Tag: recordings

Rhubarb sounds and more

duncan

Some of the Rhubarb sounds I collected and made for a project many years ago seem to have gone a bit viral recently. So, here are some related things collected together in one place for those who are interested.

Rhubarb, Rhubarb, Rhubarb sounds collected on Soundcloud

Singing in the Dark with David Velez

Exhibition & Workshop/Talk/Concert | Singing in the Dark by David Velez, Ruchi Singh, Duncan Chapman

Tony Wade’s Rhubarb Shed at the Wakefield Rhubarb Festival

Rhubarb Shed

Article from Huddersfield Examiner

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Sound+of+rhubarb+grows+on+you+….+Huddersfield+Contemporary+Music…-a0272713146

Next Ingredient Podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rhubarb/id1589832372?i=1000601354297

2011 HCMF festival (features the original project)

Piddocks : released on Linear Obsessional Recordings

duncan

Free download and booklet.

Part of a series of pieces exploring field recordings with generated materials and other incidental sounds.

 

 


Pholadidae, known as piddocks or angelwings, are a family of bivalve molluscs similar to a clam.Pidocks are unique in that each side of their shells is divided into 2 or 3 separate sections. Furthermore, one of the piddock’s shells has a set of ridges or “teeth”, which they use to grind away at clay or soft rock and create tubular burrows. The shape of these burrows is due to the rotating motion of the piddock as it grinds the rock to make its home. The piddock stays in the burrow it digs for the entirety of its eight-year lifespan, with only its siphon exposed to take in water that it filters for food. When the piddock dies and leaves an empty tubular burrow, other marine life such as sea anemone, crabs and other molluscs may use the burrow.

 

https://linearobsessional.bandcamp.com/album/piddocks

Mode 5 Down the Mountain (Movie online)

duncan

Following the premiere screenings at the Drone Cinema Festival in Leiden and Seattle my audiovisual drone composition Mode 5 Down the Mountain is now online.

More information about the festival is here http://vrijplaatsleiden.nl/agenda/drone-cinema-film-festival-2016-curated-by-kim-cascone/ 

and an article here http://www.thestranger.com/film/2016/04/06/23909185/terminal-dread-got-you-down-let-the-drone-cinema-film-festival-soothe-your-fear-of-death

Mode 5 Down the Mountain: In 2014 I was working at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland leading composition projects with young musicians. On my day off the weather was against me and I found myself at the top of the hill in rain with fog closing in all around. Somewhat dismayed I boarded the Telecabine at Savoleyres to go back to the village dangled the microphone of my recorder out of the window and recorded the journey. All the material comes from this recording with the addition of synthesised drones and images generated from the spectral content of the sound.

Verbier Festival 2014

duncan

mountain slice blue

2 pieces composed by participants at the 2014 Verbier festival and played by the VFO. A collaboration with Edward Nesbit and the Discovery programme. “C C C” (Colours, Chickpeas, Cowbells) : composed by Adèle Harding, Leandro Marques, Quentin Lehner, Noëlla & conducted by Duncan Chapman, “Mountain Animals and Snow”: composed by India Beibeder,Orane Furness-Pina,Pierre Mouton & conducted by Edward Nesbit

 

 

 

 

 

 

BCMG in Wem (Field Notes)

duncan

Field Notes project Movies now online.
With Bridget Carey, Melinda Maxwell, Shiori Usui, Matthew Harris, Jeremy Clay and a group of extraordinary young musicians from Wem.A series of movies made with participants in Shropshire as part of BCMG’s  Field Notes project

more on the tour here http://www.bcmg.org.uk/whats-on/field-notes-tour-2014/

Drawings of journeys made into music.

 

Slowly catching up …….. cowbells

duncan

Time to catch up a bit

Up a mountain in Switzerland

Where I found this sound

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The Sea Becomes a Chord

duncan

The sound of the sea recorded at Mog’s Eye on the Lincolnshire Coast

becomes a chord …………….

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South Holland Sympony 2012

duncan

The South Holland Symphony is a project with the London Mozart Players and three communities in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire. Over the next few months I am going to be composing an orchestral piece for the orchestra based on material generated by participants in workshop sessions. The project aims to create a new piece of music which reflects the particular landscapes and people of the area.

May 12th Workshops………………

Here are a couple of things from last weekends workshops in Spalding and Holbeach.

The Spalding piece is played by a large group using instruments and voices speaking lists of sounds that they associate with their locality. This will become transcribed and mixed with drawings of horizon lines (as in the Field Of Sprouts piece) to create a section for full orchestra……

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Holbeach Fog

In a small workshop with three enthusiastic young people we created this section of music. At the end the fog will lift and become a very low sound (double bass rumble) and very high one (Violin harmonic) with transcriptions of birdsong in the middle. The fog music is always falling and is an exploration of the idea of the land becoming inundated , in the past by the sea and now by the fog……………..

This is an orchestral simulation played by computer so some of the sounds are not accurate representations of how it will sound when played by the LMP.

