Live Archives

Location: School of Music, University of East Anglia, Norwich, England
Date:18 Feb 2008

Paul Stapleton will be joining the faculty and research students at UEA in ensemble improvisations employing any number of mediatized practices and self-made performance apparatus. They will be joined by Dan Reynolds, Henry Tremain and Emily Williams. Simon Waters (flute and computer) and Phil Archer (circuit bending) will play solo sets.

As part of Paul’s ongoing interest in live documentation the concert will be blogged live on this site and a live audio stream will be available. The stream will start just before 7:30pm GMT. Please use the embedded QuickTime object below:

This stream is no longer active. See archived recordings below.

The event is also represented on the UEA School of Music website.

Photos from rehearsal: 1, 2, 3

Concert Programme

Live Blogging by Richard Lewis:

So, in keeping with the liveness aesthetic, the line up will not correlate with the printed programme. Research student Mel Puga has stepped in at the last minute to do a set on drums with Luke Abbott.

[Update: audio archives from each section of the concert are now embedded into the text]

Simon Waters begins the concert with his feedback flute using Soundspotter-based developed by David Casal. He first manipulates movement sensors and only later begins to play conventionally. He takes advantage of the percussive effects of the instrument.

The audience begins to enter as Simon plays.

Mel Puga on drums and Luke Abbott on computer join Simon. They mimic Simon’s subtle introduction; Mel’s playing is chamber-like .

As Simon finishes Mel and Luke intensify their sound. Mel uses some finger friction techniques on the drum skin. Luke establishes a repeated rhythm which Mel imitates.

The music fluctuates between subtle symbol sounds and detailed distortion and large drum crashes with more focused digital sounds.

Mel and Luke finish quietly and Simon introduces Paul Stapleton and his friends.

[For a parallel description of this section see the extended comment by Simon Bowes located to the right of this blog post]

Dan Reynolds slowly fades in a musical saw with some simple vibrations and bowing. Paul then fans the saw and begins playing with some simple electronic oscillators. The sound is typically electronic as the range of pitches from the musical saw increases.

Henry begins adding some FM radio interference while Paul adds the sound of a large singing bowl played with soft mallets. Dan moves to the drums.

Paul places a small wind-up toy into the singing bowl and then takes over the games controller from Emily who begins to bow the guitar strung harp-like instrument.

Dan’s drumming is now loud and persistent and Paul’s electronic sounds are highly amplified to match. A sudden reduction in volume follows with just the subtle sounds of Paul and Emily bowing the guitar strings.

A snippet of comprehensible speech is heard from a radio as the sound intensifies again and Paul begins to bow one of the singing bowls.

The group begin a quieter section; Dan plays with just his fingers, Paul plays the singing bowl with just a handle of a mallet and again uses the wind-up penguin.

Emily joins Dan at the kit and plays one of the symbols while Paul takes over with the games controller. The group end quietly with Emily on an FM radio.

The next set is Phil Archer who begins playing plucked strings with simple electronic feedback noises. Phil’s playing is delicate and precise. The strings trigger notes from a hacked electronic keyboard. There are some very beautiful clashes and concordances.

Paul introduces the second half which will consist of a septet extended improvisation. [Luke Abbott, Phil Archer, Jason Dixon, Dan Reynolds, Paul Stapleton, Henry Tremain, Emily Williams]

Jason Dixon provides some low frequency noise to begin. Paul begins by blowing the musical saw while Phil Archer adds some CD player sounds and Henry uses the electronic oscillators quietly.

Dan leads an increase in volume and intensity from the kit which Emily follows by bowing the guitar strings.

Paul moves to the singing bowl, playing with the handle of the mallet while Emily takes over the games controller and Henry tries some more varied electronic noises.

Paul plucks the guitar strings which have quite a rich resonance. Jason generates some more high frequency sounds controlled with a Ninento Wii spatial controller. Dan’s drumming becomes louder and faster while Paul uses the toy listening tool.

Paul begins bowing the musical saw to give high pitched vibrato sounds while Phil introduces some almost recognisable moments of recorded music.

Paul begins playing an inverted singing bowl by tapping it with mallets while plays drums with just his fingers.

OK, just lost internet!

Phil’s CD sounds become more intense and move the back speakers. Paul makes some staticy noises with small, smooth, round magnets.

Henry gets some more defined pitched sounds from the electronic oscillators while Paul plays the guitar strings with a small metal tube.

Dan’s drumming is suddenly loud and fast again while Paul aims the toy sound collecting device at the vibrating guitar strings.

Phew, internet is back.

Paul hands Dan some soft mallets while Emily begins to bow the guitar strings. Paul then touches the guitar strings with an electric fan. Phil’s CD player sounds take on an almost human quality which is quite uncanny. At the same time Luke adds some 8-bit-type sounds to the ensemble.

The improvisation ends quietly and Paul and Simon both thank the audience. Simon thanks the players and the online audience.

Photos from the Performance:

Tags for this entry: dan reynolds, emily williams, henry tremain, improvisation, live blogging, luke abbott, mel puga, paul stapleton, performance, phil archer, richard lewis, simon waters, sonic art, steaming audio, uea

Search for Sonic Arts 49: Paul Stapleton and UEA Electric Orchestra

This entry was posted by richardlewis on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 11:59 am and is filed under Event . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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