In the lead up to Decibel’s first and only performance in WA for 2023 ‘Sound Drawing in Space,’ a live music performance program where music notations are read in 3 dimensional space – artistic director speaks to one of the composers, Jaslyn Robertson.
Drawing Sound in Space is an immersive, exciting and innovative program where notation, performance and sound spatialisation intertwine. Reknown Perth media Sohan Ariel Hayes (Six Seasons, Boorna Waanginy | The Trees Speak, Kings Park, Western Australia – Perth International Festival 2017, 2019) will design and facilitate the projections . The music notation is different each time – projected onto different types of surfaces, in different shapes, and as different concepts of the idea of notation, and is shared with both the audience and the musicians. This show aims to challenge the common concept of ‘music notation’ – and show how digital technologies can create new forms of music notation that both represent and lead to new music performance concepts.
There are 7 pieces on the program, and one is “Shadow Aria” by Naarm/Melbourne composer, Jaslyn Robertson. Jaslyn is a queer, multidisciplinary composer and researcher. Driven by collaboration and experimentation, she works with video, spatialise audio and new forms of notation to realise her creative concepts. Working closely with improvising performers, artists, writers and fashion designers expands her perspective. The aim of her work is to form multisensory performances that raise questions and unfold into discussion on complex social issues. In her PhD at Monash University, she is developing an opera that queers concepts of censorship. She seeks to contribute to a wider discussion about self-censorship within structures of power through her work. Here, Artistic Director Cat Hope converses with Jaslyn about the WA premiere of her work in the ‘Drawing Sound in Space’ program.
Cat Hope: Jaslyn, you work a lot with light in your composition. What is the connection between light and notation for you?
Jaslyn Robertson: I came to the idea of light notation because I wanted to experiment with different forms of visual notation beyond the screen. I’d worked with video graphic notation before and found it a great way of working with improvisers, but with ‘Shadow Aria’ I wanted to see how spotlights could become a form of notation that might have a more sensory effect on the performers. I was also trying to make a digital score that had an analogue aesthetic for the audience – light on the stage feels less computerised than a projection.
CH: Right – so ‘Shadow Aria’ is a piece for light as score, then. Can you tell us a little about how that works, and how it fits into your PhD project around queer concepts of censorship?
JR: The premise of the piece is very straightforward – the performers improvise, responding to the fixed quadraphonic tape track, and stop playing when a light shines on them. This is meant to create a thread of silences that weaves between the performers. The piece is called an Aria, but there’s no soloist – the soloist is the silent part that’s highlighted when the light illuminates a moment of stillness. This empty shadow of a solo is meant to represent censored histories – the unheard sounds and stories of underrepresented artists in our past.
CH: You mention a pre-made audio track, that is spatialised in the performance. What is the content of this, and what is your spatialisation approach? Is there a link between it and the lighting as score, beyond the musicians responding to it?
JR: The tape track is made from recordings of synthesizers including the SOMA Lyra-8 and Erica Syntrx. I mixed and spatialised these in Ableton, so it reflects the light score in that it’s also combining digital and analogue processes – an analogue aesthetic made possible by digital means. The tape track also makes up part of the score, because the performers are asked to respond to it, paying special attention to the movement of different lines of sound. My approach to spatialisation in fluid, treating it the same way as I do pitch or dynamics, a tool to build tension, complexity and emotion.
CH: It definitely feels like that when we are playing this week – the track drives musicians responses. ‘Shadow Aria’ was composed in 2022, and has been performed in the USA, Germany and Melbourne. Has it been different each time, and how?
JR: While the concept and a lot of the features have stayed the same, having this piece performed a number of times has given me a chance to consider different performance layouts. This is often shaped by the venue – in one performance, the theatre allowed for lights to be angles differently towards each performer, creating drastically different shadows on the wall. In others, the performers were able to be closer to the centre of the room, letting the spatialisation play a bigger role as a stimulus for their improvisation. It’s been amazing to see how different performers have interpreted it differently, particularly with Loadbang Ensemble (USA) [at the TENOR conference in May earlier this year] because thier instrumentation was so different to the original performers.
CH: Right. So bearing that in mind, is there something different about the way you are presenting it in this concert, compared to those other performances?
JR: In previous performances, the spotlights have been controlled through a Max patch that randomises the lights within a structure. For practical reasons, in this concert they will be controlled by a lighting technician instead, so I’ve created a lighting score using the Decibel Scoreplayer (one part is the background image header on this post). When I created this piece, I thought the randomisation was an important element, so that the performers really wouldn’t know when to expect a light shining on them. After trialling the piece in different ways, I actually think this effect is still preserved pretty well even when the lighting is scored. Scoring the lighting allows me to shape the whole piece more while still playing with ideas of control.
CH: Yes – I guess as long as the musicians can’t see or follow the light score – it will be a suprise for them, at least the first time. I think Shadow Aria is a very strong piece, and I am wondering if there are there any artists that inspire you in pieces like it, and why?
JR: I recently saw Natasha Anderson perform some of her pieces solo and was very inspired by her approach to electronic sound and her unique multimedia practice – I was in awe of how she could comfortably flicker between minimal nature aesthetics and uncanny digital collage. I went to Darmstadt this year, and was especially inspired by the performances of Jennifer Walshe and Elaine Mitchener – both performing their own works that were moving, confident and humorous. I’m always inspired by Eliane Radigue, and as I’ve become more familiar with all the facets of her practice I’ve been able to understand her approach more deeply.
CH: Radigue, as you know, doesn’t notate her music. Decibel have been fortunate to work with her and get to know her music well. Is there still a place for notation in contemporary practice, do you think?
JR: I think there definitely is, but for me notation is more contextual. If I’m working with a more classical performer, I feel I can communicate my ideas through a traditional score. However, I am collaborating more and more with improvisers these days, and I think the possibility to go beyond a paper score opens up exciting ideas conceptually and musically. I’m interested in the possibilities of multimedia composition, and often it makes sense that the score or directions are part of that multimedia world rather than fixed on a page.
CH: What do you think audiences will find in a program like ‘Drawing Sound in Space’, where the idea of what notation is, or can be, is challenged?
JR: A huge range of approaches to composition, pushing the boundaries of what music can be. Decibel are an extremely open-minded ensemble, working with composers and musicians across different genres and expanding the often narrow view of what a composer is.
‘Drawing Sound in Space’ premieres at The Rechabite Hall, Wednesday 13 December at 7.30pm. Tickets at Megatix.