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Demos: As part of the preparation for this I created these two short pieces for string quartet which were performed at LMP concerts.

1: Horizon melody and a field of sprouts…….. uses the contour of the landscape in this photograph to generate a melodic line played by the first violin, the second violin plays an accelerating and decelerating pulse following the edge of the field while the lower parts play rotating material based on the shape of the plants…..

which sounds like this

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2: Rural Scene with Red Arrows……is an arrangement of this field recording for string quartet

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the quartet version

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sonogram of field recording

with thanks to LMP players

Nicoline Kraamwinkel (Violin)

David Angel (Violin)

Simone Van der Giessen (Viola)

Sebastian Comberti (Cello)

 

Dark Januaries

duncan

Isabel and I scanning the floor at Bretton Hall to find the creaky floorboards

 

Isabel and I scan the floor at Bretton Hall for interesting creaking sounds …………

 

Over the last 15 years Isabel Jones and Duncan Chapman have been collaborating with each other ,they have co-composed numerous films, recordings, installations and performances including their album ‘Corrosion’, the music for Salamanda Tandems performances and their eight year personal documentary project ‘8 Dark Januaries’

Since 1994 they have met every January to start the year with some sonic research that involves the creation of an original piece of music. This process has been partly one of self documentation as well as a way of reviewing the last 12 months in sound.

The works produced have therefore become a kind of snapshot of our individual and collective work and travels from the preceding year. By “documentising” ourselves we have sought to create an oasis of reflective practice that both looks back and forwards. On many occasions we have discovered connections in our sound palettes and worked these into the pieces.

Sonic materials have included field recordings from all over the world as well as voice, live acoustic instruments and electroacoustic processing.
January 2004

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January 2005

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January 2006

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January 2007

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January 2008

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January 2009

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January 2010

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January 2011

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Horn and Rabab

duncan

12 Years ago Isabel Jones and I made a recording of her playing a one string Rabab complete with creaking tuning pegs and me playing the horn through a harmoniser. Some of this became another piece but yesterday Isabel emailed me a version of the original recording for us to think about making something out of in the future. My breath control isn’t this good any more BUT it the horn is now out of the case and we are contemplating a whole new world of long notes and mysterious textures

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In response to Ruscha

duncan

Three short pieces made as the start of a project with Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Museum in response to their exhibition of work by Ed Ruscha. All played live using a mixture of field recordings. This will form part of a performance installation at the gallery in October.

Made and played by

Elisha Millard aka Electric Farmer

Odira Morewabone

Webster Siame

Duncan Chapman

1st piece

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2nd piece

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3rd piece

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More information on the exhibition here

http://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/wolves/exhibitions

From the River To the Sea at the Royal Opera House

duncan

On Monday 30th May Isabel Jones and myself will be performing a 4 hour installation performance. This forms part of the ROH Sounding Out For Families week of creative activities (more information on the Opera House Website (http://www.roh.org.uk/)

This short track was made today (Thursday 26th) as part of our preparations for Mondays event. It features field recordings we have recorded on our travels around the world , water sounds from Ireland, France, Australia, Switzerland, Japan, Derbyshire as well as live voice , synthesised layers and a very stretched version of a well know piece of Tchaikovsky Ballet music (a prize for spotting what it is).

From the River to the Sea (Duncan Chapman / Isabel Jones 26/5/2011)

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Rhubarb Rhubarb Rhubarb (website now online)

duncan

The Rhubarb Rhubarb Rhubarb website is now online @ http://www.rhubarbrhubarbrhubarb.co.uk/

with recordings, recipes, film and photographs of the project

also coming in the  Huddersfield Festival (21st November) a solo performance with Rhubarb sounds in the dark !

A project for the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 2011

The Rhubarb Sheds of Yorkshire (its picked by candlelight to avoid the leaves turning green)

(from the HCMF website http://www.hcmf.co.uk/Playing-the-rhubarb-triangle)

West Yorkshire’s proud history of rhubarb-growing is providing inspiration for a new Learning and Participation project created by Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb involves sound artist, musician and educator Duncan Chapman working with pupils from Overthorpe Junior, Infant and Nursery School in Thornhill, Dewsbury to create an interactive online installation using audio and visuals from the farming of local rhubarb.

Yorkshire’s famous ‘Rhubarb Triangle’ is an area between Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell known for producing forced rhubarb. This technique for growing rhubarb, which is originally native to Siberia, became popular in the 19th century. The plants are grown outside for two years then transferred indoors to sheds that are heated and kept in complete darkness, prompting the sprouting of new stems with a prized tenderness and sweet flavour. In 2010 Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb was awarded European Protected Designation of Origin status, putting it in the same category as champagne, gorgonzola and Swaledale cheese.

