I frequently fall in love with music, but this one
crush-level above the normal. I remember the feeling of picking up a cassette
tape with John Coltrane's "Love Surpreme" at a gas-station after a
really rainy fly-fishing trip in the mountains years ago. This track contains
some of that haunting drive that would play in my mind long after the music had
stopped. Perhaps not as experimental, but none the less.
A descriptive and under-used word for music that has
struck me in recent years is "severity": When a piece of music is
dark, perhaps in a minor key and with a strong sense of rhythm and forward movement;
it has strong elements (melody or otherwise) that you cannot help but immersing
yourself in — but! it does not put you in a dark mood! Rather, it puts you in a
heavy contemplative mood. It unlocks the compartments of the mind that deals
with existence, respect, meaning and perhaps even love. But in the case of
love, in the sense of understanding its foundations; not joyfully, not sadly,
but inquisitively.
Music that brings out the "severity" of life
makes you straighten your back and bend your mind. It makes you neither happy
or sad, but it sets you on a journey in gloomy light through the corridors of
the foundations of the constructions that brings us light — and firm points of
reference for our journey through life.
*
In ‘The Grain of the Voice’ Roland Barthes reflects on
a lacking parameter of musicology. He calls it the grain that you can find in a performer’s voice. The term is more
elusive than, say, harmony and
perhaps a hard term to discuss with objectivity. But it adds to our terminology
something that studying a score cannot lead us to. Likewise, severity is my Barthesian contribution
to terms that might help us think outside the established vocabulary of musical
understanding.
Perhaps there are stronger examples, and perhaps I should
make a whole playlist to explain more properly, but here is at least one
recording that fits the term.
His set-up was a Hammond B3 with
both a short and a tall Leslie. On his left side he had several keyboards
running into a laptop and/ or a synth, and on his right he had drum pads.
Dr. Lonnie was stretching the
envelopes of time and harmony from the very outset of the show. It was hard to
know exactly where you were in time or texture, until it gradually became
revealed to you. I tried to both take in the enjoyment of the sound and listen
for the clues that reveal where the music was headed. One was gratified
instantly, the other as the works unfolded. Dr. Lonnie’s style allows for highly
experimental and very groovy pars to run over and into each other. He can take
the listener back and forth between these two shores like waves — and just as
naturally.
When Lonnie walked on to the stage
with a cane I presumed he needed it (which for all I know, he might). What I
didn’t know was that old men with walking-sticks could play as fast as this. At
one point he rose up and looked a bit like Gandalf — that’s when we found
out that the cane was in fact an instrument! At first it seemed more like a funny
curio, but as he kept playing it started making sense. Seeing him wielding his
cane it was impossible not to think of Gandalf on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm!
I had a chance to speak with him
after the show and told him that the Hammond Organ was one of the really
important sounds of my own childhood. It could literally make me get goosebumps
everywhere! My father had a friend with a Hammond he had re-furbished himself,
and I remember the ground vibrating when I stood next to the Leslie. I went on
to sing a lot of Gospel and Jazz and the sound of the organ stuck with me. Dr.
Lonnie also used to sing Gospel when he was younger, and so did his Mother and
siblings. The organ always stood out to him. When hearing it, he said, it was
like electricity went through his body like a spear! He put a real emphasis on
those words and I believe his experience of the sound goes beyond what most of
us can fully understand. He isn’t just a musical legend who helped define how
we hear this instrument, but the sound of the instrument might have connected
so strongly with something inside of him that he himself might not have had
much of a choice but to pursue it.
The band
Jonathan Kreisberg (Guitar), is a firework
between lyrical passages and rapid breathtaking runs. His tone is incredible,
even through a PA in a concrete room on an old shipyard. It’s not rare to come
across nice guitar tones per se, but at this level it is.
Jonathan Kreisberg
Johnathan Blake (Drums). Blake is often
the rails that Dr. Lonnie’s experimentation rides on top of. But Blake’s triplet-arsenal
and his abstracting of metre also makes him an integral part of the
experimentation. If the word ‘firework’ was to be used for only one of the band-members
it would have to be him.
