Bangers and Mash 2008

Hey everyone, well on the 29th May was The Committee's 2008 Bangers and Mash concert. The point of these concerts is to have composers write music which doesn't use any conventional notation or instruments ... as well as no computers and can be playable by non-musicians. It was great to be involved and it was a fantastic success. Initially I was completely stuck as what to actually do. I mean there are so many options ... using anything that makes a cool sound. An obvious one would be doing something to vegetables. (lol) One night as I was traveling down to Wellington, Wendy (my partner) and I stopped to help a lady change her car tyre. Afterwards we got back in the car and soon after I said "I'VE GOT IT!!".

So my piece was using five players, their spare car tyre and a pair of drum sticks. There was a set beginning and end, but then in the middle was much more freely organised. There were about six different sounds (or techniques), such as bouncing the stick on the tyre, rubbing it against the tyre to get a "squeaking" effect, and so on. There was a leader and they lead through each of these techniques. Overall creating these wonderful textures. It worked really well and was very well received.

The other pieces were fantastic as well, see below. Looking forward to doing more with "The Committee".

So the pieces were:

• "Gossip" by Yvette Audain (for spoken voices and used magazine headlines and quotes)

• "Tyred" by Ryan Youens

• "Kosurigami" by Anthony Young (was five of us making paper bangers, cranes and darts. Then either banging, flying or throwing them ... fantastic)

• "Wishing Well" by Peter Willis (solo, dropping various elements into water)

• "Spotted snakes with double tongue" by Claire Scholes (using text from A Midsummer Night's Dream and various items)