It was great to have Amble back again and see how much she has developed since last year's project. (Though embarrassingly enough I completely forgot that I had met this particular piece at a Red Note Noisy Nights last autumn... much to the amusement of everyone today!)
Having forgotten our acoustic instruments yesterday (understandably due to thinking that it was an 'electronics project'!) we were sure to bring everything we needed for today. Was there any surprise that the acoustic instruments won hands down?! So much so that Malcolm, who is tomorrow's composer and who was the most adamant about using electric instruments, also re-evaluated and requested acoustic instruments after all! It seems that placing effects onto a real live signal has the most satisfying results in terms of tone and texture.
The day was demanding in an interactive way, so kept us on our toes. It is always interesting to discuss ways of notation for a modern day composer's demands. Diagrams, abbreviations, words? Should the words be in Italian or English? Perhaps a glossary of explanations about the terminology...?
But there was much raucous laughter to carry us through the day, so much so, that there were serious concerns voiced that we might damage the microphones!
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