IZZY FRENCH BURNS DOWN THE RGA (in process)
intro
Fun fact! Due to being hyperfocused on my honours project, I haven't talked to Lindsay at length about what my recital is, so let this be an intro to both him and whoever else is looking at my website.
Current working title (due to no one saying "no" to me) is BURNS DOWN THE RGA, so it becomes Izzy French: BURNS DOWN THE RGA. Is it funny? A little bit. Is it predominantly an inside joke? Absolutely. Is it allowed? Probably not. Sorry in advance, Tim White.
a predecessor to HUH? WHAT?
My recital last year was received relatively well. People congratulated me about doing whatever I want and not being confided to whatever you think music is. A small girl in pigtails ran out, and appropriately so. However, looking back on it, there are a couple things I would've done differently: not use two musicians who are both amazing, but aren't familiar with me and my numerous shenanigans, and make music for the place I'm performing in, be more aware of the space I'm inhabiting, and to use more text scores and other things I'm more familiar with. It's with these foundational ideas in my mind, while still trying to retain the spirit of HUH? WHAT?, that BURNS DOWN THE RGA is made.
manuals
As expected, ideas from my honours project are leaking into this recital. Currently it is undecided if any of the pieces I make in my honours will make their way into BDTRGA, but what has come down is my ferocious love of rules upon rules upon rules, and in turn, I have created two manuals that are not in themselves pieces, but guides to play other pieces.
Fun fact! Due to being hyperfocused on my honours project, I haven't talked to Lindsay at length about what my recital is, so let this be an intro to both him and whoever else is looking at my website.
Current working title (due to no one saying "no" to me) is BURNS DOWN THE RGA, so it becomes Izzy French: BURNS DOWN THE RGA. Is it funny? A little bit. Is it predominantly an inside joke? Absolutely. Is it allowed? Probably not. Sorry in advance, Tim White.
a predecessor to HUH? WHAT?
My recital last year was received relatively well. People congratulated me about doing whatever I want and not being confided to whatever you think music is. A small girl in pigtails ran out, and appropriately so. However, looking back on it, there are a couple things I would've done differently: not use two musicians who are both amazing, but aren't familiar with me and my numerous shenanigans, and make music for the place I'm performing in, be more aware of the space I'm inhabiting, and to use more text scores and other things I'm more familiar with. It's with these foundational ideas in my mind, while still trying to retain the spirit of HUH? WHAT?, that BURNS DOWN THE RGA is made.
manuals
As expected, ideas from my honours project are leaking into this recital. Currently it is undecided if any of the pieces I make in my honours will make their way into BDTRGA, but what has come down is my ferocious love of rules upon rules upon rules, and in turn, I have created two manuals that are not in themselves pieces, but guides to play other pieces.
piece one - mirror a reality that doesn't exist
Playing with irony and the "impossible" is a favourite trope of mine within improvisation. I'm fairly sure this piece came to me in a dream. It's in the recital because the fascination of the multiple ways you could interpret this piece with different instruments and different mindsets is too alluring to not put it in. Additionally, interpreting the piece with a focus on physical space and the RGA has a lot of potential. |
piece two - wheezer blew album
While working a lot with PiP collective, I've been exploring the use of balloons in music. Though the premise of the piece is silly and a joke, I find that balloon playing can be really intriguing. I've had a couple pieces over the years that explore the natural cycle of breath, and I think that wheezer blew album is a culmination of this fascination. |
piece three - burns down the rga
When thinking about my recital originally, the two ideas I came down to were the one I'm currently doing, and improvisation based on narrative and experience. Simply put, you read something or do something, take as much experience and emotion as you can, and put it in an improvisation. The remnants of this kind-of interesting think tank is this piece. It's probably in bad taste. Also it has one of my favourite things to do in compositions lately, which is to state a timeframe and not allow people to keep time. EDITOR'S NOTE: after review, the last line is indeed too edgy and in bad taste and won't be in the final product. This piece isn't about Richard Gill nor his legacy, but the independent legacy of the building with his namesake. |