The Yuha Archive :: “SONICFOLIO SCORES” Episode 8:: Ten Refractions— FIELD NOTES
SONICFOLIO SCORES was a collection of graphic scores jointly produced by The Yuha Archive (Toronto), and The Operating System Liminal Lab (New York). From August 2021- August 2022, eleven graphic scores were produced. Each graphic score endeavored to introduce new perspectives in musical notation and interpretation. The full archive can be found HERE
“Ten Refractions” is the eighth installment of the SONICFOLIO SCORES Project supported by the Operating System & Liminal Lab. To stay up to date with the Yuha Archive SONICFOLIO Series, follow the project on Soundcloud or the Archive’s website. For the introduction to this series here on the OS’ Medium platform, click here.
Sonic indeterminacy is fascinating for there can be no beginning or ending to musical narrative. By liberating sound from representational approaches to musical structure, sound becomes a living material freed from teleological prejudice. While sound tends to progress horizontally through an intervallic plane comprised of sectional narratives (beginning, middle, and end), what if we took a particular fragment in the sectional narrative, and looped that fragment endlessly until it suffices as an atomic existence of musical form? Does form still have a mind of its own? Or rather, is form mindless afterall that is given form through the beholder/listener? I composed the graphic score TEN REFRACTIONS to experiment with this idea. Accompanied with the graphic score is also a sonic interpretation of the score by Alinovksy and I.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR INTERPRETING TEN REFRACTIONS
This piece is comprised of 10 melodic cells, which are repeated for an indefinite number of times. The first figure is repeated continuously as a background pulse. As the background takes shape, other figures that follow can overlap each another. All melodic figures can be played an octave higher or lower than the originally notated register. All notes in each respective cell can be rearranged to allow for melodic permutations and timbral variety. The resulting sonic effect should result in a texture that is formless yet fluid. Changes in dynamics are not permitted and all parts have to be performed at an identical volume, namely mezzo forte.
Alain Lefebvre aka Alinovsky is a sound artist, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist from Belgium. Since 1976, Lefebvre has recorded and performed with American bands Tuxedomoon, Anna Domino, Winstong Tong, Blaine L. Reininger, the English musicians Vini Reilly (The Durutti Column), Anne Clark, Alan Rankine, the French band Antena and the Belgian musician Benjamin Lew among others. In 2007, Lefebvre founded his label Off which up to 2021 has released more than 400 avant-garde recording projects from all over the world.
The Label: www.off-recordlabel.blogspot.com
Stanford Cheung engages across a variety of creative hubs as a classical pianist, sonic artist, improvisor, and multi-disciplinary poet. From concerto performances with orchestras, poetry recitals, to electronic free-form improvisation for art installations, Cheung has collaborated internationally with a variety of artists and scholars, including Morgan Fisher, Steven J Fowler, Shahzad Ismaily and Nobuo Kubota. Cheung’s commissioned projects have been exhibited or forthcoming at the 43rd Rhubarb Festival (Buddies in Bad Times), Osaka University OCCA, Edinburgh University, Christchurch University, Banff Centre for the Arts, Orpheus Institute, Kitakyushu Centre for Contemporary Arts, Tokyo Poetry Journal, among others. Presently, Cheung is pursuing his Doctoral degree in music at McGill University where his research is dedicated to the Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. He runs a multimodal soundscape project called The Yuha Archive.
You can find him here: https://stanfordcheung.com/