Johnathan Blake
Till next time!
After the show Dr. Lonnie and his band hung
around on stage. They were clearing cables and packing up, and all were approachable
for conversation and picture-taking. Mark of true gentlemanly down-to-earth-ness!
Dr. Lonnie was last in Trondheim six
years ago. ‘It’s been a while’ he said while stating that he hoped it would not
be as long till next time. Though if Trump became President he promised to be
back earlier. While I don’t think Trump has been even half as bad as the media
wants us to believe — Dr. Lonnie and his band are very welcome to move to
Norway at any time!
High
quality pictures are needed for anyone who is producing music or promoting an
artist. This blog-post shows you the pictures from a recent photo-shoot, and I’ll
share some reflections around the process. I initiated this shoot, and seen from
my angle it had three components: an artist, sourcing a high-end photographer, and
finding a visual expression that fitted the artist. The artist was Oda Kveinå Tonstad, and the photographer was Theodor Haltvik With (both might be
familiar to regular readers).
Planning and process
1. The
pictures from this shoot was for general use rather than for a song or album.
This meant that we didn’t need to analyse any musical material to match with the
visual expression. The pictures were to be used for professional online-use,
and near-future music-releases should they come. The process was initiated with
me compiling pictures of artists and styles that I felt represented Oda as I
knew (and wanted to see) her. If I had produced a specific musical work (album,
iTunes-single, etc.) I would have held on to the central coordinating role
between artist and photographer (some music producers will want to give this process
away; you’ll know for yourself). Theodor compiled my pictures into a mood-board
while he and Oda both worked on their own compilations of images. Creatively
this is where I left the process. Oda felt some of my pictures represented her while
some were discarded. She came up with her own compilation of pictures that
added new influences to what we already had. Theodor received our input and stretched
some of them one step further, since he saw hidden potentials as a
professional.
2. Oda and
Theodor finalised the mood-boards and agreed on clothes, locations and a date. I
believe a contingency plan was hatched in the event that the weather should
turn unsuited for the outdoor-part of the shoot.
3. Photo-shoot.
I rocked up for the studio-shoot; firstly, to make sure the key elements I
wanted on film was captured, but mostly to create general mischief! :-)
Some
thoughts on the process
- Oda is an
accomplished dancer and some of the images are taken to capture this.
- Shots included
both profile pics and whole-figure for different use.
- If you’re
a management, studio or record-company working with an artist for the long-haul,
it is useful to have a portfolio of pictures from the duration of the
collaboration. Ideally, get the first pictures done as soon as you start
working with the artist (perhaps even in the studio, practice room or in
everyday settings).
A selection of headshots for profile-pictures
Behind the Scenes/ 'General Mischief'
Yours truly having some fun with Theodor’s Smartphone :-)
In the 1930’s Oda worked for Walt Disney Company
under another artist name. Some of her old
friends came to visit her at Theodor’s studio :-)
Oda and Theodor at Work
I
really liked the eye-contact between Oda and this dinosaur!
Norwegian keyboard ace and experimental Jazz-wizard Bugge
Wesseltoft visited Trondheim, Norway, on the 9th
of September 2016. He is celebrating the 20 years’ anniversary for the
formation of his project ‘New Conception of Jazz.’ The group has not been
active for a few years and Wesseltoft is now playing with a whole new line-up.
Last time he visited Trondheim with New Conception of Jazz was back in 1998
when the band had been running for two years. He asked before the show started
if anyone in the room were present in ’98, and a few voices around the room
made their presence known! Wesseltoft joked that his current band was not there
in ’98 — most of whom are presumably in their twenties.
