Revelation goes hand in hand with concealment the potential of one state is held within the other so that there is an intimate relationship between the visible and the invisible.
- Liza Lim’s Staging an Aesthetics of Presence, (2009)

A treasured musical past-time - a ritual for mental and spiritual health, perhaps - is improvising on the piano. Mainly these personal forays use the “trick” of applying constant sustain pedal. The indeterminate effects produced by frequencies colliding create an ethereal resonance, which emerges effortlessly between the body of the instrument and its hundreds of strings. The ease of performing this technique is both troubling, and an intriguing part of its appeal. Between Constant Attacks Shimmering Sounds Ring is one example of countless recordings I made of this type, recorded in 2020 in a friend’s studio.

The improvisation was originally a 59 minute adventure, later edited to a less daunting 42 minutes. At its driest the title literally describes what is taking place - sympathetic resonance occurring in the high strings while low notes rumble. The piece begins with swiping the raw piano strings, and directly plucking and running the back of my fingernails across the tuning pins. Gradually the work enters its dominant mode of constant tremolo and arpeggio, the intention being to morph into deeper and evolving sonic landscapes. As the sustaining strings continue to sound, they become more lively. With every strike of a key, individual notes disappear into a grander wash. At least, this is the intention.

Looking for more focus and direction with this practice, I turned to some of my favourite composers for help in understanding what it was I was striving for. Lim’s Aesthetics of Shimmer essays and compositions provided voice and direction. Her aim to create “dialogue with emerging chaotic forces” to usher in “raw physical phenomena of sound” was uncannily aligned and reassuring (Lim 2009). Chris Abrahams’ approach in Remembrancer and The Necks’ entire catalogue provided visionary inspiration to follow. I pinch Helmut Lachenmann’s paradigm shifting techniques showcased in Guero, mainly lightly scraping fingernails across the piano keys. Also providing indeterminate inventiveness is Sculthorpe’s technique somewhere between a rub and a swipe along the body of a Violin Cello, with a single finger creating a sound akin to an animal cry - it can be done on the body of a piano too.

While overtly fierce and relentless at times, I hope this recorded piece is as meditative an experience for listeners as I have found this practice from a composer/performer perspective. It seems to me that if silence in music has the potential to create the most tension, then conversely, loud and constant sound can be soporific. In that spirit, I hope this piece proffers a pummelling path to catatonia via a supersaturation of the ear drums. Simultaneously I fear that this practice should be heard live and in person in a resonating space where one’s ears filter out unnecessary information - the actual notes played - while tuning into the shimmer; the more appealing and elusive elements. In any case, this enjoyable endeavour has emerged for me when performing this piece and others like it.

In fear of leaning into the kind schmaltz I loathe… for me, Between Constant Attacks Shimmering Sounds Ring recalls the climax of the film Billy Elliot, where - faced with an intimidating panel of judges - Billy struggles to articulate how dancing makes him feel. He is eventually able to describe that dancing makes him “sort of disappear”; to feel invisible or like fire; a bird; electricity. Importantly, Billy says it is only once he “gets going.” Similarly, I found when playing beyond 10 minutes, and then 20 and 30, I observe I sometimes enter a meditative state. Thoughts bubble away and then “sort of disappear.” Extra ‘mental noise’ peels off as I simply follow the sound, maintain momentum and watch my fingers melt into their own dervish. It makes me think of a wormhole, a space to fly into, which sounds profound but perhaps it is just a time-flies-when-you’re-having-fun type thing.


References:

Liza Lim. (2009). Staging an Aesthetics of Presence (2009). In SEARCH Journal for New Music and Culture, Issue 6. See also www.searchnewmusic.org/lim.pdf.

Helmut Lachenmann Guero (1970). youtu.be/sVHl-pqaIYM?si=FIDsdktJd-oxAwXw

Chris Abrahams Remembrancer (2005). chrisabrahams.bandcamp.com/track/remembrancer-2