watch. Participants were asked to find somewhere green to sit in advance of the call. 

Hutong Watch meditation

sample testimony from the web/audio version of The International Archive of Things Left Unsaid by Rhiannon Armstrong. The web piece was live from 2015-18. This piece also exists as a one-to-one performance and installation. For more information go to www.rhiannonarmstrong.net

Testimony 077 from The International Archive of Things Left Unsaid

from the performance 'Anchored' at Hold Everything Dear: John Berger and Performance, 14 April 2018

Can Ye Sew Cushions layered with Baby Yuna

Playing around with the first 10 seconds of Flashdance. I thought it might be fun: it turned out to be rather dramatic.

Flash in the pan Flashdance for The End of Times

A compilation of bespoke "white noise" loops created with audience members out of everyday objects at Battersea Arts Centre, London, on 1 and 2 November 2019. 

Researching a new work. 

Includes: aluminium foil, bubbles popping, leaves, paper, a book, a net curtain, a wooden box and floor, a bowl, string, a bin bag, handkerchiefs.

The White Noise Library audience participation experiments 1-2 November 2019 Battersea Arts Centre

Commissioned by the BBC and The Space Arts with funding from Arts Council England as part of Culture in Quarantine, and broadcast on Radio 3's Between the Ears programme, autumn 2020.

Written, recorded, edited and produced by Rhiannon Armstrong.
Music by Dinah Mullen with Rhiannon Armstrong.
Drivers interviewed: Mohammed Shabir and Godfrey Stuart
Executive Producer: Sarah Cuddon

The Soothing Presence Of Strangers by Rhiannon Armstrong for BBC Culture in Quarantine

[Audio description] Synthesized sounds layer, echo themselves and each other to produce a repeated chord progression. Manipulated tenor voice joins, long clear notes of a tune turned into tremolo phrases. Two tunes intertwine over the progression. 

***

CUTTER // NASH is a disability-led music and sound art collaboration between Gareth Cutter (London) and Gemma Nash (Manchester). Our work holds space for queer, non-normative bodies and voices, producing performances and soundscapes that are eerie, seductive and euphoric.

“Their creative exploration of how music, sound art, the voice and accessibility interact is proving to be an artistically rich and productive area of work” - Susanna Eastburn, Chief Executive, Sound & Music.

CUTTER // NASH have performed and exhibited work internationally at No Limits Festival (Berlin 2019), bodyparts exhibition (London 2019), DaDaFest (Liverpool 2018) and Unlimited Festival (London 2018). Our current practice revolves around non-normative voices and technology.

gemmanashartist.com/
garethcutter.com/

***

This collection of new music responds to anonymous contributors who have offered lyrics, a riff, or a musical hook that they use to help themselves in tough times. Created for 'How to Hold, Behold, and Be Held' by Rhiannon Armstrong for Wellcome Collection. For more information go to www.rhiannonarmstrong.net/projects/howtohold/

"the theme song from Buffy the Vampire Slayer" reinterpreted by Cutter//Nash

[Audio description] A harp repeats the same short riff. Over time the sound changes: it distorts, echoes, delays, reverberates, doubles up. The sound builds, deepens, layers move in and out of time. 

***

Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian is an award-winning British composer and performer. She was recently in residence with the London Symphony Orchestra and the National Trust, and commissioned by the Birmingham Royal Ballet. In 2017 she was double-nominated for the British Composer Awards, and won with her jazz composition Muted Lines for saxophonist Trish Clowes. Her electro-acoustic album BRACE was released by Accidental Records in 2019, which Cevanne premièred at the BBC Proms on custom midi-controllers by Crewdson. The London Symphony Orchestra recorded her piece A Dancing Place for LSO Live’s album Panufnik Legacies III, conducted by Francois Xavier Roth. In 2020, she was the Mary Amelia Cummins Harvey Visiting Fellow Commoner at her alma mater, Girton College, University of Cambridge.

www.cevanne.org

This collection of new music responds to anonymous contributors who have offered lyrics, a riff, or a musical hook that they use to help themselves in tough times. Created for 'How to Hold, Behold, and Be Held' by Rhiannon Armstrong for Wellcome Collection. For more information go to www.rhiannonarmstrong.net/projects/howtohold/

"the riff from Van Halen's Ain't Talkin Bout Love" reinterpreted by Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian

[Audio description] hummed choral undertone, rhythmic taps on a microphone in a marching rhythm. Unadorned treble voice in a higher sweeping part “eh”. Lyrics include “we’ve come too far to forget who we are”. 

***

Rhiannon Armstrong makes work with empathy, interaction, and dialogue at its core, under the lifelong series title Instructions for Empathetic Living. She brings the audience-focus of a theatre background to interdisciplinary work that has included intimate performance works, interactive digital works, collaborative theatre projects, audio and textiles.

Rhiannon was recipient of the Adrian Howells Award for Intimate Performance in 2019, and of a BBC Culture in Quarantine Commission for The Soothing Presence of Strangers in 2020. In recent years her work has been concerned with rest and agency in public space, both in the built environment and online. Rhiannon is also a violinist and member of the instrumental postrock band The Monroe Transfer.

www.rhiannonarmstrong.net

***

This collection of new music responds to anonymous contributors who have offered lyrics, a riff, or a musical hook that they use to help themselves in tough times. Created for 'How to Hold, Behold, and Be Held' by Rhiannon Armstrong for Wellcome Collection. For more information go to www.rhiannonarmstrong.net/projects/howtohold/

"we've come too far to forget who we are" from Get Lucky reinterpreted by Rhiannon Armstrong

[Audio description] a soprano voice sings wordlessly (“ooh”), long clear high notes over a gently rocking lower part. A lower line, sometimes raspy, “ee-oh”.

