Creating moments that never were

Virtual Music Project: creating moments that never were

Upper voices 

Through the magic of the Virtual Music Project, it’s possible to create artificial moments, ones that could never have existed due to the current lockdown, but which can be conjured forth nonetheless – virtual moments that ought to have been.

As I’ve been building the virtual performance of the second movement of Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria,’ I’ve been able to create two such instances; sectional rehearsals that would, in the normal scheme of things, have taken place, but which circumstances have conspired to deny the choir the chance of undertaking. As part of the normal rehearsal process, you would have been able to take the individual voice-parts separately – sopranos, altos, tenors, basses – to address particular issues of ensemble sound; diction, breathing, vowel-shapes, rhythm, all the myriad technical issues which the rehearsal process is used to iron out. So, here’s two such moments; firstly, a virtual soprano sectional, created as I layer each individual soprano recording into the project:

https://soundcloud.com/daniel-harding-90933651/vivaldi-et-in-terra-pax-virtual-soprano-sectional-excerpt

And secondly, an upper-voices virtual sectional, similarly bringing together the soprano and alto members of the virtual choir, this time without the continuo (harpsichord and cello) beneath:

https://soundcloud.com/daniel-harding-90933651/vivaldi-et-in-terra-pax-upper-voices-only-excerpt

What I love particularly about the second recording is how, without the supporting

harmonies beneath the combined upper-voices, you can really feel the dissonances the unfurling voices create against each other, those highly expressive moments which are all the more effective for floating in isolation (oh the irony…). Suspended above the area where the bass parts would normally be, it shows Vivaldi’s palette of musical expression working through moments of tension and release, and, without the lower parts, sounds almost contemporary in places. An artificially-created moment providing an insight into the piece’s expressive workings.

Now to add the other voices…

Standing and Swaying

Standing and Swaying

have you heard of or experienced the 8-10 month sleep regression in babies ? its quite something.

I am doing A LOT of swaying.. I've started to create little swaying sequences in my head that I do with my baby. A bit like a dance routine. I've drawn a silly picture to try and explain some of the directions I take- (clearly not at had much sleep)
x


p.s. diagrams drawn from Ariel veiw

Bomb Site House 1940 Interior Part Seven

By Veronica Tonge

Subject: Bomb Site House wallpaper

My 1940 Bomb Site House would almost certainly have been papered with pieces of left over from house decoration with 1930s full size wallpapers. I discovered small fragments of a very thick brownish paper beneath the coat of gloss white which had been applied to the walls in the 1960s. I decided to revive an old ‘make do and mend’ paint technique to reproduce some replacement papers. This stippled sponging technique was often used by handymen between the wars as a cheap way of making coloured wallpaper, probably with coloured distemper. For a doll’s house version, you need a synthetic sponge (the sort that imitates a natural sponge), textured watercolour paper, acrylic paints and courage! I painted A4 sheets of stretched paper with cream acrylic and left them to dry overnight. I mixed dark brown acrylic with a little water and sponged stippled the paint on top of this using just a small piece of sponge for good control. I then did a couple or more of coloured coats on top to go with the furniture in each room. The effect is random and beautiful and if it comes out too wild, then a watery mix of acrylic white stippled over everything is the way to go.

 

 

Subject: Bomb Site House 1930s style wallpaper large bedroom

Bomb Site House large bedroom papered with pale blue and brownish-cream wallpaper to go with the original pale blue bedroom suite.

 

Subject: Bomb Site House 1930s style wallpaper small bedroom
Bomb Site House repapered with a multicoloured but pink dominated paper to look good with the strawberry pink bedroom set, which was not original to the house, but home-made and from the same era.

 

Subject: Bomb Site House 1930s style wallpaper sitting room/library

The sitting room and library had an original upholstered divan in subtle greens and oatmeal - colours popular in the 1930s. I stippled this room’s paper in Autumnal greens and browns, with a bit of blue, to give a muted but lively effect.  

 

 

 

 

Virtual Dance Orchestra

Different strains: walking around a piece accompanied by myself…

An unexpected and fascinating aspect afforded by the Virtual Music Project is the opportunity to use the project recordings people are submitting in different ways. I’m reminded of Satie’s famous quote: ‘Before composing a piece, I walk around it several times accompanied by myself.’ Now, in the age of lockdown and isolation, I find I’m realising his idea, walking around a piece by making different versions of a piece by assembling recordings in different ways.

