Mentorship with Robin Minard commences proper

After a few months of e-mail correspondance, my Helpmann Academy/Optus sponsored mentorship with German/Canadian sound artist Robin Minard is about to commence. Robin arrives in Australia today to start work on a radio commision project in Adelaide for the next month. I have half a notebook of research-centric concepts to flight with him as well as a few ideas relating to the eventual project that I will develop under his guidance throughout the year.

Meanwhile I'm a slave to the wage processing government rebates, slowly building a pile of gold to fuel a flight to Europe in September. With that in mind, posting on the blog will a bit sporadic for the next couple of weeks I think.

Stelarc residency

I have been asked by Libby Raupach of the Helpmann Academy to work with prominant new media artist Stelarc during his residency in Adelaide during May this year. It's an exciting opportunity to be offered and I look forward to commencing work with him. Sans meathooks thankfully.

Helpmann Academy end-of-year dinner at Coriole Winery

Yesterday was the Helpmann Academy's end-of-year function at Coriole Winery in McLaren Vale. It was a nice causal affair with a lovely dinner, complimentary wines and a serene atmosphere. I backed up Emily McMahon on guitar for a few songs as well as launching my new installation (and first foray into the vis arts) Sumi. I took some nice photos (albeit on my phone) which you can see here.

[16.4.07] Raoul Valentine makes a strange appearance

On friday night I attended a Helpmann Academy function at a multi-millionaire's mansion in the wealthy suburb of Springfield. Though I was there as a member of the Foundation Board, I was asked as a favour to perform as a roaming troubadour for an hour or so. OK. I was happy to oblige and strut my stuff, but god it was weird...roving from one room to another singing to society's elite.

Here's a list of the songs I performed, some were repeated.

Temptation (Tom Waits)
Dedicated (original)
Helium Reprise (Tom Waits/Tin Hat Trio)
Valentine's Day (orginal)
Quattro (Calexico)
Losing Heart (original)
Love Minus Zero/No Limit (Bob Dylan)

[22.8.06] The Past 2 Weeks

Here's a summary:

[22.8.06] CCSP Research Proposal Presentation

This was a presentation that didn't go badly, but didn't go well either. For a start I was grappling with a change in the direction of the topic (which happened two weeks ago), and had been rushing to put together something plausible. Secondly, I forgot my copy of Lucier's I Am Sitting In A Room, and was forced to explain the process with the audio (which equates to disaster). Finally, I ran out of time and was unable to present the last two components of my research methodology, as well as demonstrate a new work, Songs and Paintings for (a) Metal Bowl(s) [more on this work below]. There were some constructive comments at the end, and for some reason they weren't directed at the apparent holes in my topic at present, then again maybe they were being polite.

[19-20.8.06] Songs and Paintings for (a) Metal Bowl(s).

This is the work that was going to be demonstrated at my CCSP proposal, oh well - perhaps some other time. Here's a technical description:

This a work called Songs and Paintings of (a) Metal Bowl(s). It is a work for a sine wave generator and a metal bowl with a shallow amount of water in it. Attached to the outer base of the bowl is a piezo speaker allowing direct contact with the metal surface. A sine wave which corresponds with the resonant frequency of the metal bowl is played through the speaker thus causing its physical state to vibrate and sound. Because the contact speaker is attached at the centre of the bowl’s base, this creates what is called a node – that is where the amplitude of a wave in a given medium has a value of zero. By tilting the bowl, the water’s edge changes it’s coverage of the bowls base, enabling primary and corresponding harmonic nodes of the bowl to become amplified. The loudest sound appears when the the water’s edge is exactly halfway across the diameter of the bowls base, this represents the first harmonic of the bowl, similar in the way that if you play the 12th fret harmonic of a guitar (exactly halfway along the strings length).

There is no performance process decided upon at present, though two possible outcomes have arisen through a careful examination of the system and it’s relative phenomena.

The first possibility is to allow a performer to explore the sonic potentialities of the bowl by thoughtfully employing different playing techniques, such as tilting the bowl to sweep through its harmonic range. The performer may also sing or project sounds into the bowl, thus causing beating patterns and the amplification of certain waves. Performance could also involve more than one bowl, of different sizes, resulting in an array of contrasting resonances.
(See image below.)


The second possibility is to put the bowl at a fixed position so that the first (and strongest harmonic) of the bowl is sounded. And due to the strong amplitude of the resonant wave - patterns relative to the propagation of the sound wave across the base of the bowl become visible on the surface of the water. With the benefit of a directional light source to refract the wave phenomena, these patterns become more visible and attractive. These patterns could be altered by lowering and raising the frequency of the resonant sine wave by slight degrees – in this case a pitch shifter is ideal for this. For an audience to observe the wave patterns, a video camera could be setup to project the process on a video screen.

[18.8.06] Raoul Valentine plays at the Academy Awards.

A more lighthearted moment came at the Helpmann Academy Awards where I appeared in the rare guise of Raoul Valentine. The girls backstage did a lovely job with the make up as Raoul demanded they make him look respectable. As a cross between Jack Sparrow and Liberace, Raoal sung Tom Waits' 'Temptation' and Leonard Cohen's 'I'm Your Man'. Doing his filthy duty, Raoul took his award and receded like an unforgiving hairline - INTO THE NIGHT.