***

Katy Rose Bennett has been writing and performing her idiosyncratic brand of elegant folk for over 20 years. October 2020 saw Katy launch the album ‘Where does it hurt? An Introduction to Katy Rose Bennett’ featuring songs from her considerable back catalogue as well as two new songs .
- “Gentle acoustics from the Nick Drake school... strikingly original.” UNCUT
- "Powerfully delicate... brings out the beauty of Bennett's voice" Maverick
- "Hauntingly beautiful" Folk Radio UK
Katy says: “I create earthy, intimate folk music, telling stories of love, despair, connection, and community. Inspired by the natural world and my lived experience of physical and mental health, I empower others to be emotionally open by sharing the strength in vulnerability through the vessel of song.”

http://katyrosebennett.com/

***

This track is part of a collection of new music that respond to anonymous contributors who have offered lyrics, a riff, or a musical hook that they use to help themselves in tough times. Created for 'How to Hold, Behold, and Be Held' by Rhiannon Armstrong for Wellcome Collection. For more information go to www.rhiannonarmstrong.net/projects/howtohold/

"Aslan's theme from the Narnia TV show" reinterpreted by Katy Rose Bennett

[Audio description] Eerie sliding synth sounds in and out of harmony (the keyboard was played by Patti, who is a cat). Lyrics include “something inside that you want to say”, “say it out loud it’ll be ok”, and “I will be your light”. Soft singing, close, somewhere between sung, spoken and whispered. 

***

dmf is Sop’s solo music project. Sop is a London based artist and musician working with sound, performance, writing, film and objects, frequently made in collaboration with others who have also experienced chronic illness. Sop's work centres modes of sociality, and explores the use of voice as gesture. They come from the queer, DIY punk scene playing in Roseanne Barrr and Score, and they currently sing in Child’s Pose and drum in Woolf. Their tape ‘unheld’, a collection of songs spanning over a decade, was released on Nervous Energy Records in 2020. Their show ‘The Den’ will open at the Wellcome Collection later in 2021. https://www.instagram.com/sop__sop__sop/ 
https://d-m-f.bandcamp.com/

***

This collection of new music responds to anonymous contributors who have offered lyrics, a riff, or a musical hook that they use to help themselves in tough times. Created for 'How to Hold, Behold, and Be Held' by Rhiannon Armstrong for Wellcome Collection. For more information go to www.rhiannonarmstrong.net/projects/howtohold/

"something inside you wanna say, say it out loud it'll be ok" from Beta Band reinterpreted by dmf

[Audio description] two voices, muffled and distorted, take it in turns to hum an arpeggiated tune. Sometimes they sing alone, sometimes together, sometimes they overlap. An organ joins them, percussion is steady. Distortion, echo, delay, and movement. 

***

CUTTER // NASH is a disability-led music and sound art collaboration between Gareth Cutter (London) and Gemma Nash (Manchester). Our work holds space for queer, non-normative bodies and voices, producing performances and soundscapes that are eerie, seductive and euphoric.

“Their creative exploration of how music, sound art, the voice and accessibility interact is proving to be an artistically rich and productive area of work” - Susanna Eastburn, Chief Executive, Sound & Music.

CUTTER // NASH have performed and exhibited work internationally at No Limits Festival (Berlin 2019), bodyparts exhibition (London 2019), DaDaFest (Liverpool 2018) and Unlimited Festival (London 2018). Our current practice revolves around non-normative voices and technology. 

http://gemmanashartist.com/
http://garethcutter.com/

***

This collection of new music responds to anonymous contributors who have offered lyrics, a riff, or a musical hook that they use to help themselves in tough times. Created for 'How to Hold, Behold, and Be Held' by Rhiannon Armstrong for Wellcome Collection. For more information go to www.rhiannonarmstrong.net/projects/howtohold/

"30 seconds of Marty's dad dancing in Back To The Future" reinterpreted by Cutter//Nash

[Audio description] Hands clap and click, a harp, a voice, all in a steady syncopated rhythm that occasionally gives way to stillness. Lyrics include "ooh child, things are gonna get easier, ooh child things will get brighter", "some day we'll get it together and get it all done, some day when your head is much lighter. Some day yeah, we’ll walk in the rays of the beautiful sun, some day when the world is much brighter” and a chorus of “right now”. 

***

Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian is an award-winning British composer and performer. She was recently in residence with the London Symphony Orchestra and the National Trust, and commissioned by the Birmingham Royal Ballet. In 2017 she was double-nominated for the British Composer Awards, and won with her jazz composition Muted Lines for saxophonist Trish Clowes. Her electro-acoustic album BRACE was released by Accidental Records in 2019, which Cevanne premièred at the BBC Proms on custom midi-controllers by Crewdson. The London Symphony Orchestra recorded her piece A Dancing Place for LSO Live’s album Panufnik Legacies III, conducted by Francois Xavier Roth. In 2020, she was the Mary Amelia Cummins Harvey Visiting Fellow Commoner at her alma mater, Girton College, University of Cambridge. 

www.cevanne.org

This collection of new music responds to anonymous contributors who have offered lyrics, a riff, or a musical hook that they use to help themselves in tough times. Created for 'How to Hold, Behold, and Be Held' by Rhiannon Armstrong for Wellcome Collection. For more information go to http://www.rhiannonarmstrong.net/projects/howtohold/

Ooh Child by The Five Stairsteps reinterpreted by Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian

Artist, violinist, custodian of The International Archive of Things Left Unsaid.

Rhiannon Armstrong

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