27 March 2014
Insight: Introduced Species
© www.matthewquick.com.au
[Article edited and out-of-date links removed in May 2018. For the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's performances of Abbott's Introduced Species, see the following calendar records: 31 May 2018 and school concerts 29 May - 1 June.]
Katy Abbott writes about her new work Introduced Species and its inclusion, in March 2014, in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's 'Up Close and Musical' education series. Two new CDs of Abbott's music have also been just released: hard copies of The Domestic Sublime: the vocal music of Katy Abbott and the EP-length choral disc Famous (with MLC Sydney) are available from Katy Abbott's website, along with digital release purchase links.
> More 'Insight' articles by the AMC's represented artists.
I'm as good as paralysed by the information out there on climate change. I'm a passionate believer, but, rather than help to make it easier to change my ways, I find all the statistics, the science, the petitions, the should and should-nots (go meat-free, nude-food, think about food miles, grow your own…) make my brain swirl and my eyes glaze over. I stand looking at my kids' lunchboxes knowing that if I don't wrap the sandwiches in plastic wrap they won't eat, and if I do, I am being a terrible role model, not standing for what I believe in. What's a girl to do?
We have solar power, run tank water through the house, hate gardening yet are growing our own herbs, and every time I go shopping I forget the recycling bags and have to use plastic ones. I remember clearly when my kids were babies, nearly 11 years ago, how I used disposables and felt guilty every time I changed the twins' nappies (no less than 16 nappies a day!). Actually, I think I'm doing pretty well - but the solutions with plastics remain elusive to me.
And what's this got to do with music? In early March this year, my new orchestral work Introduced Species was premiered. The work's programmatic element includes a musical description of the North Pacific Garbage Patch, and this is where my worlds collide.
Introduced Species was composed for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Education's 'Up Close and Musical' presentations 2014. The work was commissioned by the MSO in conjunction with the Albert H. Maggs Award, which I was fortunate to receive in 2011.
'Up Close and Musical' has been running for a few years now and is aimed at VCE/HSC level and designed to intersect and feed into the Australian Composition Post-1910 Victorian VCE subject. However, students from years 7 - 12 were amongst the audience. The presentation included an analysis by the composer, with orchestral players demonstrating main themes, textures and curiosities from the piece. There were also a few stories about the compositional process, followed by a full performance of the new work. The session ended with a Q & A.
The presentations were held at 'satellite' schools in Melbourne's
north (PEGS), east (Blackburn High School) and south (Brighton
Grammar School), which aimed to include schools from those areas
to the activities of the MSO. It was wonderful to meet some of
the regional VCE students who had travelled to attend.
A musical narration
Introduced Species is a 19-20-minute work for orchestra in three continuous movements. The work is very programmatic in nature as per my current penchant for storytelling.
The launching point for Introduced Species came from a work of art by Australian artist Matthew Quick. In his series Introduced Species each painting depicts a gorgeous natural background, such as a desert, an ocean or perhaps a tree. Superimposed or introduced to this is a surreal or out-of-place object. In the case of Low Hanging Fruit (2011), a beautiful cherry blossom tree has scarily realistic cluster bombs hanging like ripe fruit from the branches. An ocean in Catch 22 (2011) includes Kikkoman soy sauce 'sushi' fish swimming in a school. Up close, they are beautiful works, but they all have a programmatic, often political, basis. (To see all paintings, go to Matthew Quick's 'Introduced Species' gallery.)
My work uses the story behind Intrepid Travellers (2010)
from this series. In 1992, nearly 29,000 bath toys fell from the
cargo ship Ever Laurel on its way from Hong Kong to the
USA. Many of the bath toys were yellow rubber ducks. The ducks
have since scattered and washed up on beaches all over the globe
and even been sold on eBay (for quite a sum!). Scientists and
oceanographers have studied their travels and been able to better
understand ocean currents, wind patterns and ocean debris.
Journalists, writers, artists have also shown much interest.
I watched Matthew Quick's Intrepid Travellers develop
from pencil on canvas to the final piece when I was an artist at
the Abbotsford Convent where Matthew works. At this time, I also
began to research the North Pacific Garbage Patch (more about
that below) in which some of the ducks are still circling. A
story began to emerge.
