Mutation of Sounds and Dialogues: Connection of Culture and Music Technology

Mutation of Sounds and Dialogues: Connection of Culture and Music Technology The pandemic, still, has led us to reconsider the future of art and procedures of artistic creation. The usage of digital technologies and online networking in the arts are now increasing which will create the durability that we need to broaden not only the possibilities of new techniques in technology and the arts but also the development of sounds, cultures and traditions in Southeast Asia and the UK. This is a great opportunity to connect artists to share our mutual experiences and local knowledge in art and music, and to initiate a new and creative collaboration between our territories.

This project is leading by two main artists between United Kingdom and Thailand, Dr. Scott Wilson and Piyawat Louilarpprasert with support by the British Council Grant 2021: UKSoutheast Asia Connections Through Culture. This project aims to propose a cultural exchange between composers and performers, from Thailand and the UK with a diversity of age, race, gender, and ethnicity. The goal is to exchange local and mutual knowledge of music with the theme: “Mutation of Sounds and Dialogues: Connection of Culture and Music Technology".

With the missing presence of artistic creativities during the pandemic situation, technologies have become powerful tools for composers and artists to produce new sounds and artistic creations. Our aim is to explore the "mutation" of sound and cultural transformation that happened during the pandemic within Thailand and the UK. Moreover, we will build on existing relationships, and introduce younger artists to this network of connections.

On January 30th, 2022, 7pm (GMT+7), we will achieve our mission by conducting activities on digital platforms which include online cultural exchange workshops, discussions, and presenting new compositions of Thai and UK Composers. We are streaming 3 musical programs; including Online Collaborative Documentary: Work in Progress of Scott Wilson’s new composition, A Group Lecture and Discussion, and Streaming Performance: performed by Taceti Ensemble and Young Thai Musicians.

We would like to express my gratitude to British Council for continuing to support our project.

This is a great opportunity to connect artists during difficult time, still, we are be able to share our experiences and knowledge in art and music, and to initiate a new and creative collaboration between our countries.

Scott Wilson and Piyawat Louilarpprasert

Directors/Project Leaders

PROGRAMME 19.00

Introduction Online Collaboration: Work in Progress of Scott Wilson’s new composition

19.40

Lecture and Discussion with Scott Wilson, Taceti Ensemble and Young Thai Musicians

20.30

Streaming Performance To Fritz (2021) for violin solo

Piyawat Louilarpprasert

Blue (2019) for clarinet and electronics

Scott Wilson

Moving (2020) for piano mover and portable electronics

Piyawat Louilarpprasert

LOW (In memoriam L. Cohen) (2017) for ensemble and electronics Fly (2019) for saxophone and electronics

Scott Wilson Piyawat Louilarpprasert

head-neck-chest-four-five-six-thing (2016, rev. 2022)

Scott Wilson

for violin, baritone saxophone, piano and electronics ฆ ้อง ราว ท่อ (ฆ. ร. ท.) (2021)

Collective of Resonation

Performed by Tacet(i) Ensemble and Young Thai Contemporary Musicians

COMPOSERS/ SOUND ARTISTS SCOTT WILSON For the past three decades Scott Wilson’s music and sound art has explored the intersection of a variety of different and sometimes contradictory practices. Combining aspects of instrumental/vocal composition, field recording, immersive multichannel electroacoustic sound and visuals, crosscultural collaboration, live coding and improvisation in works that are each a bespoke solution to a unique artistic problem, his output holds few firm allegiances to schools, styles or genres, and regularly transgresses the boundaries of the ‘acceptable’ to be found in even the most supposedly experimental fields of practice. A particular interest in collaboration has led to a rich range of output, including cross-cultural and interdisciplinary works. These and other pieces including hyperreal soundscapes using sound from the natural world, a collaborative musical palimpsest on classic Qawwali recordings, and music created by sonifying the particle collisions of CERN’s Large Hadron Collider have been presented around the world. Also active as an educator and mentor for young artists, he is the co-director of Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre and teaches at the University of Birmingham in the U.K. http://scottwilson.ca PIYAWAT LOUILARPPRASERT “Young and Gifted, Meet the rebel Thai composer taking music to unheard heights” CNN News Worlds Report, Karla Cripps

Piyawat is a Thai composer, performer, and curator who works with the interweave of music composition, visual art and sound installation. His composition focused on sonic and visual perceptions through multimedia experiences, extensions in instruments and objects, performance and installation with D.I.Y. electronics and technology. Piyawat has been commissioned by organizations and festivals such as Donaueschinger Musiktage, (Germany), Experimental studio Südwestrundfunk (SWR), MATA Festival (USA), Pro Helvetia, Swiss Art Council (Switzerland), China-ASEAN music festival (China), Japan Foundation (Bangkok) and among others. His compositions have been performed more than 20 counties in festivals such as American Composer Orchestra, Lucerne Festival, Gaudeamus musikweek, Darmstadt New Music Festival, St. Petersburg New Music among others. Piyawat has been awarded prizes such as ASCAP Morton Gould Award (USA), MATA Festival (USA), Mizzou Composer Festival, Resident Composer (USA), Matan Givol Prize (Israel), Sergei Slonimsky Award (Russia), Kultur Kontakt Artist in residence (Vienna), Charles Stewart Richardson Award (UK), Young Thai Artists Award and more. More info: www.piyawatmusic.com.

