Earthly Sounds

We've been rehearsing with Paul Whitty today, ably assisted by Shirley Pegna. 

It's the first time we've heard the recordings Paul, Shirley & Emma took a couple of weeks ago in a field near Thorverton - fascinating recordings of the vibrations of the earth, which today were played initially through speakers and then 'through' the double bass and headphones.  We were experimenting with all sorts of sounds on our instruments, recreating the sounds on the recordings.   We also tried combining all this with a bit of improvising on  Jackie Oates' beautiful singing of Devon folksongs.

It's been great fun and we're looking forward to more work on this piece in the near future.

Whilst we were practising/experimenting away in a studio upstairs at Exeter Phoenix, Simon Belshaw was down in the basement talking about his music and this project on Phonic fm.      
JH (Exeter Contemporary Sounds)

(Paul Whitty is composing a new piece 'Bury your love like treasure' for our tour 'Back there on Earth'.)

a sunny morning on earth

Monday morning, on top of a ridge overlooking Thorverton, near Tiverton, Devon.

Listening to the sounds of the earth, amplified by a double bass.

We buried hydro- and geophones to pick up sounds of the earth and then applied the sound to the bridge and body of the bass to amplify it. 

If you're wondering what it sounds like we'll post an audio link shortly.

EW (Exeter Contemporary Sounds)

(This work will form the background for the piece 'Bury your love like Treasure' Paul Whitty is composing for our new tour 'Back there on Earth')

Tickets now on sale!

The new Exeter Phoenix brochure is now out - and tickets are now on sale for our May performance of 'Back there on Earth'.

Here is the link:
http://www.exeterphoenix.org.uk/music/may-2012/back-here-on-earth.html

Our ensemble, Exeter Contemporary Sounds, will be performing three pieces of contemporary music: 'Different trains' by Steve Reich, 'Between the moon and the earth' by Simon Belshaw and 'Bury your love like treasure' by Paul Whitty. The pieces we'll be playing will be exploring themes surrounding Devon red earth, the Apollo moon landings and international train journeys. Alongside our live string quartet, film footage and recordings will form part of the performance.

JH (Exeter Contemporary Sounds)

Steve Reich "Different Trains"

One of the pieces we're playing during our tour is 'Different Trains' by Steve Reich. It's a three movement piece for string quartet and tape written in 1988. During the war years Reich made train journeys between New York and LA to visit his parents who had separated. Years later Reich thought about the idea that, as a Jew, had he been in Europe at that time instead of the US, he might have been travelling on Holocaust trains. We're really excited to be playing this piece as part of our tour of the southwest.
Check out this version by the Smith Quartet:



Exeter Contemporary Sounds

Buy tickets for  our tour 'Back there on Earth' in Exeter on May 27th here.

Family Sunday

We've had a really positive meeting with Clare at Exeter Phoenix this week.  Our performance of 'Back there on Earth' on May 27th coincides with one of their regular Family Sundays and we've always planned to offer activities alongside our afternoon rehearsal - not least to entertain our various offspring whilst we rehearse!

It's looking likely that the whole afternoon will take on a Space theme - start saving your fairy liquid bottles for rocket making. Clare is keen to create astronaut back-packs and dress everyone up in bubble wrap.....
There will be a performance of Simon's piece at the end of the afternoon and a chance to talk to the players, the composer and get up close to the instruments.  More details as they emerge......

Buy your tickets for the Exeter Phoenix performance here.

JH (Exeter Contemporary Sounds)

First rehearsal

Welcome to the first post of our brand new blog!
We've had our first rehearsal for our new programme today, lots of Steve Reich and lots of tea drinking.
We also got Simon to come along and take some informal shots - check them out on Picasa below.
We plan to keep this updated with what we're up to throughout the development of this project, so more to follow very soon.........