Gründung der Abstraktion Big Band mit Mad SESSION Master Stefan Tcherepnin

Einziger Termin: Dienstag, der 17.10.23
Einzelheiten zu Ort und Uhrzeit werden bekannt gegeben
Hier die Ankündigungen/thoughts von Stefan Tcherepnin :

Greetings. The purpose of this document is to introduce myself to you in preparation for the upcoming workshop. Since we have such a limited time window to activate something, I thought this would be a good platform to share some initial ideas and concerns, as well as to propose an activity for the workshop.

I look forward to meeting all of you in person. In the meantime, I encourage you to add to the attached document, let’s say three to five things that are currently important to you. They can relate directly to your practice. Or more generally like, a composer/band/album/song that you’ve been listening to on repeat. An artist or exhibition you are thinking about. What you’re reading. Etc. The only requisite being it’s something that really affects you in the present moment.

In the end, I hope this document could act almost like a blueprint for a superzine. Ultimately, though, I hope it is an effective way to share and combine our most current interests and concerns, rally them together and create a kind of core or essence, from which something(s) else may emanate.

I would also like to propose my idea for the workshop; i.e. by pooling our various interests and allowing them to cross-pollinate, we are able to establish an essential core; an ensemble or ‘big band.’ That we can use the time we have together to write and record at least one song or musical composition.

Some of you may have backgrounds in music. Needless to say, a musical background is not necessary for our current exercise. It could even be said that a ‘lack of,’ or non-technical, understanding of music allows one to experience/approach music with purity, which is ideal for the purposes of this workshop.

Therefore, on the attached sheet, in addition to your 3-5 current interests, I would ask that you please also include your name, along with an instrument- or instruments- that you play or would be willing to play in our big band. It should be an instrument that you can bring with you to the workshop. It could be a traditional/conventional instrument such as guitar, a drum (or drums), electronic keyboard, etc. But also invented or ‘found’ instruments, of which there are virtually infinite possibilities.

If there’s time and interest, I could also talk a bit about some of my current and/or recent projects/exhibitions. Currently, I am preparing a solo performance/presentation for the outdoor Meridians sector of Art Basel Miami Beach in December; a mixed media installation at the Fridericianum in Kassel opening March ‘24; a long-term public art commission in Stockholm in the form of a sculpture park opening in September ‘24. Some recent exhibitions, including Le Consortium, Dijon; Meredith Rosen Gallery, NY; Platform, Stockholm…

In the past I have typically started my workshops with a group exercise in which we perform one of two works by the American composers Pauline Oliveros and Annea Lockwood, respectively. Performing these works effectively breaks social barriers and inhibitions, allowing the participants to exist on an equal ground. I am hoping our own exercise will produce the same result, but include here the instructions for the Oliveros and Lockwood pieces for reference:

Annea Lockwood – Humming, 1972 (*Score instructions paraphrased from memory by the composer to me)

Spend a minute or two simply breathing deep breaths, then start humming on any pitch which feels comfortable to you, letting your pitch drift at will, but without making melodies or rhythms or consciously forming harmonies with other participants, using long slow breaths and pausing when you wish. The group’s sounds will fade naturally from time to time. When this happens, let the humming start up again. It will also end naturally, without anyone leading that decision.

Pauline Oliveros – Teach Yourself To Fly, 1970?

I hope you are excited as I am about the workshop and I very much look forward to meeting you and seeing what we come up with!

7.10.23

Hi all, sorry for the late reply. I’ll send some additional links later today/ tonight (beguile the end of the weekend). The Kunstalle Zurich one is a good start:)

Website looks good.

I had some additional thoughts, last night

I was rehearsing with my duo band, Kvantum, in preparation for upcoming performances we’re giving in an installation of mine on the terrace at Art Basel Miami beach in December. The title of the work, Song of Seven Keys, refers, in part, to a faint, mythological melody that can sometimes be heard in the wind blowing from across the bay, beyond Key Largo. In our music, that melody is incorporated into a theme and we are playing four variations on that theme. One way of putting it could be:

Song of Seven Keys – 4 Variations on a Theme

The different variations we are playing, themselves, „wander“ through harmonic modal keys (i.e. F# phrygian -> D locrian -> E phryian -> etc).

I have a memory of visiting my grandmother, who lived in Key Largo, years ago; at the foot of the bridge to the Key Largo is a kind of trashy restaurant with deck seating on the water- they serve white wine by the glass, in sealed plastic wine cups that you open yourself- anyway, i used to like to go there with my grandmother because I had heard that Ernest Hemingway used to come there sometimes.

So I can also imagine that this „song of the seven keys“ comes in by the wind, from the ocean, blowing over Hemingway’s ghost sitting on the deck at that restaurant.. the melody swirls around above the Keys, through the keys, comes to Miami Beach to unlock the doors to the space that becomes our little ‚venue‘ on the terrace…

Anyway, what I’m thinking now for the workshop is to ask the question, What is a theme? What constitutes a theme? What are the essences and contingencies of a theme?

During the workshop, we would try to construct or create a theme, then perform it and record it.
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thanks again, Stefan
See what I ve found. Ei, you and Jutta in my exhibition ARTIST WRITER MENTALIST, Reena Spaulings, NYC 2008.
My first time in New York.
I think I also met Thomas Winkler there! Could it be? Magic!
He was performing new songs on the occasion of the Internationl Elvis-Days, on march 29th. If I am right. There was also JELVIS, the jewish Elvis. But I can t remember.