Personally I used to know his name from various
collaborations and award shows in Norway. If my memory holds I believe he
played with Eivind Aarset and Audun
Kleive in the groovy experimental Jazz-project “Music for Science
and Fiction”. I saw them live in the mid-90s, and it’s a shame I can’t find any
videos or useful information about them online. Then, a decade later, while I
was studying Music Technology in Singapore one of my lecturers came back from a
trip to Norway. He lent me a record named ‘FiLM iNG.’ I listened to it. And then again.
And then again. And then again. And then again. Until it became a part of the
soundtrack to an era, and ultimately Bugge Wesseltoft became a part of the
musical canon of my life.
The band started off the first set with an experimental
blanket of sound in the borderlands between an avant-garde soundscape and John
Coltrane’s more etheric moments. —gradually moving into a groove reminiscent of
Miles Davis’ ‘Bitches Brew’ and ‘In a Silent Way’.
From where I sat Wesseltoft’s gear looked to consist of an
analogue synth, a Mac with a controller-keyboard and a grand piano with a Chaos
Pad (or something similar) controlling a feed from the piano mics. One of my
friends, a young French lady who is a seasoned pianist, noted how she loved the
sound of the grand piano that was on stage (even when the effects were active).
A compliment also to the sound engineer that the tone of the instrument was
well transmitted.
One of the numbers consisted mostly of Wesseltoft exploring
the grand piano on his own. He started off by letting the piano trigger a
rattly noise-band that drew the thoughts towards John Cage's prepared piano.
Gradually (and naturally) he made his way through choruses, ring-modulations,
delays and more. Where delays or samples hung for a long time he would paint
harmonies up against them with a broad brush. While with the ring-modulation he
used a swift and percussive playing style somewhat reminiscent of Cecil Taylor
(I suppose we all would hear different references depending on our own
listening). His exploration of the grand piano is a good example of the
development in his pieces. One piano-phrase triggers an electronic response,
the response triggers the mind of the musician and the dance begins. There
phrases and structures may be planned out ahead, but the processing is as much
a part of the composition as anything. Perhaps these pieces are more ‘ideas’
than ‘compositions’?
Wesseltoft’s band is not of the ordinary. He
says in a recent video that he ended up with an all-female band, in
part because of their different approach to music. Compared to the ‘Jazz guys
[…] they are a little bit less bragging somehow’.
Also, the stage naturally
looks spectacular with a bunch of glamorous girls setting a Modesty-Blaise-meets-1960's-Mote-Carlo-with-a-dash-of-Viking-princess-vibe.
At the centre-front of the stage we find the drummer Siv
Øyun Kjenstad. In addition to playing difficult things (dense playing, active
left foot and dancing around with off beats on the ride in high-tempo; you get
the idea), she visibly has fun. My above mentioned friend said she really
enjoyed watching Kjenstad play, as she smiles with her whole face when she is
getting into the groove.
During one of the last pieces of the night I thought I heard
a familiar piano run. Then I heard it again!
Is this... Basie? Then they followed — the tweaked and twisted samples of horn
stacks from The Kid from The Red Bank. The track is well
known for Norwegian ears as it is the introduction to iconic radio-show Reiseradioen
that has run every summer for generations. Apparently the piece is from New
Conceptions of Jazz's first album in 1996, but I can’t find the track at the
moment so I won’t be able to provide a link.
*
My friends and I found it hard to know just what to expect when
walking into a Bugge Wesseltoft concert, and ironically, that’s exactly what we
got!
A groovy and experimental jazz-night with a wide
variety of musical influences. We
had fun!
