Tag Archive | Music
August 26, 2016  

SIGNIFICANTUS – A unique keyboard conversation- Created by Lola Perrin

This is a live interative performance project created by composer Lola Perrin

Piano Suite IX ‘SIGNIFICANTUS’ is performed in collaboration with local guest speakers; scientists, artists and other thinkers

TOURING FROM AUTUMN 2016

You can see a performance of this piece at Feeding the Insatiable – Real and imagined narratives of art and energy for a troubled planet.  A creative summit at Dartington Hall November 9-11

“I created this project because I want to stimulate more conversations about positive prospects that are presented by climate change.

Significantus features the performance of my ninth piano suite, presented in collaboration with guest speakers. Scientists, artists and other thinkers respond (as I have in music) to the notion that “talking about a world that has risen to the challenge of climate change is an exciting opportunity” (Paul Allen, Centre for Alternative Technology). Audience members are also invited to make spoken word contributions.

My quest is that the conversation then spreads out from concerts venues, carried forward by both audience members and by this website.

This website is for documenting the texts that arise from the performances. A trail of words will be added as performances come and go, connecting town to town, venue to venue, speaker to speaker, audience member to audience member, website visitor to website visitor.” (Lola Perrin)

 

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Some quotes that have inspired the project:

“WE ARE ON THE CUSP OF A NEW PHILOSOPHICAL ERA REVERSING 500 YEARS OF SCIENCE TELLING US HOW INSIGNIFICANT WE ARE.” (MARK MASLIN, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON)

“As more and more people across global society piece together the internal and external layers of this alarming big picture; this collective, compulsive human violation of our planetary life-support system becomes one of the deepest and most pervasive sources of anxiety in our time. 

Society has created taboos against the public expression of such emotion and anguish, so we struggle to realise that so many of us feel the same. We are held fast, sleepwalking through the shopping malls, distracted, paralysed and overloaded in a continuous barrage of information. 

Over recent decades such collective fear and disempowerment have transformed the way we think about the future; from that exciting 1960s world of excitement, progress and anticipation – to a dark and uncertain world of fear. But if we only talk in terms of fear, chaos, collapse and devastation, we aren’t going to equip, empower and enable people – if we are unable to imagine a positive future, we won’t create it.” (Paul Allen, Centre for Alternative Technology)

June 3, 2016  

THE OTHER PLACE – A Vox-Popera by Billy Bottle & The Multiple

THE OTHER PLACE
A Vox-Popera by
Billy Bottle and The Multiple

“Utterly Weill”
Dougald Hine

“A diary in four dimensions”
Kate Westbrook

A microcosmic journey across England in the last days of a general election campaign. 17 stories about Power from the people we met.

June 24th – Premiere at Barnfield Theatre, Exeter
June 30th – Arts House Cafe, Bristol
July 2nd – Art House Cafe, Southampton
Oct 8th – The Acorn, Penzance
Oct 13th – The Brunswick, Brighton

http://www.billybottle.co.uk/the-other-place/4592286231

On the evening of 7th May, 2015, a pint of milk mysteriously appears at the gates of Parliament.

Set in the week running up to a UK general election, The Other Place tells the true story of two musicians from Devon as they make their way slowly to Westminster. On high streets, market squares and seafront promenades, they perform the same song, forty-nine times over, and at each stop they start conversations with whoever they meet, asking them ‘Who’s got the Power?’

At the end of a long and winding journey, they arrive at Parliament Square on a milk float to make their delivery: a symbolic reminder that the power doesn’t belong to the inhabitants of Westminster, it is given to them by the rest of us.

This journey through the foundations of British democracy inspired a sequence of songs whose lyrics come from the words of the voters (and non-voters) that Billy and Martine met on their journey. It is a celebration of gentler kinds of power and an invitation to the audience to make their voices heard. 

Following on from their critically acclaimed album, Unrecorded Beam (the poetry of Thoreau), The Multiple features Martine Waltier, Roz Harding and Billy Bottle, (all mainstays of Mike Westbrook’s Uncommon Orchestra) plus flautist Vivien Goodwin-Darke (from the psychedelic rock band, Magic Bus) and recording artist and producer Lee Fletcher (of Unsung Productions) on soundscapes. Like the best art rock, they combine folk, jazz, pop and minimalism in an engaging and meaningful way. 

