Unburying, from Liminals, Emerging: Three Contexts for a Microtonal Prepared Piano
(2025)
author(s): Matt Choboter
published in: Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Copenhagen
Can an acoustic grand piano be sonically and conceptually reimagined so as to re-negotiate its foundational assumptions around tuning and timbre? Why should the piano continue to be so accustomed to only one tuning system? In contrast, how can “pure sounds” (ratios found in the harmonic series) co-exist with ethnically diverse microtonal tunings?
Spanning a period from 2020-2022, “Unburying, from Liminals, Emerging” explores a microtonal prepared piano in three artistic contexts. These include: a solo project called “Postcards of Nostalgia; a chamber ensemble consisting of saxophone trio, percussion and piano; and a “percussion ensemble with soprano saxophone called Juniper Fuse.
Dialoging with a newly invented tuning system, what emergent properties might we find when magnetic piano preparations are used to evoke specific timbral effects from Balinese Gamelan and Indian Karnatik music? Collectively, how can this expanded notion of “piano” merge with spatialization to facilitate interactive experiences for audiences? How might a process-oriented Jungian-inspired dream work communicate itself so as to distill and coalesce a fertile musical landscape?
Rooms of Resonance
(2022)
author(s): Lars Greve
published in: Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Copenhagen
This is the final exposition for Lars Greves artistic research project "Rooms of Resonance" (2019-21), undertaken at the Rhythmic Conservatory in Copenhagen.
The project seeks to investigate the artistic potentials in Greves acoustic solo improvisations, the concert room's acoustics and selected objects, which are brought into vibration.
Through experiments and procedural concerts, the research has hoisted artistic, technological and methodological experiences which will be unfolded in this exposition.