The virtual Dance Orchestra is a case in point; two singers have each sent in a version of ‘Don’t Get Around Much Anymore’ which we are putting together from recordings the musicians are making in isolation, Steph’s wonderfully indolent alto tones and Will’s buoyant baritone. And when you’re sent two recordings, you try to use them both.

Which is exactly what I’ve done: two versions of the tune, featuring two different voices and consequently I’ve changed the nature of the ensemble by using fewer recordings. Steph’s version is accompanied by the full (virtual) dance orchestra, whilst Will’s recording is accompanied by a leaner version of the same ensemble, to create a very different sound.

So here they are: Steph’s version:

https://soundcloud.com/daniel-harding-90933651/ellington-dont-get-around-much-anymore

And Will’s version:

https://soundcloud.com/daniel-harding-90933651/ellington-dont-get-around-much-anymore-feat-will-clothier

I hadn’t planned on creating more than one version of the pieces we are building for the Virtual Music Project, but the opportunity was too good to miss, and it’s a great way of thanking both the singers who took the time to make their respective versions. My next target is to combine the two voices into a virtual duet – I’ll keep you posted…

With apologies to American composer, Steve Reich, for the title of this blogpost)
















 

Not being able to see my grand daughter

 By Mandy Troughton

It was our last walk together before the lockdown.
"I want to go to the Fairy Glen Nana" my grand daughter said, so off we went to this very special place in Bishopstone Glen, that has charmed children for many decades.   
Sadly, when we arrived, looking down from the footbridge, the tiny cottages/stepping stones/gardens and pretty flowers tiny watering cans etc. were nowhere to be seen...just brambles, chopped down trees, and a collection of branches criss-crossing what was a magical brook, and a tangled mass of bindweed, willow, rotten tree trunks covering the whole area with just the odd ripple of water glistening through the occasional gap .
"But where are the fairies Nana?" 
We decided they had moved house while the wreckage of their precious homes was sorted, so with a sad heart, we made our way through the woodland, and further into the spinny.  
After a while, we discovered a clearing and Lo and Behold! The fairy community had been re-housed!  Little cottages: doorways leading into who knows where: a miniature rope bridge connecting the trees: hanging chimes creating the faintest of tingling sounds giving the whole area a quietly magical feel, and we felt we had to whisper to each other for fear of disturbing the precious residents. 
The joy on her face was indescribable and we spent our whole afternoon visiting each of the tiny cottages being drawn into a whole enchanted imaginative world.

 

Becoming a watcher

Beach Creative Blog
Our Stories- Together In Isolation
Sylvia McKean  Blog Update Number Three


My last blog covered our isolation up until March 20th when I noted that schools were to close and said I was missing seeing our grandchildren. Since then our grandchildren and their parents have featured quite a lot in our lives – albeit at a distance.  We’ve had Mothering Sunday, Easter week-end and a birthday, when everyone was busy making cards – so much so that I ran out of glue and had to send out for more supplies.

 Our two youngest grandchildren insisted on posting their artworks and asking for ‘thankyou’s’ from us – so I became immersed in much appreciated creative works.  Even my 40 year-old son waded in with his cheerful creation and Jim also had a go. Other family members phoned and skyped us as well as stocking us up with supplies of hot cross buns and chocolates – all of which helped to restore some normality in these unfamiliar times. 



Looking through my diary entries I see myself as a becoming a watcher – watching the people passing by my house; watching the weather and my garden wildlife. The weather is my favourite.

Fortunately for all of us most days of the lockdown have been unseasonably sunny, such a bonus for garden lovers or those on their daily walk.  However this part of Kent has been plagued with an easterly ‘breeze’ as the forecasters call it - in reality a very cold wind. I spent some afternoons in early April sitting in a sheltered garden spot reading or knitting and wearing my jacket and hat.  There have been only a few of those lovely golden sunsets – but they were worth waiting for.  On April 7th and 8th I noted the full moon illuminating our garden and on investigation found it was the Super Pink Moon – the biggest Super Moon of the year - it occurs during its closest approach to the earth; quite an awesome sight!  As I write this the sun has gone and it has rained nearly all day and the forecast is the same for the next few days – gardeners and farmers will be happy.

