Lockstep Variations

Hackbarth, Benjamin ORCID: 0000-0001-5027-0832 (2018) Lockstep Variations. [Composition]

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Abstract

When listening to electronic music in the concert hall, we often encounter a disconnect between sonic presence and visual absence: we hear sounds, but do not see their origins. This incongruity has always fascinated me, and in Lockstep Variations I wanted to heighten it by placing speakers inside of two snare drums flanking the ensemble. While the drums sound acoustic, they are in fact stimulated electronically; the absence of a visual stimulus creates a pair of phantom musicians, two disembodied drummers who are spatially and gesturally enmeshed with the acoustic ensemble. I was drawn to the snare drum because of its historical origin as an instrument of the battlefield, where it was used as a tool to organise troops and their movements. Here, the drums take on the role of a controller, a source of repetitious, patterned energy which obliges players to act, urges them to synchronize, and compels them to move. Some players oblige, some disobey. The movements the drums dictate - and the resistance they encounter - is outlined in four distinct sections: March Step, Gridlock, Transmission, Rail Line.

Item Type:	Composition
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	04 Sep 2018 06:22
Last Modified:	19 Jan 2023 01:25
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3025855