Sounding the Everyday: Working with Objects in New Music Practice
Jodie Rottle | PhD Candidate QCGU | s2971547
TCRM Presentation
photo: Tangible Media (2019)
About the research
This research documents the creation of new music with everyday objects and explores the possibilities of working with the nonhuman through an artistic practice.
Artistic Research
I have created 12 new works in my practice as a composer, performer, and improviser.
Philosophical Influences
Object-Oriented Ontology: Graham Harman (Object-Oriented Ontology, 2018) & Timothy Morton (Hyperobjects, 2013)
Jane Bennett: Collective Assemblages (Vibrant Matter, 2010)
Donna Haraway: Interspecies collaboration (Staying with the Trouble, 2016)
Sara Ahmed: Queer Use, language of use (What’s the Use?, 2019)
Research questions:
How can everyday objects expand the practices of composers, performers, and improvisers? How can musicians artistically collaborate with the nonhuman?
My Artistic Practice
I am a …
composer, and often a composer-performer, focussed on live performance
flautist and performer of objects
improviser of non-idiomatic music and sound.
Each of these roles interacts with another: I perform my own compositions, which often include improvisatory elements.
Preliminary Findings
1) Artistic Portfolio
My work as a composer-performer, collaborator, and curator
2) Categorical Framework
An approach to composing and understanding objects
3) Nonhuman Collaboration
A philosophical examination of working with objects
Artistic Portfolio
What has my creative practice revealed?
The uncanny
Observation as multi-sensory engagement
Performance context as a method of expanding a music practice with objects
Working-with objects through a concept of nonhuman collaboration.
Composer-performer: Solo works
Collaborative Artist
Escapement
I performed the premiere of Chris Perren’s work Escapement (2019) for violin and metronome with Flora Wong. photo: Will France (2019).
Nice Coal Dwan
An original work for two performers, written for the 2019 Easter at the Piano Mill. I collaborated with Coal Dwan (Liam Flenady) in improvising with campfire objects found at Harrigan’s Lane. photo: Tangible Media (2019).
Music for a Memory
I worked with pianist Alex Raineri and dancer Katina Olsen in creating a short work as part of a large-scale project titled bloodpaths (2019).
The Feels on the Bus
In 2018 I transformed a moving mini-bus into a performance venue. Rebecca Lloyd-Jones collaborated with me in an improvisatory work for the 2018 Easter at the Piano Mill events. photo: Tangible Media (2018).
Curator
Sonic Objects
Kupka’s Piano | 13 September 2019 | 6pm | Ian Hanger Recital Hall QCGU
Michaela Davies: Obstructed Recital
Jodie Rottle: BOARD! (2019) *World Premiere
Tomi Räisänen: Balloon Work (2011)
Meaghan Burke: MD-PhD (2018)
Rei Munakata: Buckle in the Air (2011)
Malin Bång: Hyperoxic (2011)
Categorical Framework
1) Sonic Objects
Sonic Objects are physically present on stage but are explored for only their aural potential. The visual representation of the object is not a focus of the work.
2) Multi-sensory Objects
Multi-sensory Objects can be absorbed through multiple senses. Aural, visual, and tactile encounters are the most common ways of experiencing a Multi-sensory Object.
3) Silent Objects
Silent Objects are visually present but not sounded. Sound may be suggested or implied by the visual representation of an object.
4) Prepared Instruments
Prepared Instruments include objects that appear alongside conventional instruments. These objects can help to alter an instrument and/or expand its range of aural capabilities.
Collaborating with the Nonhuman
Object-Oriented Ontology …
… levels the hierarchy of human and nonhuman objects and looks beyond materiality of an object (Harman, 2018; Morton, 2013).
Collective Assemblages …
… position human agency among a congregation of nonhuman objects that react to the vibrancy of human agency (Bennett, 20010; Kahn, 20009).
Language of Use …
… informs the way I address and relate to nonhuman objects. Ahmed (2019) introduces Queer Use, or a method of liberating objects outside of functionality and a means of use.
Interspecies Collaboration
… recognises the differences in communication and potential for reciprocity among humans, animals, and objects (Harraway, 2016).
What’s Next …
PPE: Pete Protective Equipment (Rottle, 2020). Photo courtesy of QCGU Creative Music Technology Welcome Concert (2 March 2020).
REFERENCES
Abramović, M. (2016). Walk Through Walls. Crown Archetype.
Ahmed, S. (2019) What’s the Use?: On the Uses of Use. Duke University Press.
Aszodi, J. (2017, April 19). Undisciplined Music. New Music Box. Retrieved from http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/undisciplined-music/
Bennett, J. (2010). Vibrant Matter: a political ecology of things**. Duke University Press.
Dead Puppet Society. (n.d). Argus Workshop (abstract/object puppetry). Retrieved May 25, 2020 from http://deadpuppetsociety.com.au/education/argus-workshop-abstract-object-puppetry/
Diels, N. (2014). Art and the Uncanny: Tapping the Potential. Leonardo Music Journal, 24, (75-77).
Harman, G. (2018). Object-Oriented Ontology: A New Theory of Everything. Penguin Random House.
Harraway, Donna J. (2016). Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press.
Kahn, G. (2009). Agency, Nature and emergent properties: An interview with Jane Bennett. Contemporary Political Theory, 8, (90-105).
Labelle, B. (2006). Background Noise: Perspectives on Sound Art. Continuum International.
Morton, T. (2013). Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World. University of Minnesota Press.
Parkinson, G. (2008). The Duchamp Book. London: Tate Publishing.
Perren, C. (2019). Escapement [score] [Unpublished manuscript].
Roberts, J. (2010). Art After Deskilling. Historical Materialism, 18, 77–96. Brill.
Rottle, J. (2018). The Feels on the Bus [score] [Unpublished manuscript].
Rottle, J. (2018). Your Sound Future [score] [Unpublished manuscript].
Rottle, J. (2019). BOARD! [score] [Unpublished manuscript].
Rottle, J. (2019). Hold It In [score] [Unpublished manuscript].
Rottle, J. (2019). Music for a Memory [score] [Unpublished manuscript].
Rottle, J. (2019). Chatter [score] [Unpublished manuscript].
Rottle, J. (2019). Nice Coal Dwan [score] [Unpublished manuscript].
Rottle, J. (2019). Pete and Pete Greet [score] [Unpublished manuscript].
Rottle, J. (2019). Pete’s Dance [score] [Unpublished manuscript].
Rottle, J. (2019). Pete and Pete Meet [score] [Unpublished manuscript].
Rottle, J. (2019). Suspension of Disbelief [score] [Unpublished manuscript].
Rottle, J. (2020). Gait Rhythm in Unit 3 [score] [Unpublished manuscript].
Russell, S. L.(2016). The Prepared Flute: A Survey of its History, Techniques, and Repertoire. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/3795
Schick, S. (2006). The Percussionist's Art: Same Bed, Different Dreams. University of Rochester Press.
Scneemann, C. (1965). Noise Bodies [Found objects]. Queens, NY: MoMA P.S1
Walshe, J. (2016, January). The New Discipline. Borealis Festival. Retrieved from http://www.borealisfestival.no/2016/the-new-discipline-4/