Phil Dadson, Rob Thorne, Enrique Siques Perform

This blog post explores what I learnt and my thoughts on the performance 

by Phil Dadson, Rob Thorne, Enrique Siques I was lucky enough to 

see today.

This is a close upshot of Dadsons rock collection. The collection comes

in pairs, Dadson selects two stones that work well together to create sound

Although its a seemingly simple example of a found instrument its not random and 

Dadson aims to create a certain type of sound when selecting rocks. 

To further enhance the sound made by the stones they are submerged in water. Dadson believes this 

adds another dimension to the sound and and causes it to resonate. Watching these stones be activated 

was fascinating - Dadson was constantly moving his hand as he did so the sound 

created would alter depending on how much of the stone was touch his palm. He also Altered the 

sound by moving around the space as he 'played' the stones. 

This is a close up of Rob Thorne's selection of Taonga Puoro instruments. Thorne is part Maori, by 

learning about traditional Maori instruments it was a way of him finding his roots. 

Although these are traditional instruments he emphasised that the way he played them 

was very modern as we can't be sure how they were first used. As a sign of respect for the tradition and

his ancestors Thorne plays bear foot. 

Most of the instruments are flutes or horns, the sounds they created seemed to me 

instantly recognisable as Maori. The whistling was the kind of thing you hear in 

documentaries and at Te Papa - it was nice to see how that sound is made. 

Apart from the one or two percussion instruments bought in all of Thorne's instruments 

were activated by the mouth. All of them could make a vast range of sounds - many more 

than you would assume by looking at them. 

I personally found Enrique Siques noise maker the most fascinating. The range of sounds that can be 

produced from it was really amazing. The idea that every inch of it was a noise maker 

really got me thinking that the frame of my own noise maker also has the potential to make sound. 

Previously I had just thought of it as a structure that held up my noise maker.

The sound created by this when it was activated with a bow was phenomenal - it completely filled  the

 space to the point that you could almost feel the sound. I had a really strange experience that while

 listening I had one ear ringing from the sound and the other just listening to it. Siques sounds 

are very atmospheric, on  one hand they are soothing and on another the sound is so 

power full your forced to listen to it, my attention was held for the 

duration of the performance. 

All three performers used various ways/objects to activate their noise makers:

Rubber balls, metal, straws, plastic zip tie (also a noise maker of its own),

Traditional bow (like ones used with violins), the body, mouth, voices, hand held fan,

water, the space, microphone.

General notes and quotes from performance :

"Anything that vibrates has the potential to be an instrument " - Phil Dadson.
While developing a noise maker - first Dadson will find something that works acoustically he then

 enhances it electronically.
The soft pauses in the composition force the audience to concentrate and listen harder.
The composition built to a highlight - similar to what we are trying to create in our group.
While playing all three artists seem to get lost in the performance - eyes shut moving with the sound.

Each performance was about 10/12 mins long
Dadson was interested in how people try to justify sound and compare it to something they know.
I found myself doing this: Thorne's noise makers were very natural sounding. Some noises even 

sounded like bird call : Weka and Seagulls.
IMPROVISATION = EXPLORATION = DISCOVERY
Advice " Don't limit yourself " - Enrique Siques.
Dadson: " Sound is an extension of your voice" its a communication.

Hearing a performance live is 100000 times better. You get a ringing in your ears, goose bumps, your 

can hear/feel the full force of the sounds. I also think you can feel more

of what the artist is trying to create. It also means you get to witness the subtlety of how some noises are

made. Plus there is the obvious that you get to experience the true raw sound not 

a recorded version.

Over all I found the experience really interesting, the power of the sound blew me away! I found a lot 

of inspiration for new ways to activate your noise maker and I now want to play with amplification as 

my sound can be very subtle.

VIDEO - Phil Dadson, Rob Thorne, Enrique Siques Perform

Below are recording taken from Phil Dadson, Rob Thorne and Enrique Siques live performance :

( my thoughts on these are written in the post above)

DRAWING SOUND - collaboration

As part of Mondays drawing sound session we were encouraged to get in to groups and make one 

massive sound drawing. Where we would all draw the same sounds simultaneously. 

Above is the work I helped to create, I found this exercise really interesting to see how differently

 people interpret and visualise sound. I also think its really interesting that although we all portrayed 

the sound differently you can still make out the composition of the music where the louder parts 

are and where the softer parts are. Doing this also helped me realise that people hear thing so

 differently, or their ears pick up on different elements of a noise that someone else may just ignore. 

By having several people draw I feel it creates a more complete visual of the sound.

These are examples of the other works made by groups from the class.
Looking at these you realise how differently we all interpreted the same music. Seeing these
helps me to develop new ways of documenting the sound.
I also think it worked really well to seperate each group member with and individual colour.

I really like the work with the red colour pallet, all the sounds overlap and mix in together the
way that different noises work together to make music.

DRAWING SOUND - class activity

This was my first attempt at noise drawing - its very uptight and relatively small on the page. 

However size does reflect the sound so its not too much of an issue. 

In this work I tried to portray the cascading sound of the music we listened to with the flowing curves. 

The next sound I drew was a high pitch 'ting', it was loud and quick so I did a small black circles 

with faded circles around them to capture the echo.

This next piece is is much more fluid. Its completed using both hands simultaneously and with my 

eyes shut this basically forced me to loosen up. I feel this work captures the layers of sound I heard as

 well as their delicacy. Most of the lines are thin and smooth  however these are some areas of small 

sharp lines as well to portray the different sounds of the music.

This is is part one of three A1 pages. Its a collaborative work made with two other students 

where we all documented the same music at once. 

Sound Library - visually recording a range of sounds to come back to.

This is my final drawing from the class, this has the widest range of sounds as 

I had refined the way I could draw noise. In this work I also began to write in a more linear way

thats reminiscent of a traditional music composition.

DRAWING SOUND - independent study

Taking inspiration from the Dada art I has seen I began to make my own word based sound drawing. 

I stared with a watercolor background made up of a mix of muted colours. I chose these because 

the sounds are soft like the de-saturated tones; the mix of sounds created by my noisemaker 

is represented in the range of colours. I went with watercolours because of the way they blend 

and the soft look have. This references the way the my sounds fade in 

and out and work together.

The words I used came from listening to my noisemaker ad picking out the main sounds 

I heard I then tried to write them in a way that showed how much variety one sound had 

(change in size/direction/spacing etc..). I kept the lines fluid and random as that’s how I interpret 

my sound, the lines of words also come in at random some times out from 

different lines this indicates the introduction of a new strand being activated.

Compositionally I kept the writing small on the page, as the sounds I create don’t really fill the 

space so I wanted to show that. I also wanted some strands to flow out further as my sounds 

seem to travel, as they are high pitch and metallic sounding. 

I also wanted to include the dashed lines as to me it’s a visual representation of my 

noisemaker – a whole lot of small clinks coming together to make something much bigger.