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Asynchronous composition:<\/strong> The context for this research is based in work exploring the transducted, semiotic and hermeneutical relationships between my\u00a0work as a composer and visual artist.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve always had a strong interest in relationships between the visual [my paintings] and the aural [my compositions] and have eagerly explored any opportunities to delve further into the way this works. Most recently, my role as Composer-in-Residence to the observatory allowed me to explore these relationships in the greatest depth. My imagination was full of impressions and ideas following the residency at Winchester Science Park as part of the observatory experience and I had a large collection of photographs, sketches and videos to draw upon [see Composer-in-Residence to the Observatory 1a<\/a><\/strong>]. These were external things \u2013 props, if you like \u2013 physical outcomes of my research into the site. Alongside these items was a vast soup of internal impressions, noises and intentions \u2013 all swimming around in my imagination like a bag of frogs, wriggling and seething and very difficult to hold onto. Together they comprised the evidence that I had experienced the wonderful chalk landscapes around Winchester but the prospect of starting a string quartet from scratch based upon these impressions \u2013 breaking the silence of the page with my little marks, dots and lines was a daunting prospect. Bringing something out of nothing always is.<\/p>\n My approach is to break my way in \u2013 charge through the door with bluster and see what happens on the other side. It\u2019s a way of breaking the ice \u2013 and the fear!\u2028With painting I just throw stuff about with abandon and masses of kinetic energy in the hope that something will emerge. Invariably it does, as this almost violent act serves to break the virginity of the page and take away its power to immobilise; you can stare at the page or manuscript and feel intimidated by its whiteness or emptiness. It takes a mighty leap of faith to start.\u00a0I take the same view to starting a piece of music, but it\u2019s not so easy to just throw stuff around spontaneously when you\u2019re dealing with notes. Some of my sketches from the residency were precursors to scores, undoubtedly, but they were not the final notation \u2013 they remained as frozen kinetics, sound suspended in line, and this sound needed to be reformatted into a more standardised notation to serve my purposes, a process that takes time and unfortunately, time is the enemy of spontaneity \u2013 deliberation kills it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have two methods that I hope enable me to develop spontaneity in my compositions baring in mind the limitations around real-time kinetic and gestural capture [I can\u2019t notate as fast as I think but I can draw and paint very fast as there is a direct relationship between my thoughts, translation into movement on paper and the end result of the painting. For music this may apply in forms of graphic notation, which are repurposed forms of drawing, but for more standard forms of notation there is a degree of meticulous scribing that destroys spontaneity of gesture].\u00a0I labour this point because my remedy has led me to approach composition in very particular ways.<\/p>\n There are two aspects [at the very least] to the character of a finished piece of music as well as the way it is perceived by performer and audience, again from different perspectives; one is the \u2018look and feel\u2019 of the notation itself \u2013 what\u2019s on the page, how it was put together, the sounds the notation implies etc., and the manner in which the music is performed or delivered to the listener. It is the combination of these two factors that combine to create the nature of the finished piece. Concept, notation and delivery become the same thing in aural terms \u2013 it\u2019s the stuff we listen to! There is of course a whole other layer on top of this around how the music is perceived by the listener, but such reactions are way beyond my control \u2013 they remain the responsibility of the listener, so I will leave that well alone.<\/p>\n So, what are these two approaches I use to try and imbue spontaneity into my music?<\/strong>![\"IMG_7391\"](\"http:\/\/marc-yeats.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_7391.jpg\")
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\nThe first involves me building any new pieces out of materials I already have \u2013 a ready made object is as good a term as any. This found object can be for any other instrument[s] and be a solo or ensemble piece. It is almost always a completed piece [as opposed to a sketch]. I choose the pre-existing piece I feel has some of the qualities I\u2019m looking for in the new music I want to create. I then take that material and build onto it, destroy areas of it, distort it, lengthen, shorten, randomise pitches, cut up, amalgamate and mix up the original structures. I execute this process as quickly as I can. I don\u2019t want to think or calculate outcomes at this stage \u2013 I\u2019m trying to remove certain aspects of my decision making to allow chance and speed into the process [like the painting and drawing, I am hacking my way through material in a process of assimilation trusting that the rough edges I produce will bring a freshness, unpredictability and kinetic mobility to the notation].<\/p>\n