Concert for Double Bass 'In Absentia'
Ivar Roban Krizic
The last two years have presented us with a plethora of possibilities to explore the impact that distance enacts on our creative practices. The project “Concert for Double Bass ‘In Absentia’” explores the effects of spatial displacement between performer and audience on the production and reception of free improvised practices. An instrument fitted with contact speakers and placed in a space becomes a conduit for sound, creating a reversal of roles–the audience is present in the performance space while the performer streams an improvisation from another location. This setting breaks established conventions and expectations of a performance situation, and therefore allows for a thorough analysis of the various ways in which improvisatory practices are perceived and conceptualized. The framework of the performance provides stimulation resulting in a series of qualitative interviews with members of the audience on the topics of absence, classification, perception of musical form, distraction, and interaction. Through these interviews, clear irritations in relation to the absence of a performer have been observed. These initial irritations in turn stimulated heightened levels of imaginative thinking and listening during the performance. This project shows how an experimental performative setting can provide a starting point for subsequent theoretical research.
Initial Impulses
The project can be traced back to several impulses that have shaped my thoughts during the development of this project:
Impulse 1 - Theo Gallehr's wonderful 1967 documentary on the Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza allows to viewer to observe the chaotic dynamics of Mario Bertoncini, Walter Branchi, Franco Evangelisti, John Heineman, Roland Kayn, Ennio Moricone, Frederic Rzewski and Ivan Vandor as they negotiate the creation of a free improvised performance. This cacophony of sounds, concepts and opinions presents us with several crucial questions on the nature of improvised music; most importantly for the genesis of this project, a discussion which is directed, on one hand, at the most beneficial listening posture in the context of improvised music and, on the other, at the importance of the visual factor in the reception of improvised music.
Impulse 2 - As this project was being developed during the height of the various lockdowns, a significant influence was enacted by the structure of live-stream concerts. Although not a new concept, this format became the new norm during this period, allowing performers and the audience to experience the effects of distance on the transmission of creative impulses. This setting led me to attempt to create a reversal of this format–a performance which would invite the audience into a shared space from which the performer would remain absent.
Technical Considerations
The first step involved developing the scenography for the performance. As the instrument on which the piece is performed is a double bass, another bass was chosen to serve as a visual representation on stage. This transformation was realized by attaching two transducers (or contact speakers) using elastic bungee cords to the body of the stage double bass.
The double bass which was played by the performer had a usual setup of two microphones which were recording the sound and sending it to the sound technician. This signal was then shaped and sent into the stage double bass. The only exception were frequencies under 100 Hz, which were sent to the sound system of the venue. This was done to circumvent the limitations of the rather small transducers and as they are large soundwaves, the audience still perceived them as coming from the stage double bass.
Theoretical Considerations
This setting allowed a very thorough investigation of several important issues related to the practice of free improvised music. The qualitative interviews that were conducted after the performance showed a common thread between all of the interviewees–a clear sense of irritation related to the absence of the performer. This irritation in turn led the audience members to compensate for the performer's absence in various ways: some constructed mental representations, some turned their focus to the sounds coming out of the stage instrument, and some closed their eyes in an attempt to avoid the irritation altogether. The simple act of taking away the performer created a sense of irritation which, when dealt with, allowed the audience members to experiment with various listening postures. As the source of the sound was removed and only a suggestive hint at its nature remained, the audience members started reflecting on the nature of sound itself, exploring both their preconceived notions and experiencing a newly found sense for exploratory listening. Through these observations we can recognize the unintentional acousmatic nature of this project–by removing the cause of the sound we are able to direct awareness toward the content of the act of hearing alone. In that sense, we can observe that the removal of the visual factor allows us to highlight the sound to a greater extent–after an adjustment period, the audience becomes open and receptive and slowly starts discovering a new way of listening.
Literature
Denzler, Bertrand, and Jean-Luc Guionnet. The Practice of Musical Improvisation: Dialogues with Contemporary Musical Improvisers. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2020.
Küpers, Wendelin M. Phenomenology of the Embodied Organization. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2015.
Schaeffer, Pierre. Treatise on Musical Objects: An Essay across Disciplines. University of California Press, 2019.
Schön, Donald A. The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. New York: Basic Books, 1983.