Zaehmungen #2
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We have heard it often: in a string instrument the sound is produced by the bow. How does the bow actually sound? The direct solution, to microphone the sound from the point of view of the bow, is misleading: the bow movement (direction, speed, position) has a limited acoustic effect. I propose an indirect solution. The piece sets to extract features of the bow movement which are not audible under normal circumstances. The strings play with a modified bow, a tapebow: instead of the hair, a magnetic tape with prerecorded material is attached to the bow. The tape-head (the device which “reads” the tape) is fixed to the instrument. The relationship is inverted: the instrument plays the bow. As with the normal bow, sound is only produced by movement. A fast movement produces a compressed (higher) sound, a slow movement, a stretched (lower) sound. The absolute position of the bow is relevant: different sections of the bow have a different sound recorded. A down-bow plays the tape forward, an up-bow rewinds it. The cultural history behind the string technique stays untouched, its the perspective which is shifted. A tremolo becomes a granular texture, bow pressure turns into tape saturation, an up-bow turns into a reversed sound. With this shift some aspects of that other part of the bow mechanism –the arm– become audible as well. The magnetic band presupposes its own expectations. But no musician can be as precise as a tape-machine. The irregularities in the movement, audible as a continuous fluttering, give evidence of our failed condition: of our humanity. Seine zaehmungen hätten wohl auch dressuren heißen können, merkt Eduardo Moguillansky an. Aber diesen Titel hatte Mauricio Kagel, der wie Moguillansky aus Argentinien kommt, bereits für einen Film aus dem Jahre 1985 in Anspruch genommen. Deshalb wird bei Moguillansky der Musiker also nicht dressiert, sondern gezähmt, was nicht nur ein sehr viel liebevollerer Akt ist als das Peitschen-knallende Abrichten, sondern auch stillschweigend von der Voraussetzung ausgeht, dass der Musiker vorher ein wildes Wesen gewesen ist und dahin gebracht werden muss, dass er ohne Gefahr für den Komponisten auf dessen Musik losgelassen werden kann. |
Barbara Eckle, Neue Musik Zeitung
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