Here are a few sound samples of the project so far

a mix of lots of popping sounds that it makes as it grows (with some pitch manipulation)

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more pops

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snapping

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Here’s a short film of it growing in the sheds (the camera is still there taking one photo every 4 hours so there will be more to come soon !)

shed 1 quicktime

Ambergate Sounds

duncan

Here are some sounds for a project i’ve been doing for Jessie”s Fund (http://www.jessiesfund.org.uk/)  at Ambergate sports college in Grantham

they will form part of a series of sound and image installations around the school next term. The workshops were led by myself with Jess Baker who brought her Ukelele collection along to some of the sessions. Some of the pieces are a combination of field recordings collected from round the school.recording the railingsrecording the railings

DSC03705recording the sound of the bricks being scraped………..

Here are some of the pieces we made

Weird things

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Whale songs

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Dinner Hall music

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Trumpy B (it really is the sound of a Bee !)

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Shimmery Bells

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Sams Piece

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Alien Harmony

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Uke piece

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Spitalfields Festival Walks project

duncan

SPITALFIELDS

SPEAKS

– Free, downloadable sonic guides

It’s time to throw out the guide book and open your ears as we invite you to take a guided tour of the East End, through the experiences and imaginations of local people with compelling stories to share.

Working with artists Marcia Farquhar and Duncan Chapman, five very different local residents have created sonic guides, providing unique perspectives into the area, revealing the connections and locations that matter to them. Simply explore each individual’s piece online, print out the map and download the mp3s, then come to the area and listen through your headphones to the sounds of the East End, as heard by the people who live here.

Download the PDF maps and audio here

spitalfieldsfestivaladmin.new.mindunit.co.uk/images/resource/Spitalfi.pdf

PDF Grab

Madge

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Sharif

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Miss Beryl

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Jez Self

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Mike Myers

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Time Dance

duncan

Time dance postcard

Time Dance was a collaboration in 1997 between choreographer Catherine Seymour, artist Tatsuo Miyajima with Duncan Chapman (Composer) and what was described as “an extraordinary cast”.

The performance took place on the roof of the Royal Festival Hall with a sound installation (recording below) and projections onto the sides of the building. This co-incided with an exhibition of Miyajimas work at the Hayward Gallery.

http://www.tatsuomiyajima.com/en/index.html

Here is a recording of the sound installation that was installed in the roof garden on top of the Festival Hall, the Latin Names are the names of the fossils that are in the marble that clads the building and are spoken by Sarah Goldfarb other sounds include signal horns, sounds made from Oyster Shells and environmental recordings.

time dance horns.php

Some of the installation sound

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Corrosion

duncan

Corrosion


img-d5

 Artistic Director of Salamanda Tandem, choreographer and composer Isabel Jones was commissioned by Opera North and The Bonington Gallery to embark on a new period of research and development exploring the question ‘What is Opera?’ . To conduct this research Isabel brought composer and sound artists Duncan Chapman, together with sculptor and visual artist Gerard Renvez.

‘Corrosion’ treats the body, voice and material to an accelerated state of change and flux, organic and manufactured chemical processes interact …sounds decay, pulp dries out, metal disintegrates, bone imprints, stone crumbles, clay cracks, water evaporates…. In the accumulation, distillation, and sedimentation a transformation occurs…. Traces remaining are left behind and out of the corrosive debris arises something beautiful.

Installation and Performance Research
Artistic Director / Co -Composer / Choreographer – Isabel Jones
Co – Composer / Sound Installation Artist – Duncan Chapman
Visual Artist / Sculptor – Gerard Renvez
Singer / Composer –  Moira Smiley
Poet – Tony Baker

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Performers

Singer – Moira Smiley
Singer / Dancer – Isabel Jones
Live electronics / composition – Duncan Chapman
Singers – Bryony Jones, Richard Lindsay, Naomi Line, Aric Prentice
Costume Designer – Helen Segal
Poet – Tony Baker

Corrosion installation was performed at the Studio Theatre, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, and at The Bonington Gallery, Nottingham during March 2003.

Ambulatincula

duncan

A sound installation for Forbury Gardens in Reading.

I was one of 7 artists commissioned to make soundworks for the Gardens. For a year audiences could pick up a portable mp3 player and listen to specially created works for particular locations in the Victorian Gardens.

amb

Here is some information about my pieces from the catalogue

The sounds of bells and gongs signal significant events in our lives. Beginnings and endings, birth, death, and marriage are all marked by these sounds. Bells are a universal signifier of stopping, pausing and change. In the past, the days in the Abbey were structured around the sound of bells. A bell signalled the time for monks to rise at 2am to sing the Office of the Lauds, and other bells signalled the time for work, silent contemplation and meals. In the prison the bell marks the division of the day into work, mealtimes and sleeping.

A series of seven short works respond to the juxtaposition of the prison with the Abbey ruins. The sounds of bells and gongs correspond to different parts of the day, inviting the listener to pause, listen, contemplate, and move on, changed in some way. Combined with recordings of daily activities, and the crackling of candles at St James’s Church, the sounds of bells ultimately disappear into silence. Thanks to: Professor Brian Kemp and Tony Stokes

 The pieces

walk

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mother

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morning

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busy

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calm

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12 bells

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3am

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