Line-up:
Bugge Wesseltoft (keys, electronics)
Marthe Lea (sax, flute, vocals)
Oddrun Lilja Jonsdottir (guitar)
Sanskriti Shrestha (tabla-drums, vocals)
Siv Øyun Kjenstad (drums, vocals)
(Pictures for this article by Harald Haltvik and FredrikThommesen)
This is a blog-post
from a visit to Leeds College of Music (LCoM) in 2012. LCoM was in 2012 in the
process of transforming its programmes. They were cutting down on the number of
degrees and made the degrees they provided more flexible. They also opened for
more studio-time for everyone and much longer opening-hours. Mac-labs, studios and rehearsal rooms are now also open till 3am! Level 1 and 2 HE students now had access to
facilities only level 3 students and above had access to before. Music students
also had access to more of the technical facilities that only technology and
production students used to have. You may think this makes everyone fight more
for studio-time, but I won’t believe it. Last time I checked LCoM had about 60 teaching and practice rooms, seven recording studios, three mixing
studios, a large in-house venue and a small recital-hall. The college is not
lacking in facilities. The library is well-provided in literature for practical
skills and academic knowledge. There is also a substantial collection of
printed and recorded music—especially the latter category was important for us
production students. (Although, today most music can be streamed if you risk
the lower resolution for critical listening.) In 2012 Leeds College of Music also
got its ‘all Steinway status,’ which means that close to all pianos are made by
Steinway.
My 2012 visit to the college was part of a private
study-trip in the UK for a prospective student. At LCoM we had an appointment
with lecturer Brian Morell to talk about admissions and student life, and we met
with a number of other staff. I am not going to present the current line-up of
degrees here, but I’ll rather provide a few highlights from my own experience
as a Leeds College of Music student (I graduated autumn 2009):
- The college is a dedicated music conservatory and it
is strong in both jazz, pop, classical and production studies. This meant that
I always had access to top-of-the-range musicians for collaborations. LCoM’s
old slogan ‘where music happens’ described our student-days spot on.
- Leeds is a great city for music, and the legendary
venue ‘the Wardrobe’ is just across the street.
- LCoM always had great facilities. Significant
upgrades have been undertaken in recent years. If I have any critique on the current
state of the studios, may I suggest that they are so well-equipped that no
studios now represent the lower end of the industry? Though that luxury is
hardly a problem!
- During my post-graduate studies in Music Production
our little class had four doctorate-holders overseeing us. That gave us a density
of PhDs to Masters-students of almost 3 to 1. That’s even before counting
visiting lecturers.
- Several of my friends from LCoM have gone on to
great places in both music and academia. For me, being linked to the LCoM-community
today means I’m linked to a living organism of musicians and producers. And it
means being linked to a college that is big enough to conquer new ground and
increase my CV-prestige as a degree-holder, but small enough to receive us alumni
back in a family-like fashion.
…but then again, I’m the wrong guy to ask for an
objective outside-perspective! Cause I loved it too much!
Big thanks
to Senior Studio Technician Keith Smith and all the other staff who spent the day with us!
Leeds Beckett
University changed name in 2014 and was still Leeds Metropolitan University
when I visited in 2012. With its Headingly Campus set in the charming old
Beckett Park area, the name-change makes good sense in connecting with the
local history.
Leeds Beckett is a large modern University with a wide range of courses on
offer. The challenge for music students at a large university is often that
music takes a minor role after business, law, medicine and other high-profile
programmes. Leeds Beckett has no music stream as such and music production and
technology is a part of the performing arts department. It also sports a number
of other creative programmes, including dance, film, animation and various media
technologies. This indicates what kind of collaborations you can make. For
example, at a dedicated music college you will have plenty of musicians to
collaborate with. But if you are more inclined to work with filmmakers,
dancers, animators and media students, Leeds Beckett provides a community for
you. And after having lived in Leeds for many years myself, one thing I can say
that the city does not lack is musicians!
On my tour of
the performing arts department, the staff was keen to promote the quality of
the university library. The academic focus of the performing arts courses thus seems
central (this will suit some performing arts-students well (such as myself) but
others less well). At any rate, the library has staff who is prepared to assist
students in their literature-searches, which is absolutely a good thing. Another
thing they were keen to promote was the fact that two of the Kaiser Chiefs were
alumni. Successful Alumni is always good, but perhaps there were a few other non-study-related
criteria behind the Kaiser Chiefs’ success? Though hear-hear, every university
should be proud of its alumni indeed!
Leeds Beckett
University provides four undergrad degrees central to my blogging (and several
related ones).
