So I forgot to mention that the KWS did a performance of John Cage’s 4’33 at their concert last weekend. I shouldn’t have forgotten, because I have opinions about what they did. Their interpretation was to act like they were playing, like there were parts written for each instrument specifically. Now, I know in the piano version, the soloist is supposed to turn pages. But the symphony musicians lifting their instruments as if to play and putting them down again periodically over the course of the piece struck me as…irreverent? The audience’s (or at least *my*) focus was on what the musicians were (or weren’t) doing, rather than on the sound around me (which is the entire point of the piece). The point of 4’33 isn’t “I’m not playing any music” but “the music is all around you.”

RED CHAMBER
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it to Red Chamber (I was crewing for Hard Rubber Orchestra), but I sent an emissary! And gave her my camera and a notebook for notes. So to Amanda Lowry, flutist and fellow composer/improvisor, many thanks.

A quartet of lovely Asian women, Red Chamber play traditional ethnic instruments, but often play non-traditional things. Much of their music is composed by Canadian contemporary composers, like Farshid Samandari (“Rays of Hope”), Moshe Danburg (“The Dark Red Ruby”), and members of the ensemble.
Highlights of the concert included a piece from 917 AD, for which the scores were locked up until very recently (“Crazy harmonics!” “Meditative” “the plucking style of rapidly alternating fingers was a very unique sound!”), the world premiere of Moshe Danburg’s “The Dark Red Ruby” (sounds less Chinese, with more influences from rock, parts are reminiscent of polka…), “Spring at the Heavenly Mountain” (from the 1970s, its melody is ancient, and the introduction pays tribute to the Persian origin of the Ud), “A Dream of Africa” by Vancouver composer John Oliver, which mixed African and Chinese cultures in an interesting way, and an arrangement of John Cage’s “3 Dances” for two prepared pianos, for which the performers prepared their instruments (“COOLEST. THING. EVER.”)

HARD RUBBER ORCHESTRA

I crewed for Hard Rubber Orchestra, and it was an adventure! The Waterloo Entertainment Centre is in its last stages, about to be torn down, and for good reason. There are 3 outlets for the entire stage. THREE. That’s it. And no lighting, so we had to bring some in, and yes, it blew fuses. Twice. We had to be careful after that, but with monitors and lights and all manner of other things to plug in, the stage was a giant, terrifying maze of extension cords and powerbars. I think Jeff was probably freaking out inside, but he hid it well.
I was less-than-excited about the show when I heard the band warming up, to be honest. Most of the stuff they warmed up with sounded like generic-modern-big-band music.
They opened with a bowed guitar + effects thing, which wasn’t what I expected at all–and exceeding my expectations proved to be a pattern for the rest of the concert. The music slipped seamlessly from Romantic to Latin to Swing to Ska to an insane violin concerto which Cameron the violinist wrote and played masterfully. “Madcap” is how it was described, and I can’t think of a better word. The musicians were all strong, the blend was good, and the solos were sizzling. The best part, though, was a freeform trombone solo. The four of them stood up, everyone else stopped playing, and they began doing lip slides and extended techniques and making this incredibly cloudy and complex little solo which made me sit up and listen. Gorgeous!
The ensemble, in my humble opinion, definitely lived up to their title (which I love) of “Godzilla of the Vancouver Jazz Scene.”

Yesterday I did *everything* to do with Open Ears, except “Harbingers of Spring” (which you can find excellent depictions of at both The Omniscient Mussel and TeleViper).

I got up fairly early and bombed over to Victoria Park in Kitchener for a Soundwalk with Murray Schafer. Murray Schafer! It is so surreal to spend in-person-time with someone I learned about in high school music class as a Maker of Music History. I have been so pumped about meeting him (quick note: I was too much of a coward to talk to him on Saturday, but we did chat a little when I went again this morning!) The soundwalk on Saturday was much better for me than the one today, mainly because there were a lot of musicians and artists in the Saturday group (and not very many in the Sunday group), so they knew what soundwalks were about and *didn’t talk*, and also it was a much, much smaller group on Saturday.  Fewer than 20 people as compared to 40 or 50.

The soundwalk began with Murray Schafer playing some listening games with us, having us point to where sound was coming from, and numbering us off, assigning us numbers and animal sounds, and having us find eachother blind.  This last game had the amazing upside of getting to see Edwin Outwater make monkey sounds, and really good ones too, thanks to Clara Hilts (who is one of my favourite people ever).

He then took us, walking quietly and not talking, down some paths in the park, pausing every now and then to ask us questions about what we heard. I didn’t really talk (because when I listen, I listen, okay?), but there was a decent array of sounds, and I found myself listening deeper the longer I walked.When we reached a parking lot in downtown Kitchener, Murray stopped us and handed out blindfolds, then proceeded to lead us all blindfolded around the block, with a few sighted guides to make sure we were not going to die. We gathered again in a second parking lot (when I took my blindfold off I discovered were outside The Ren, and I was happy), and Murray made a bunch of sounds for us to identify, and tried to get us to figure out what kind of space we were in through sound alone. It was *awesome* (on Saturday), and I walked away feeling deeply tuned in.

NAGATA SHACHU

I went to see the Taiko drumming demonstration after that, and it was everything ethnic percussion concerts are, but nothing more.  There was energy, there were cross-rhythms, but as usual I got distracted by the little things: they had amazing white slippers with two toes! (Like a camel! Oh  man!) It was good, though. The guy who seemed to be the leader was super-happy and exuded that “I’m so excited” feeling like it was coming out of his skin. The stances they took while drumming were intended to reflect Japan’s fisherman history, so that was neat.  I got a couple of clips, but the sound is *terrible*.  I’ll post one anyway, so you can see the rocking back and forth they do when they play.

WARNING: Turn your speakers down or off! I am not kidding when I say the sound is terrible.

DIVA/Eve Egoyan/David Rokeby

DIVA, or DIgital Voice Actor is  a cybernetic glove which is a speech synthesizer.  By moving one’s hand, one is able to create pitch, consonants, and vowels.  The 4:00 concert had as its first half, an introduction to this piece of machinery, and the only piece of music in existence that can use it.  The lady wearing the suit (I didn’t catch her name) had a very pleasant voice–in tune and focused, but not operatic or over-trained.  The machinery, however cool in concept, was perhaps not quite there, and I am fairly certain it broke down halfway.  Still, though, I enjoyed it. Her costume struck me as very Cyberpunk, and so did the glove–even her text was Cyberpunk–”What does a system know? What does a body know?”–and I like Cyberpunk. A lot.

The lighting for the stage was phenomenal! (Proper respect, Alex!)

The second half was Eve Egoyan playing the piano and creating fantastic images on a screen, images which responded to her dynamic, register, and colour. There were five stages: the first was an image of the inside of a piano, and her playing created ripples on the surface. The second was coloured circles on a black screen. The third was flat surfaces that looked like a Seussian tower, the fourth was dancing, brightly-coloured lines, and the final image was a scene of buildings, and her playing created rain and a bicyclist, which was adorable. Here are some of the images her playing created: