February 20, 2009
Driving work the other morning, I wrote this waltz in my head;
It’s called ‘Slipping Away’ because, as you might have noticed, each time it repeats it accidentally slides down a semitone; like the last slush of winter on a window pane, or someone slowly, gently, dying…
I think I’ll use it in the show on March 5th. Which now, finally has a fourth player! And, I got a loan the other day of an *extremely* cool instrument to use in the show, more details to follow.
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February 15, 2009
I was round at Eddie’s house the other day, and we had a go at circuit bending an old Yamaha RX17 drum machine;
This is pretty standard stuff, a well-known bend linking pins 4 and 12 of IC 116. After some experimentation, we decided on a 100k log pot with a 1k resistor in series. Ed is a bit iffy about the whole idea of circuit-bending, kind of goes against the grain for someone who was trained in electronic engineering!
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December 22, 2008
I’ve finally managed to persuade Ted to let me post some of the amazing back catalog he’s built up over the years. Below is a piece called ‘slacion’ which he did ‘sometime in the late 70s’, using an adapted version of the PE Minisonic synth plus tape loops plus a spring reverb. The video is also by Ted, a recent digital remix of ‘some old Betamax that’s up in the loft’.
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December 16, 2008
Managing to do the same kind of thing now in SuperCollider, speaking one word at a time, which kind of makes more sense in this context; loudcoding?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG8hMLAXs_U&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0]
(Amazed at getting this to work, actually. I’m *so* not a programmer!)
December 4, 2008
Updated version of the Bare Wires text interface;
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi9olQyxfzE&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0]
November 29, 2008
Hers is a very early and approximate proof-of-concept video of a possible text-to-screech interface for ‘Bare Wires’;
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npii4-3awcQ&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0]
The idea is to have a laptop and screen onstage, visible to the audience. The setup is used by various performers during the piece, in various ways; to address the audience, or to direct an improvisation, ask questions, tell a story… anything, really.
’text-to-screech’ is my coining for taking familiar text-to-speak technology built into many modern computers, and mangle it, creatively misuse it.
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November 20, 2008
The performance of The Whirlies the other night was a bit of a stunning success. Good audience, including the arts editor of the Herald, Keith Bruce, who seemed to really get the piece;
‘The new music came from J Simon van der Walt, whose The Whirlies pitted his own prepared multiphonic scrabbling with table-top banjo ukulele and electronic gizmos against lush concert-orchestra strings - a collision only enhanced by the shattering of a glass behind the bar.
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October 22, 2008
I’m putting in a proposal to Cryptic Nights to do a show called, to give it its full title, Ted Edwards proudly presents Bare Wires - Live in concert or just Bare Wires for short. Below I’ve gathered together in one place some relevant video and other documentation;
‘The Other Other Hand’ is pretty much fully documented from initial ideas to final performance at workingtitle08.blogspot.com - the best place to start is probably the three-minute preview video at the top of that page, also available on YouTube.
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October 3, 2008
The performance of ‘The Whirlies’ is coming up very soon;
The Whirlies by J. Simon van der Walt A new piece for strings and electro-junk improviser, inspired by the roundabouts of East Kilbride
Scottish Philharmonic Orchestra Cond Peter Cynfryn Jones Solist Edward ‘Teddy’ Edwards
Òran Mór (Byre’s Road, Glasgow) Monday 17 Nov 2008 Doors open at 1715, Concert begins at 1815 £10 includes cocktail and canapés 0141 357 6200
Also featuring Vaughan Williams A Lark Ascending Debussy Danses Sacré et Profane Respighi Il Tramonto
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September 26, 2008
According to MySpace Music, there are no bands within 100 miles of Glasgow;
Seems a bit of a shame, really. Anybody feel like starting a band?