As I wondered about Matthew's oversized rubber ducks bobbing
happily on the ocean, I began to give them characters and ask
questions: What if the rubber ducks, destined for life in a
domestic bath tub, did not fall accidentally as cargo from the
ship? What if they escaped instead?
In its final form, the near 20-minute work takes the following form:
Movement 1: 'Awakening' - the ducks are lulled to sleep on the
ship. They awaken, newly sentient beings, and, in Toy
Story fashion, begin a mass escape which results in the
ducks launching themselves from the deck of the ship into the
air. A siren (Doppler effect) is heard throughout the work and,
as I began to get deeper into the orchestration, this theme
became a kind of 'Where's Wally' for this work. Sometimes it is
very obvious, sometimes it is hidden and intertwined throughout
the orchestration.
Movement 2: 'Plummet' describes the descent of the ducks from
ship deck to sea surface. As the sunlight glistens on the ocean
spray, the stupidly grinning ducks plummet to the ocean surface
in a four-minute slow motion snapshot of the event.
Movement 3: 'Trash Vortex' - an American term for the North
Pacific Garbage Patch, a huge circular ocean current that
collects marine debris, especially plastics. The disturbing fact
about the plastics is their ability to break down - but only to a
molecular level. The term 'chemical soup' has been coined, which
describes the texture of this breakdown. The 'soup' is able to be
inhaled by fish and other sea life as well as forming a chemical
sludge on the surface of the ocean. This movement is textural and
remains relevant as the ducks are still circling in the vortex 22
years later. The Disneyesque characterisation from 'Awakening'
and 'Plummet' is thrown aside and the reality of the rubbish
within this ocean system is highlighted. An albatross flying low
over the Trash Vortex ends the work, depicted by first a violin
and then a double bass solo.
Introduced musical species
Just as Matthew Quick introduced various species into his
paintings (ducks, shopping trolleys, etc.), it occurred to me
that I could add my own 'species' into the orchestra. On request,
the MSO kindly allowed me to add extra instrumentation to the
orchestra: saxophones (soprano doubled with baritone saxophone),
a bass clarinet, and an additional percussion player, also a
pickup microphone, an amplifier and a delay machine for the
double bass player. But adding instruments and a bit of
technology (although very pleasing in sound, to me) didn't seem
quite enough.
I fantasised briefly with the idea of players playing rubbish.
Although adding rubbish to the orchestra (plastic bottles, cans
etc. instead of bows, or preparing instruments with plastic bags)
would be an analogy for how we are adding rubbish to a quite
beautiful and complex ocean system, and so perfectly aligned with
the intention of the work, I felt I was the one who
needed to and should carry the burden of the destruction, not the
MSO!
So, I introduced my own favourite melodies, textures and sound-worlds from other pieces I have composed, and threw them into the Trash Vortex movement. I mixed them up with the 'surging, dirge' (the opening description alongside the tempo marking for movement 3) and allowed them to disintegrate, be overwhelmed and distort. It was both exhilarating and devastating. These musical ideas are mostly extracted from the works No Ordinary Traveller (2006) and The Empty Quarter (2008) although there are elements of other works in there too, for instance Aspects of Dreaming (2006)
Troubleshooting
During the presentations, we pulled apart some of the main
themes, orchestrations and hidden factors. I also believe it is
useful to demystify the composition process for students and
that's why we spent time discussing some of the troubling issues
that arose during the compositional process: we listened to
'before' and 'after' moments and talked about ways to move
forward when one hits a roadblock.
As per the brief for 'Up Close and Musical', a process diary and
analysis was developed for teachers, including ideas for
composition and active listening activities for the
classroom.
To hear my orchestral work rehearsed, recorded and presented
multiple times in one week, of course was a joy. I did, in the
end, succumb to the addition of rubbish, and in all presentations
students played the introduced species of plastic bags (not
attached to any instrument) alongside the MSO and gave me their
opinion as to whether or not it sounded cheesy. The questions
were thoughtful and varied and interesting - and, for the record,
I am not related to the Prime Minister!
AMC resources
Katy
Abbott - AMC profile
Katy Abbott: Introduced species- work details on
AMC's online catalogue
Further links
Katy Abbott - homepage; Katy Abbott - recordings
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra - resources and activities about
Abbott's Introduced Species
Artist Matthew Quick - 'Introduced Species' Gallery
© Australian Music Centre (2014) — Permission must be obtained from the AMC if you wish to reproduce this article either online or in print.
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