Program Notes: Scott Wilson’s new composition This new work in progress explores aspects of an unusual tuning system. An approximately equally-spaced 7 note scale, similar in some ways to that used in Thai traditional and other non-Western musics, forms the basis of a harmonic field for this work for ensemble and electronic sound. In keeping with the theme of Connections through Culture, and our project proposal of Mutation of Sounds and Dialogues: Connection of Culture and Music Technology, the work engages with multiple identities and practices, exploring this tuning concept with Thai musicians trained in Western classical music, experimental music, and in some cases Asian musics, mediated through bespoke music-technological processes. The electronic sound takes recordings of the instruments involved, and (amongst other transformations) breaks apart their 'partials' – the frequencies which give each sound its character – and realigns them with the tuning of the scale. The aim is not a pastiche or fusion, but a new musical context which we can explore collectively, without being constrained overly by our training and traditions.

In practice this means developing strategies for the ensemble to be able to work with this unfamiliar material, which is something we have been exploring in workshop. It has been a great pleasure to have the opportunity to work in depth at an early stage which such fierce and committed musicians. I wish to thank the Taceti ensemble for their work and dedication, as well as Piyawat Louilarpprasert as ensemble director and project lead, and the British Council for continuing to support our work together.

Scott Wilson, composer

Streaming Performance Notes: Piyawat Louilarpprasert – To Fritz (2021) for violin solo Performed by Saksilpa Srisukson “To Fritz (2021) was commissioned by Lucerne Festival as part of the Fritz Gerber Award Ceremony on August 21, 2021 where it has been first perform. The piece is written for a homage to Fritz Gerber's legacy and for Anastasia Subrakova, the winning violinist who holds Fritz Gerber Award. The work presents timbral complexity in a single pitch (F) by elaborating with microtonality, rapid-contrasting textures and various violin's bowing techniques. Structurally, the pitch (F, as Fritz) is musically developed and "travelled" to the pitch (G, as Gerber) at the end of the piece. Conceptually, I reimagine this "travel process" as Fritz Gerber's life. As alumni of Lucerne festival academy composer, it is such an honor to write music for him on this special occasion.”

Scott Wilson – Blue (2019) for clarinet and electronics Performed by Christhatai Paksamai “Less clarinet, more harmonica meets unruly khaen. All blue.”

Piyawat Louilarpprasert – Moving (2020) for piano mover and portable electronics Performed by K. Jaree Moving (2020) aims to search for three simultaneous sonic experiences: 1) the physical sound of moving a piano (wheels, ground, bass sound), 2) the reaction of the keyboard sounds (resonation from strings and hammer) 3) the amalgamation between the low drone sound (electronics) and the happening sounds (acoustics) How to play: 1) turn on a portable speaker and put it on the strings 2) gradually turn on any sine tones or low drone sounds (possibly controlled by a phone) 3) after listening to the drone, start to move the piano, following the score direction 4) during the "moving" journey, play low notes (on keys) with single note or trill (correspond to the drone sound) 5) once to reach to the bench, sit down, gradually turn off a portable speaker 6) the duration of the piece is around 5 - 10 minutes.

Scott Wilson – LOW (In memoriam L. Cohen) (2017) for ensemble and electronics Performed by Phataporn Preechanon, Christhatai Paksamai and K. Jaree Amongst the much discussed death toll of 2016, Leonard Norman Cohen stands as notable. As a Canadian his death somehow struck me deeply, not least because shared affection for his work has provided a catalyst for many friendships I’ve had over the years. Cohen, with all his failings and triumphs, had for decades been a sort of unofficial poet laureate for Canada, and through his poems and songs gave voice to the best intentions and darkest intimations of the national psyche of our notoriously understated people.

Throughout his career Cohen’s voice steadily descended in pitch, and in his final recordings it was a nearly inaudible growl. I’d like to imagine that it isn’t so much that he’s died, it’s just that his voice has descended below the threshold of human hearing, and that down there he’s still singing, telling us, ‘Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye.’

LOW was inspired (and made possible!) by the amazing abilities of Heather Roche, Carla Rees and Xenia Pestova, and is dedicated to them. I would like to thank Phataporn Preechanon for her assistance in creating the version you’re hearing in this presentation (for standard rather than quarter tone bass flute), and the British Council for supporting the collaboration which made it possible.

Piyawat Louilarpprasert – Fly (2019) for saxophone and electronics Performed by Pisol Manatchinapisit "fly" is focused on the flowing textures and gestures of saxophones where both sonic materials are reflected in both acoustics and electronics. The fixed media, electronics are presenting the variety of timbral resonation of saxophone acoustic sounds in the large space. The acoustic sound (saxophone) creates sonic ambiguities between fragility and distortion which both characters situate sonic scenes of orientationdisorientation and connectivity-disconnectivity.