My Great Grandparents

Peter and Sarah Port

Goldfinch Farm Broomfield 1914

 I’m sure my interest in the weather comes from my maternal ancestors who farmed the land around Herne and Broomfield in past centuries. The term super moon was not then thought up - to them a full moon was the parish lantern.  I quote from A Remembered Land,* a book about the countryside from the 1880s to 1914;  “The elements made our rural ancestors what they were; the biting winds, the cutting frosts and the baking sun – all these things carved and shaped the faces that look out from the photographs of pre-First World War rural Britain”.

I expect also that the skies in my ancestors days were really as clear bright blue as they were often painted – no motor cars or aeroplanes then to pollute them; ironically in these lockdown days it can be seen that due to greatly decreased road traffic and a fraction of the number of aeroplanes above, our skies are again returning to their previous hues of deep blue, Scientists report them as being comparable to the rich blue colour usually only found on remote tropical islands. Needless to say air pollution has also decreased.  Blessings in disguise!




I realise I’ve got a bit carried away on my weather watching observations. I have also written a piece about tidying my bookshelves and re-discovering some of my favourite books.  Bookshelves seem to

have become of great interest lately given that everyone on
the media who is self-isolating is communicating via home video link in front of their bookshelves. I find myself looking at the books and not watching or listening to the person sitting in front of them.  I’ll resume this subject in my next blog.


*A Remembered Land, Ed Sean Street pubs Penguin Books 1994
Sylvia Mckean
April 29th 2020

Bomb Site House 1940 Interior Part Six

 

Our regular weekly progress on the

1940's Dolls House.

 

Discoveries, experiments and thoughts from;

 

Veronica Tonge and her assistant

 

 

 

 

I am starting to experiment making some !930s/40s stipple effect wallpaper for the sitting room/library, and the large and small bedrooms, using textured watercolour paper piecefound in a skip by an artist friend - make do and mend if you can. I stretched the papers, soaking them in water and fixing the edges with gummed tape to hopefully prevent ‘cockling’. It sort of worked. Using a synthetic natural sponge I tried stippling brown tones of acrylic paint over a base layer of cream. So far, so good, but I need to mix colour more subtly and use more than one tone to get the right look. The wallpaper will be need to appear to be a full-size piece cut down for the doll’s house and not ‘miniature wallpaper’ as this would have been what was used originally. 

Some parts of the house were hurriedly finished. The makers were a policeman and a fireman, maybe in their precious spare moments when not suddenly called to emergency wartime duties. Was the paint job interrupted? Did scarce paint supplies run out? I can’t even get my hand into this part of the house, or see what I am doing and would have to work by feel alone, so I will not even try. Sometimes history does not want to be disturbed!

 This slightly spooky view of the interior shows the large bedroom on the left with some the original surviving pale blue furniture - surviving wardrobe plus two single beds. Additionally, some extra non original WW2 period furniture, including dressing table with round mirror from a powder compact and table made from a cotton reel. The pink set of furniture in the next door bedroom is a gorgeous hand made quirky set of bed (with mattress and eiderdown), wardrobe, chest of drawers, dressing table and chair from the 1940s period. I couldn’t resist impatiently trying out the furniture in situ, even though the house is still under restoration. The mix and match method, slowly collecting genuine old pieces to furnish a vintage house, is part of the obsessive passion all doll’s house collectors share.

 

Home made dressing table front - back, showing original vintage paper

 

The Completed First Movement Of Vivaldi’s Gloria

Distance defeated: the first fruit of the Virtual Music Project

The Virtual Music Project has yielded its first fruit – the complete first movement of Vivaldi’s Gloria.

 

You can listen to the first movement (no visuals) click on the link below.
https://soundcloud.com/daniel-harding-90933651/vivaldi-gloria-first-movement

 

Does it replace the finished performance given by a group of musicians live ? No. Does it work as a recreation of a live performance ? No. All the variables of a live rendition – venue acoustics, audience atmosphere, performer nerves, collective energy, the sheer adrenalin drive that comes from knowing that you are performing live, or that this is a recorded take, are absent – you can’t possibly recreate those when everyone is making their own recordings at different times, in different places, under different circumstances. The unified vision of the conductor or director, shaping and nurturing the eventual performance during the rehearsal process, is also missing; apart from directions and suggestions given at the start of the project, before everyone begins making their recordings, there’s absolutely no conductor authority anymore. The only sway I might have, as the notional director of the recording, is at the editing stage – making choices about balance, panning, mixing and so forth. 

