Part 2
Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece or album that's particularly dear to you, please? Where did the ideas come from, how were they transformed in your mind, what did you start with and how do you refine these beginnings into the finished work of art?
I’ll tell you about Exsolve as that’s my latest release, though all my albums have a distinct process behind them. With Exsolve I began to play with new ideas following a concert at the Arp museum in Bonn, where I was invited to perform to celebrate the Barbara Hepworth ‘Sculpture for the Modern World’ exhibition. I have always loved Hepworth’s works so it was fitting and also highly inspirational for me. I wrote a piece to celebrate this exhibition, and it had its basis not in harmony, but in the physical reality of playing the cello, what it actually feels like, where the hand is, how the strings feel, how the vibrations feel in the body (this was written on acoustic cello). I experimented with different tunings or ‘scordatura’ as it’s called, and opened a whole new palette of musical colour. This piece, that I worked painstakingly on, never made the cut (!) however what happened from here on was the start point of Exsolve. In each movement or piece I’m focussing on one side with what is created by hand, Forge, Mandrel, Wheel, these are tools with which we create, and at the same time the process we invite on a subconscious level when we create. I use two time signatures concurrently, (with overlapping hugely satisfying to play riffs!) to try to depict the different aspects of two views of whatever it is, sculpture, opinion, Self, it doesn’t matter, but ‘two sides’ and various other techniques like harmonics and effects to describe light and shade between, colour and texture. ‘Causleen’s Wheel’ spins threads of themes, which become interwoven and coalesce to something huge, Mandrel Cantus revolves on a constant spiral of abstract percussion. I’ve released this record now, and I’d say this is just the starting point, already the pieces are evolving each time I play them.
There are many descriptions of the ideal state of mind for being creative. What is it like for you? What supports this ideal state of mind and what are distractions? Are there strategies to enter into this state more easily?
I used to think this was a mind without clutter, but now as a freelance mum I’d say the state of mind for being creative is whenever the opportunity presents itself. In fact it’s almost easier these days because I know I have an hour, or ten minutes or whatever it is, and I decide to address one thing in that time, whether it’s the segue from one section to another, or the particular drive I want on a certain sound. I compartmentalise things, and now and then when I get a whole day and night I’ll work solidly at the ‘whole’ rather than the bits. I like working this way, it suits me, and whatever I am doing, cooking or whatever else music is always running through my mind. Often when I’m away from my cellos the solution will present itself to some compositional or performance aspect.
How is playing live and writing music in the studio connected? What do you achieve and draw from each experience personally? How do you see the relationship between improvisation and composition in this regard?
The two are completely linked for me, as I perform solo and write and record solo. My records must be performable live by me, unless I have written an orchestral work like ‘This Path With Grace’ of course. The live performances change the way I hear, play and subsequently record the music, and equally the recorded version serves as a springboard for a more developed live interpretation. It’s a constant cycle.
How do you see the relationship between the 'sound' aspects of music and the 'composition' aspects? How do you work with sound and timbre to meet certain production ideas and in which way can certain sounds already take on compositional qualities?
They are also one and the same. If a piece needs to make a musical point I’ll consider whether it’s a harmonic statement that’s needed or a sonic one, and the composition will flow from there. As I loop I have to be very mindful of the frequencies I’m occupying and so there are times when a sub is the only thing that will bring the extra harmonic depth, or conversely some very high abstract held tones will create the sonic space I’m after. When I write and loop I tend to view things from an orchestral sense, I do sometimes orchestrate my music but in all cases it’s helpful to me to think about what frequency area I’m occupying and not overload these, I think it’s important certainly live to loop the fewest lines possible to create the largest sonic space. Sound can hugely influence my composing. At times, like with Mandrel Cantus, what started out as a dodgy ping pong delay sparked the whole pizzicato theme.
Our sense of hearing shares intriguing connections to other senses. From your experience, what are some of the most inspiring overlaps between different senses - and what do they tell us about the way our senses work? What happens to sound at its outermost borders?
Sound and sense are continuously overlapping. Sound evokes memory, subconscious response and emotion like nothing else does in my opinion. I don’t know what this tells us about our senses but it suggests to me that there are certain sounds when put together that trigger an archetypal response (within reason, we are all different of course, but I notice some patterns in music). At its outermost borders, sound, un-pitched noise, becomes music. John Cage said ‘music is the interruption of silence’ and therefore any sound can and often does become music, but what makes it music and not just sound I guess is the intention of the composer.
Art can be a purpose in its own right, but it can also directly feed back into everyday life, take on a social and political role and lead to more engagement. Can you describe your approach to art and being an artist?
It’s difficult to, because I don’t think of myself as an artist, it’s just something I’ve always done. I don’t wake up and say ‘today I am a composer’ or ‘today I am a cellist’, it’s just my life, same way that every day I’m a mum, a sister, a daughter, a wife, a cook, a writer, a reader, a thinker, a procrastinator... ! I do feel that music in some ways is perhaps outside the boundaries of social or political convention, though of course there have been many celebrated cases of particular songs defining a social movement or epoch. There’s also the thought that another higher purpose of music moves towards religion, however or whatever one perceives that to be, and I don’t mean conventional religion necessarily though of course countless incredible works have been dedicated to the name of the great prophets, Gods and deities. That’s the thing with music for me, it exists outside of time and boundary, time can be manipulated, an altered state can be reached because at the bottom line you’re dealing with vibrations (sound) across water (beings) and that in itself creates magic.
It is remarkable, in a way, that we have arrived in the 21st century with the basic concept of music still intact. Do you have a vision of music, an idea of what music could be beyond its current form?
That answer above is my vision of music. I look forward to seeing and hearing where it travels beyond its current myriad forms. Since a long time ago music has transcended the boundaries of ‘just’ pitch and timbre, and the future will be in the imagination of everyone who writes and everyone who participates, whether as audience or performer.
