Part 3: Application

The Stellar Sonata is a piece that evoked infinite inspiration for me. It extends the possibility of my instrument tremendously, allowing new sounds to emerge from the harp that have not been heard before. It links in with a new tradition in harp playing, that I think is more and more present in the world of today.


Working on the recreation of the set-up and effects for this very special piece, I found joy in experimenting with the different effects in Ableton that I found along the way. Effects that did not necessarily appear in this shape in the Stellar Sonata, but were also types of Delays or Flangers and such. With this, a desire to create something new grew more and more overtime. That is how this final part of the research was shaped. Two questions arose with this curiosity: Can I apply my findings when creating improvised soundscapes and new compositions? And can I apply these newfound electronic effects to fit existing pieces?

 


 



The application of the attained knowledge from working on the Stellar Sonata can be divided into the following terms:

  • Applying electronic means to an existing piece or repertoire

  • Improvised soundscape

  • New composition

 
 
 
 

Applying electronics to an existing piece

The adaptation of an existing piece has been an interesting process for me. I worked mostly on 2 pieces, Poem of the Little Stars by Carlos Salzedo and the Sarabande from the English Suite No. 2 by JS Bach. 

I wanted to respect the music as much as possible and only add sounds that I felt could enhance the atmosphere of the music.

 


 

In this video you can listen to the A part of Bach's Sarabande. The only effect added to this is Reverb. it enhanced the sound of the harp, as though it is being played in a church, which is quite suitable for pieces of Bach.

In this video the repetition of the A part is played. There are 2 effects added to the repetition, first the Flutter delay, and then the Bubble delay. Both are Grain Delay time of effects available in the standard effects of Ableton.

Bach made a version with ornamentation himself for the repetition of the Sarabande. As many Bach-lovers well know, the idea is to play the A-part and then repeat it with these ornamentations. The same goes for the B-part after that. The idea of adding effects in the repetition is to have them serve as a form of ornamentation. The first time is less 'ornamented' or less 'effected' than the repeat. Therefore, we stay in the tradition of Bach while adding a modern twist to it. 

To reflect a little on these modifications to such a traditional piece as a Bach Suite, I'd like to share some thoughts given as feedback by people around me. I played this version of the Sarabande in my PIA Cosmic Journey. Below you can see the responses when asked what they thought of the effects of this specific piece.  

In general, the addition of effects was well received by the audience. There was some difference in opinion, since one person said it could have gone even further for their taste, and one person said it felt a bit out of place to add effects since Bach is so well-known. 

From my mentor in the NAIP program, Renee Jonker, I received critical feedback that the flutter effect really emphasises in periodicality, making it very regular. Whereas in reality the tradition of Bach, especially in a Sarabande, is that the notes appear irregularly in arpeggios, varying each chord. 

 

 I think that there's valid points being made by the audience as well as my research supervisor. For me personally the innovation and exploration of new possibilities for my instruments outweigh the need for wanting to stay in a tradition. I'm aware of what the traditions are and am trying to find new ways of delivering classical music to an audience.

 


Improvised soundscapes

The set-up for the Stellar Sonata also provided me with inspiration for my improvisational/composition work. Knowing what can be made possible by the electroacoustic harp, I used this to create ambient soundscapes.


I would usually have a concept for my improvisation, a certain motif, a key, a certain mood I was trying to set, or even a chord scheme. Depending on that, I could add effects to this that would enhance the soundscape. 

When working on the recreation of the effects of the stellar sonata, I found some effects that I found interesting. The Flutter delay as well as the bubbles delay, I applied in an improv soundscape of mine. 


Improvising with sound effects largely differs from improvising without. Some of the effects have a behaviour of their own, and so you really play with it. It leaves more time to listen to what is happening and get inspired to start something new.


A similar process applied to the process of improvising with a fellow musician. In my PIA, Cosmic Journey, premiered in Montréal on 30 November 2024, I had made some voice overs to tell the story about my grandfathers flight of abouta minute and a half long. We would start improvising during this voice over, and the soundscape would grow as the voice over came to an end. I have included fragments of three the soundscapes below as examples with some explanation of the effects.

 

Soundscape 1

This soundscape uses a Grain Delay, which is a type of delay that samples incoming audio in very small chunks, called grains, and emits each grain after a delay whose time you can set in milliseconds or sync to tempo. 

The cello plays long lines, so the effect of the little grains delaying is mostly heart in the harps arpeggios.

Soundscape 2

In this soundscape we used a normal Delay, while playing a more atonal texture. The continuous sound of the delay creates a bed of sound for us as players to keep adding sounds to. 

Soundscape 3

The effect of this soundscape is a Flutter Delay, also a type of delay. 

This fragment is slightly longer so that the voice over can be heard as well. When the voice over ends, the melody of the cello develops more, and the harp adds chords for accompaniment.


New piece - Aurora Borealis

During my time in Montréal, I gave two concerts on the electro-acoustic harp. This inspired French composer Olivier Schoeser to write a piece for me on the electroacoustic harp, with effects from Ableton Live. He loved the amount of possibilities that this new instrument provided. Below he talks a little bit about his inspiration and the ideas for this new piece. 

 

"When I witnessed the dress rehearsal of Kyra’s concert, I was amazed by the diversity of sounds and techniques she used throughout the pieces she played. At the time, I had heard about amplified harp, but I never considered writing a piece for it. The longer I listened to her play under those pictures of space and earth, the more it reminded me of two things. The first is something I experienced a few months before. I had the opportunity to watch some northern lights from the Oratoire St-Joseph in Montreal, and although they lacked some colours, that magical experience struck me. The second is a concept the artist Sleeping At Last used for writing two of his albums (Astronomy Vol.1 and Astronomy Vol.2) in which each piece is about a specific astronomical event.
I thought about all this during the concert and at the end, I had this haunting idea of writing a piece for amplified harp that would use some of the effects I just heard (and maybe some others) on top of a loop system that would allow her to layer motives and soundscapes upon which would lie a simple melody, the piece being descriptive music."

 

Aurora Borealis, Olivier Schoeser, 2025

 

After this first encounter for Olivier with the Electroacoustic harp, we had a meeting where I explained him more about the instrument, and the Set-up of the Stellar Sonata as well as my own addition of effects from the improvisations. I explained how it worked, what is possible, so that he knew what he is writing for. Over the coming months he will continue the writing process, which I will be involved in, in the sense of giving feedback on what works and what could use improvements on fragments he has written. The piece will have its première on my final recital in June 2025.

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