So what was the point ?

The process.

Unlike concert performances, or recordings, where the point of the process is the end result – a polished delivery for the benefit of live listeners or a recording to document a finished result – the point of building this virtual Vivaldi was exactly that – the building. At a time when isolation is a governing factor in everyone’s lives, the sense of being involved in a collective endeavour, and taking the responsibility for learning and recording a piece of music has given us purpose, a task to fulfil; something to occupy the hours and, perhaps most importantly, a sense of a deadline, a dwindling concept in the current climate where we often struggle to find structure to our days, or even know what day of the week it is.

Listening back to the recording, I realise that it gains its power not from the live, communal concerted effort that recordings usually have; it gains its power from the fact that it has been brought about when that is that very aspect that is entirely missing. The performers have come together without actually being physically able to – in fact, having been instructed specifically not to do so – and have managed to transcend the walls of their rooms, their homes, defeating the distance between each other to manage to continue making music.

Now on to the next movement…!

Emergancy Vehicles (part2)

Rob Turner 

Police Range Rover by Lexi Macrath 

This follows on from the very first post on this blog when we set things up on the 23rd March, which is 33 blog posts back, it is a long way back there now. People have contributed such a lot about their projects and very varied they are, so I felt it time to share a little of what I have been up to.



Air Ambulance by Annalyse and Una

I had been working once a week with residents in Newington for several weeks before the lockdown, creating the ‘Emergency Vehicles’. The residents wanted to reflect the complex relationship their community (like communities up and down the country)  has with the emergency services, often when they are called it is because of dramatic and difficult personal or community events - amplified by sirens. When the air ambulance landed on the green next to the community centre Kevin the gardener/maintenance guy said he didn’t need the leaf blower that day! The last day I was there the police rolled up gently and quietly in a massive Land Rover and deliberately parked right in front of the community centre by the green open space and just waited there for about 45 minutes. This was to prevent largely parents parking their cars on the communal green while they waited for their children to come out of school. The green had become an unofficial car park every afternoon and the grass was turning into mud. So, the whole emergency vehicle thing resonated and they worked hard making police cars, fire engines, helicopters and ambulances. Traffic cones and hazard tape are prevalent as well. 

Fire Engine by Jessie and her Mum

Fire Service Land Rover by Harrison

So now it’s my turn completing these mosaics alone in my workshop during this unusual period of our lives, what will be my contribution to the project?  My role might be described as to only fill in the spaces between each vehicle and do the backgrounds.  Every time I turn on my computer, I see Hi Viz black and yellow hazard warnings, every time I turn the television on I see ambulances blue lights and Haz Mat suits. Imagery which has filtered into my work subconsciously and consciously. This has turned into a work about our ‘Emergency services’ and I have had to include the text – Stay Home – Save Lives – Protect The NHS , how could I not. 

 

 

 

Bomb Site House 1940 Interior Part five

Veronica Tonge

This week’s work consisted of some careful and patient removal of white 1960s gloss paint to reveal the original 1940s colour scheme - similar to Farrow & Ball’s no. 52 ’straw left out in the rain’. I don’t use chemical solvents (bad for the respiratory system and liable to remove too much) preferring a  old Tiranti clay modelling spatula from art school days which has a thin, strong edge. Flicking and scraping paint off on a small scale is a skill and is hard on your hands, but the result is worth it. Often this added paint was just sploshed on over slightly greasy or dirty surfaces which makes the adhesion poor. The period atmosphere of the house depends on the colour being regained as much as possible. Repainting needs to be ‘aged’ afterwards to make it blend with the restored surface. There is lots to be done still.
 

 

 

 

Here’s the original straw-coloured interior decor starting to make its presence felt. It is glossy around the coloured glass window and matt on the stairs, which I hadn’t expected. The windows are made from wire mesh, possibly coated with shellac, an old style ‘varnish’ made from the secretions of an Asian insect. This has degraded with age and the mesh has rusted, making it a conservation nightmare to think about at some stage.

 

 

Using cream cleaner on a cotton wool bud around the base of the house revealed that the original maker had added a hand painted garden around the outside. This is going to be a really difficult job to reveal! But the flowers seem skilfully done so I shall do my best at some stage!

