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As you may know, I'm currently preparing towards recording my new composition "Shiv'a" in September! Part of this prep includes working with sculptor Michelle Jaffe on building a new musical instrument (a blanket with 49 bells), which is part of the musical line up of the piece. (check out this link or video below to see how you can contribute to this process!)
Many of you may be wondering what this blanket is all about... hopefully, this blog post will shed some light on the matter...
Dreams & Blankets
I started composing Shiv'a following the death of three of my close friends in 2007 (Eric, Take, Asher). The entire process of composing this piece has been emotional, turbulent and dream like... but there were certain peak moments, such as a certain morning in Wellington, New Zealand... I woke up with a thread from a dream - a foggy, dream-memory of a blanket with bells on it, that was moved by the wind. Its sound was magical. The visual was haunting. This image and sound kept following me as I was writing the music... so, I decided to find a way to bring this dream fragment into the composition and through it - into reality...
Bells
The bells from the dream made a lot of sense to me... Since bells were a big part of Take's sound (more on Take another time), and for me, this composition is in many ways a reaction to his death.
A friend told me that there is a Buddhist belief that the spirit lingers in the world for 49 days after the person's passing. This idea made lyrical, numerical and symbolic sense within "Shiv'a", and so the number of bells on the blanket became 49...
More on the bells and the process of collecting them- another time... for now, here's a picture of all the bells Michelle will be using:
Oh my...
Michelle Jaffe and I met in New York in 2009. Our collaboration began with Michelle's installation "Wappen Field". Michelle commissioned me to compose music scored for seven improvising vocalists. The music will be played within her installation. You can hear some sound samples of this composition on my website).
Working with Michelle - it became clear to me that she is the person to talk to about making this sound-sculpture that I needed for "Shiv'a", and so, she came on board...
Michelle is now in the process of figuring out the mechanics and dimensions of this wild new instrument... the parameters are: it needs to have presence on stage; it needs to be easy to fold up and light in weight, so it can travel with me and with the band wherever the piece may take us; it needs to be beautiful; It needs to move & make sound; sound (movement) must be controlled by operating musician; it needs to be easy to operate; so... a lot to consider...
Michelle and I have gone "fabric shopping" twice. but seems like third time is a charm... we discovered the latest fabric we bought is in fact too heavy (see pic below)... so Michelle will now venture on her own to buy the new (lighter) fabric. Other than the fabric, she has figured out a way to make the blanket and bells move, with the help of small motors (!) and found the right kind of poles to hold this whole structure together...
I'll keep updating you as things progress on the blanket front... for now, here are some pictures from my Skype session with Michelle yesterday, in which we are deciding on measurements and sizes (me in London, Michelle in NY... collaboration in the globalized era :-)
To hear fragments of the piece and learn more about how you can get involved or make a (tax deductible) donation:
Video by Yaniv Bendov
