Creative practice music project
Portfolio
Listen to
each other:
an improvisation
What could be created
if musicians were
directly faced with the task,
‘listen to each other’?
‘Listen to each other’.
A simple instruction,
a seemingly simple
musical task.
But listening is easily
overlooked and
forgotten about.
‘Listen to Each Other' is an improvisation dedicated to exploring and
re-learning what
it is to
listen to
one another.
Musicians enter a new, unique improvisation
with headphones that only contain the
other musicians feeds.
They are only able to listen to each other.
live performance
the idea
In early 2023, inspired by the repeated instruction musicians receive to
‘listen to each other’, an idea emerged:
What could be created if musicians were directly faced with this instruction, and were only able to listen to each other?
Furthermore, what are the possibilities of an improvisation which sets up an environment to explore what it truly means to listen?
The set up
the first rendition
‘Listen to Each Other’ debuted in march 2023. Three musicians, each wearing a pair of headphones, entered a unique sonic improvisatory environment, encouraging a greater questioning into what it is to listen to one another.
The headphones were connected to a PA system through a headphone amp, which allowed for the creation of individual feeds containing only the material from their fellow musicians.
The development
This idea became the beginning of a Creative Practice Music Project, aiming to develop, expand and examine the original improvisation. Through research and deeper questioning into the original ideas, themes and concepts, an enquiry emerged:
How can an improvisation piece create an environment
for a questioning and re-learning of listening?
The project developed this improvisatory piece by streamlining its setup, introducing musicians to the environments in workshops exploring this unique listening experience, and examining, through transcriptions of the workshop discussions post and pre-performances, how the musicians used this piece and experience to re-learn listening skills.
Workshops
workshop 1
November 2023
This workshop used the streamlined set which involved an audio interface and individual headphone amps, which allowed for the musicians to experience the improvisation.
workshop 2
December 2023
The second workshop introduced entirely electronic instruments as three new musicians discussed and experienced the unique improvisation setup.
workshop 3
February 2024
The final workshop included the recording of the live performance of ‘Listen to Each Other’, and was followed by a more detailed and analytical discussion.
Discussion
Highlights
‘because you're not listening to yourself,
you've got so much more bandwidth to listen.’
‘(it takes) away quite a lot
of the instinctive barriers.’
‘I wouldn’t say necessarily it changed the exact way that I listened, but it certainly changed the way that I reacted with the information that I had.’
reflections
This project created space for me to expand upon an improvisation that I am deeply passionate about. It has developed the piece through interactive workshops, which I led and organised, working with musicians to discuss and further understand the listening experience. This has led to the expansion and deeper understanding of the world of improvisation, where this piece sits, and the importance and value listening has to our growth as musicians, and humans.
Thank you to all the
musicians involved.
Corran Crawford,
Erin Wharton, Archie Duffield,
Emma Cairns, Ethan James
and Martina Petrova.