Complete with wobbly camera footage and the sounds of the streets, this performance is a real democratic party in action!

May 13, 2016  

Mr Eco – Environmental rap superhero

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March 18, 2016  

Cymatics – Science vs Music by Nigel Stanford


From the album Solar Echoes

  
http://nigelstanford.com 

   
 
From Wikipedia
Cymatics, from Greek: κῦμα, meaning “wave”, is a subset of modal vibrational phenomena. The term was coined by Hans Jenny (1904-1972), a Swiss follower of the philosophical school known as anthroposophy. Typically the surface of a plate, diaphragm or membrane is vibrated, and regions of maximum and minimum displacement are made visible in a thin coating of particles, paste or liquid.[1] Different patterns emerge in the excitatory medium depending on the geometry of the plate and the driving frequency.

The apparatus employed can be simple, such as the old Chinese singing bowl, in which copper handles are rubbed and cause the copper bottom elements to vibrate. Other examples include the Chladni Plate[2] and the so-called cymascope.

  

January 18, 2016  

Catch the Sun (Go Solar) by Ben Williams released to mark Solar Independence Day (2015)

A song entitled ‘Catch the Sun (Go solar)’ by guitarist and songwriter Ben Williams has been released to mark the Solar Trade Association’s Solar Independence Day 2015, the UK’s annual celebration of solar showcasing solar homes, commercial solar rooftops and solar farms and a series of public open days. The song, which is freely available to download on Soundcloud along with a music video on YouTube , was recorded in a solar-powered recording studio at The Premises in Hackney, with backing singers from the solar industry, green NGOs and from the Philippine and Ethiopian embassies – two countries vulnerable to climate change impacts.

Watch the Video below:

MORE ABOUT THE SONG

As a guitarist Ben Williams has supported a who’s who of British talent including Mick Hucknell, Will Young, Chic and M-People. He has also recently released his own album, ‘Who do you think you are?’. Ben wrote his catchy solar song for free, to help raise awareness of climate change and highlight the importance of solar as a solution.

Ben Williams, the songwriter, said:

“I wanted to get involved because climate change is such a serious issue and people can feel helpless about what to do. There’s something special about solar. Not just because it’s genius technology but because, as the song says, it puts the power to act in millions of hands. The energy and climate debate is very political and bogged-down by big vested interests. Nothing reaches people like music. I wanted to try and reach out to everyday people with a hopeful message.”

The Solar Trade Association helped to organise the recording working with The Premises who have been long term supporters of solar power. Not only does The Premises boast the first solar-powered recording studio in Europe but their involvement in solar campaigning helped to secure the UK’s Feed-In Tariff scheme which has led to over 660,000 solar homes across the UK.

Julia Craik, Managing Director of The Premises said:

“We really enjoyed recording this catchy track in The Premises solar-powered studio, it’s a great way of supporting solar in the UK. We take a really keen interest in climate change issues and aim to do more than just run a business. We installed the first professional solar powered recording studio in Europe and campaign to encourage more businesses to join us using reliable and effective renewable technology. We’re really happy to be involved in this year’s Solar Independence Day.”

Sonia Dunlop, Communications and Public Affairs Manager at the Solar Trade Association, who is organising solar events and open days across the country for Solar Independence Day on 3rd and 4th July said:

“Solar Independence Day is all about reaching out and celebrating the joy of solar. And nothing marks a celebration like music – it is great that this nationwide event now has its own soundtrack too. Solar is transforming the way we generate energy, democratising our energy supply as well as helping to avert dangerous climate change. We hope that is reflected in this song.”

The STA is inviting people to post their own versions of the song – or indeed showcase their own solar installations in a video – on the STA’s Facebook page.

Supporters are also being asked to write to their MPs as part of the Climate Coalition’s ‘For the love of solar’ campaign, where people can send a ‘solar heart’ to their MP to urge them to take action on climate change.