Traces of Play.

Abstract

This work was inspired by the kinds of games that I have played with my young son during his early years, using everyday objects as well as his toys. I was drawn to the kinds of play that he engages with and the resulting outcomes and processes - repeating the same thing, exploring new possibilities/potentials, or trying something once and then moving on to find the next interesting activity. We would spend quite some time spinning plastic plates, cutlery or a spinning a top. I wanted to capture the sounds of the kinds of objects that we regularly played with, and to try to adopt my son’s spirit of play in my musical explorations; to pursue the development of some ideas whilst leaving others less developed, open to a possible return but not necessarily bound to it. Many of the source sounds are significantly transformed, yet I hope that traces of the musical play underpinning the work remain tangible from time to time. Initial work on this composition was carried out at Elektronmusikstudion (EMS), Stockholm, and I am extremely grateful to everyone at EMS for their help and support while I was in residence.