Scott Wilson – head-neck-chest-four-five-six-thing (2016, rev. 2022) for violin, baritone saxophone, piano and electronics performed by Saksilpa Srisukson, Pisol Manatchinapisit and K. Jaree This piece for trio and electronics makes use of a version of pelog, which is one of the two scales used in Javanese and Balinese gamelans, the great percussion orchestras of Indonesia. One of the many intriguing things about pelog is its tuning. This varies a fair bit, even between sets of instruments in the same region, but always seems to defy a satisfactory approximation in Western tuning, and a unique beauty. The piano of course cannot easily adapt to this, but the piece exploits this fact by adopting another characteristic of (in this case Balinese) gamelan music: instruments playing in detuned pairs, creating shimmering beating effects. Texturally the piece makes some use of gamelan-like schemes for elaborating melodies, but my intent was not to make a bit of exotica, or faux gamelan music. Rather as someone who has played and experienced various types of gamelan, Western art music, pop, and the musics of other cultures and traditions, I wanted to create a real hybrid music which embraced those aspects of my musical life and identity. This seemed to me in keeping with the spirit of the British Council Connections Through Culture Programme, for which this version of the piece was written. The title comes simply from the older system of naming the seven notes in the pelog scale: bem, gulu, dhadha, papat, lima, nem, barang. Translated from Javanese, these are head, neck, chest, four, five, six, thing. Originally composed for the Fidelio Trio, this version with baritone saxophone is dedicated to the Taceti Ensemble, with thanks to the British Council for supporting this collaboration, and Pisol Manatchinapisit for his support and advice.

Collective of Resonation – ฆ้อง ราว ท่อ (ฆ. ร. ท.) (2021) This project’s goal is to create a sonic network and an interactive experience using technology, performativity, and theatricality. These elements are created using three major materials: 1) Gongs, 2) Metals, and 3) Tubes are the three types of materials. These three materials have a common perspective, which is “resonance.” The prepared gongs provide reverberation of multiple frequencies that were developed with ultrasonic sensors to generate amplitude and timbre complexity. A metal-Buzzwire installation is created to correspond with other resonators (gongs and tubes) by performing the slide trombone’s gesture and buzzing texture in order to create sonic ambiguity between analog instruments (trombone, contact microphones) and digital electronics (electrical current signal and digital processing).

Linking with tubes, without any electronics modification, the use of tubes is focusing on a combination of acoustic sounds and spinning gestures, which creates motion of sounds and behaviors through human physical gestures and theatricality. Nonetheless, the tube sounds correspond to resonations created with gongs and metals by experimenting with physical gestures under various conditions such as spinning speed, performer breaths, and space acoustics. With these three materials, the work expands on the idea of resonation, which is explored through various types of materials, resulting in a large environment of sonic phenomena.

According to the concept of “collective,” we intend to combine our various ideas to create a single work that is not focused on the composition’s authorship, but rather aims for moments of exchange and sharing during our collabo- ration and performance. This project is a collective collaboration between Siravith Kongbandalsuk, Thanapat Ogaslert, and Piyawat Louilarpprasert, performed by Tacet(i) Ensemble and Young Thai Contemporary Musicians. Thank you to the British Council for supporting the collaboration which made it possible.

PERFORMERS TACET(I) ENSEMBLE AND Young Thai Contemporary Musicians Southeast Asia’s leading new music ensemble, Tacet(i) is focusing on the creation of new compositions from both local and international composers, artists, as well as new works with elements of music technology, improvisatory and interdisciplinary. Tacet(i) premiered and collaborated with new artists and composers which performed over 200 works in the past 3 years. The ensemble has been performing in festivals such as Thailand New Music and Arts Festival (TNMAS), China-ASEAN New Music Festival (China), Kanazawa Performing Art Citizens (Japan), Cornell Council of Arts (CCA, New York), Crossover Contemporary Music (Netherlands), Diffused Portrait (United Kingdom), Thailand-European Composers (Netherlands) and many more. Tacet(i) is awarded and funded by prestigious organizations and supporters such as Siam Cement Group Foundation (SCG Foundation, Thailand), Prohelvetia, Swiss Art Council (Switzerland), Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music (PGVIM, Thailand), Cornell Council of the Arts (New York, USA), Vasinee Food Corp (USA) and more.

Young Thai Contemporary Musicians (supported by British Council Grants)

Phataporn Preechanon flute

Christhatai Paksamai clarinet

Pisol Manatchinapisit

Saksilpa Srisukson

Saxophone

Tapanatt Kiatpaibulkit viola

violin

Tacet(i) Ensemble (contributed by the ensemble)

Kantika Comenaphatt

Thanapat Ogaslert

cello

electronics

Sakda Prachumchana

Noppakorn Auesirinucroch

tuba

guitar

Siravith Kongbandalsuk

Kantapong Rakbankerd

trombone

percussion

K. Jaree percussion

Worrapat Yansupap guitar

Mutation of Sounds and Dialogues: Connection of Culture and Music Technology Generously supported by

British Council Grants: Connection Through Cultures

Special Thanks KERK Graphics N.P. Equipment Rentals Tacet(i) Ensemble Young Thai Contemporary Musicians