-plus four
post-graduate courses along the same paths (I won’t cover these here as
applicants will be more aware of what they are looking for). All courses are
accredited by ‘JointAudio Media Education Services’ (JAMES). The performing arts sector has little tradition
in industry-accreditation and some institutes rather have their own strong industry-links.
Thus, performing arts accreditation won’t weigh in as heavy on your CV as industry-accreditation
on an MBA. But the JAMES-accreditation is a confirmation to prospectus students
that industry-relevant knowledge is being taught in audio-courses. It confirms that
the university maintains a dialogue with a respected organisation about the
industry’s development.
BA Music Production and Performance: There is no traditional main-study instrument-tutoring
on this programme. This means the degree will fit best for performers who already
have some ideas of where they are headed. The degree aims at establishing a
wide production-toolbox (arranging, recording, industry knowledge, etc.), while
letting you develop your current level of performance more independently. The
degree is less flexible than the others with regards to optional modules, but the
real flexibility is found in your personal choice of performance-style.
The Bachelor of Science in Music Technology will suit students wanting to work with
music and sound in the media sector, or students who go on to study other
branches of engineering and technical research. A Bachelor of Science (BSc) is
preferable in some lines of work and for some types of post-graduate studies. If
you think this might apply to your intended post-graduate studies or for your professional
aims, you should investigate this further. With the introduction of the BSc in Audio Engineering there is now also the option of focusing solely on the engineering and
science of sound, without studying music-topics. As a general rule of thumb, I
would recommend the BA courses to students who actually want to create music,
and the BSc courses to students who want to work with technology for
manipulating or distributing sound and music. The exception to the rule is
often production of music for computer games and new media. Music technology
courses can here be a better choice since both sound, music and complete
product is entirely technology based.
TheBachelor of Arts in Music Production explains itself best of the three, and I’ll
leave it up to the university’s web-page to describe the current course
content. If you enrol on this course and you’re not primarily a musician, your
task number one should be to create connections with good performers around the
city. As mentioned, Leeds is a great place to make such connections.
Here
are my condensed impressions of Leeds Becket’s music production and technology courses:
-- The
university has invested in very good studio-facilities (in fact, it was this rumour
that first made me want to visit).
-- It has a
number of (non-music) programmes well suited for collaboration (I do not know
to what extend such collaborations happen, and it is often up to you as a
student to initiate your own collaborations).
-- Established community for music producers and
technologists (three undergrad and four post grad programmes) with external
accreditation.
While not
having a dedicated music-programme, Leeds Beckett has well-established courses
and above average facilities for both music production and technology. It is a
university worth a visit.
The main building at the Headingly Campus in the beautiful area of Beckett Park
A 19th Century courtyard surrounds a central lawn
Studios
Several mid-sized studios are set up with small Allen & Heath consoles.
They don't have the analogue in-line architecture usually associated with studio
consoles, but they provide an intuitive front-end to the recording-chain. The R16 depicted has digital functionality similar to that of an in-line console. Dynaudio BM15s provide full-range listening, and a simple collection of outboards provide training in traditional work-flow. In spite of their simple set-up and relatively compact size these studios are well equipped to
provide basic training.
The larger studios are equipped with Audient ASP8024 consoles. The
Audient consoles have traditional in-line architecture and provide a
natural progression from the smaller A&H Zed-based studios. The
Audient-equipped studios are also set up with more backline and
outboard than the smaller studios.
The largest of the Audient-consoles is a 32-channel frame. That is,
32 lines of recording and 32 tape-inputs for mixing, plus returns.
Always nice to see analogue tape being available
Hammond & Leslie
Computer Labs
Work-stations
All workstations in this lab had both extra USB and analogue connectivity
below the interface for better ease of use. All stations were set up
with headphones.
Years ago I went to FE college in Norway studying electronics,
a background that has often come in handy while working with
sound. Computer labs like this one provides a tangible proof that
Leeds Beckett takes the link between sound and electronics seriously.
