Playing folk music in slow motion
This project is about interpreting and stretching Swedish and Norwegian folk music on the modular synthesizer. The goal with doing so is to create an artistic expression which has some time-warping qualities which slow motion in the title refers to . This slow motion-ness is not to be understood in a literal sense, but is a short hand way of describing a subjective sensation that I am searching for in the music I play. Playing is emphasized in this project, as the act of being physically active in the process of music making, that brings or bringing me / altering) brings me deeper into the moment and alter my sense of time suggestion. There are two sides to this project, which I define in the following way:
Interpreting: to play folk music tunes as they are, but adapted for my instrument and making use of its particular affordances, to forge an artistic expression which creates a sensation of slow motion.
Stretching: applying compositional techniques borrowed from electronic and minimalist music, on details from the folk music material, to forge an artistic which creates a sensation of slow motion. Thus these opposite sides of the project share the same goal.
I use the term folk music in this project as a short version of saying traditional music from Scandinavia. This is not the only way that this term has been used, but it is the colloquial use of it by me and my peers. I am not primarily a folk musician, but I have played in many bands with others that are. So I have long been around this music. The term is directly translated from the Scandinavian folkmusik/folkemusikk to English. It is not the most technically correct term to use in English, but it is accurate for this project so I have chosen to make use of it as such.
There are several reasons for having folk music as a foundation in this project. Most important of them being, that I find that this music at its best, posses a core of this slow motion sensation that I am after. A core sensation that also emanates from the best of abstract and minimalist electronic music, to my ears. I wish with this project to explore this connection. This connection is of course a subjective matter and is likely not heard in the same way by everyone. That being said, I will in this project point to several reasons why I hear it like this.
From setting out on this journey of musical exploration, a set of research questions and artistic goals has emerged.
(next: background and context)