 

More On How To Cook Your Eggs!

Further breakfast suggestions from Toast Café

Virtual Music Project: Part 3, All That Jazz

Dan Harding
Deputy Director of Music Colyer-Fergusson Building | University of Kent

When setting up the virtual recording of the Vivaldi Gloria, I realised of course that it doesn’t cater for saxophonists, trombonists, jazz trumpeters, pianists and jazz bassists – well, not unless it was a very different, jazz-inspired swing version, which on some level doesn’t bear thinking about…!

So, in order to occupy all the jazz-heads amongst the University community, there’s also the opportunity to build a virtual dance orchestra performing – and really, the title of the piece made it obvious that this was exactly the right piece to prepare during the current lockdown climate – Don’t

sheet music from the 40's and 50's

Get Around Much Anymore. The Music department was hugely fortunate to have been granted an astonishing bequest some years ago, a complete set of band parts for a swing dance orchestra – original sets of sheet music from the 40s and 50s which originally belonged to the Ken Lewis Dance Orchestra, a jazz group active throughout the county and beyond run by pianist and bandmaster, George Morgan, from Gravesend. So, just before the office closed, I scanned several sets of parts for various tunes, and we’re currently in the process of putting Duke Ellington’s classic tune together.

As with the Vivaldi, it’s been great to welcome (virtually, at least) several alumni into the digital fold; here’s an excerpt featuring the first few recordings to have arrived in my Inbox recently, featuring the voice of Drama graduate Steph Richardson (who any fans of the University Big Band will remember from her days singing alongside them), trumpeter Kevin Dickens, , and yours truly on a very rudimentary rehearsal piano track over a drum-loop that’s thankfully about to be superseded by a wonderfully Thelonius-Monk indebted piano recording from alumnus Jim Reid.....

https://soundcloud.com/daniel-harding-90933651/dont-get-around-much-anymore-excerpt?in=daniel-harding-90933651/sets/university-of-kent-virtual

Drama graduate Steph Richardson 

trombonist Rob Cliff

A Landscape Painting Tutorial

By; Bryan Smith
 

This is the process I used for any of my studio paintings
12x10” ply coated with 3 coats of gesso each one being sanded down
The subject was loosely drawn on to the board with 3h graphite pencil
Then using an eraser most of the lines taken out so the graphite does not muddy any of the blocking in colours

  

 

 
Blocking in was done with Windsor & Newton Acrylic and I used water to thin the paint where necessary
After the blocking was dry I used Windsor & Newton oil paint with Liquin original and turpentine substitute as mediums
My next stage was to paint the sky as I always start furthest away and work forward

 

Once the sky was completed I established where the horizon was going to be and painted that ensuring the hue was right to give the areal perspective
I then continued the horizon to the right of the picture first by putting in the darker areas using Ivory Black mixed with liquin original using a Rosemary and co TreeAnd Texture brush. Then added the mid tones using a Rigger brush no 2 also from Rosemary and co thinning the paint to a milk like consistency. I would leave this area to dry while I added the dark tones on the trees on the left of the picture, at this stage adding the dark tones to all the trees at once saves having to go back time after time.

 

 

 

I then starting with the tree furthest away I added the mid tones one tree at a time.
Time to put the first coat on the water using the same colours but a little darker for the reflections once this area was dry I added glazes of these colours and in the shallow water the colour from the ground.
While this was drying I started on the bank on the right using different shades of the same colours to add depth I used a R&Co flat 16 for this adding details with a rigger brush.
Before starting to paint the ripples on the water I decided to paint the high lites to the trees, I did this by using a no 4 fan brush, using the very edge and corner of the brush for some marks, a rigger brush and a round bristle brush to give a variation in the marks made.
The wall was next and was fairly straight forward using the no 16 flat and the rigger brush
Once the wall was done I added the reflection colours to the water.
The ripples were painted using a no 0 rigger brush. To establish the ripple direction I used a mid tone blue/grey mix as this can be seen on both light and dark areas of the water. In order to soften the light and dark tones using the rigger brush I put the light marks into the dark area and the dark marks into the light. From the reference photo I could see there was a dark area just under each of the ripples. This was done by mixing a darker version of the water where the ripples were. Once done I added the high lights.
The final part was the forward bank which was done using the same technique as the bank on the left.

 

 

 

Signed as finished.