Sound painting

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Sound painting is the sign language that was invented in 1974 by the New York composer Walter Thompson. It is used by musicians, dancers, actors and other artists. To date, a collection of more than 1200 characters has been created, which the conductor uses to guide the group in their performance. The composition is created by the execution of the characters by the artists involved .

The history of sound painting

Sun Ra already used some symbols to conduct free passages of his Arkestra ; That impressed Butch Morris , who developed the first system of signs and gestures for conducting. Frank Zappa also worked with a sign language independently .

After graduating from Berklee College of Music, Walter Thompson received a National Endowment for the Arts scholarship to study composition with Anthony Braxton . At the same time he also studied improvisational dance with Ruth Ingalls . From the participants of various jam sessions that he organized, Thompson formed a large ensemble that dealt with improvisation in various ways. With this ensemble he began to develop his technique of sound painting. First signs were very rudimentary; for example, they represented a long note, or an improvisation with many short notes.

In 1980, Thompson moved to New York City and founded the Walter Thompson Orchestra in 1984 (later renamed The Walter Thompson BigBand). He also used sign language to communicate with this band during concerts. Over the next ten years, he developed extensive sign language for creative live performances. In the 1990s, he began to include artists from other disciplines, such as actors, dancers, poets and visual artists, in his show-led performances.

In the late 1990s, Thompson led an orchestra for the first time in Europe as part of a workshop at the conference of the International Association of Schools of Jazz in Santiago de Compostela . He then received numerous invitations to various music academies all over Europe in order to convey his sign-guided improvisations as part of the higher education there.

In 2013 the International Soundpainting Federation (ISF) was founded in Lyon (France) together with the Soundpainting Festival in Paris.

analysis

The “sound painter” (the composer) usually stands in front of the group and communicates with the performing artists using sign language. He uses hands for this, but also other parts of his body. On the one hand, the signs can indicate a very specific material that is to be played, on the other hand, there are also signs that place rather vague specifications on the person to be performed. The Sountpainter thus develops his composition by showing his idea to the ensemble with one or more signs and then reacting with further hand signals to the execution of the group or giving additional instructions. So he develops the composition he wants to perform live on stage.

Since a considerable number of the hand signals do not conclusively determine what the artist has to do, the implementation often lies in his personal interpretation of the sign. Sound painting is always a dialogue between the group and the conductor, who on the one hand has to have an overview of the composition as a whole, but must always react to what is happening at precisely that moment.

The characters of the sound painting define the parameters of who, what, how and when within the performance . There are various types of characters, some are based on specific sheet music that has been agreed in advance, others relate to certain styles, aleatoric concepts , improvisations, instrumentation but also position on the stage, costumes and others.

The structure of the sound painting

Sound painting includes two categories of characters: descriptive and functional gestures. Shaping gestures determine which material should be used and how this should be carried out. Functional gestures indicate who should play and when they should start. Who, what, how and when are the basic parameters that are determined with sound painting and form its syntax .

The characters are further subdivided by dividing them into the following subcategories: Personnel, Content, Controls, "Go Gestures", Modes and Palettes.

  1. 'Personal' belongs to the functional category and are 'who' gestures. Some examples are: Whole group, rest of group, woodwinds, brass, actors, dancers, group 1.
  2. 'Content' belongs to the formative category and are "what" gestures. Examples are: minimalistic or pointillistic playing, long notes, a certain scale .
  3. 'Controls' belong to the shaping category are “like” gestures. For example, you control volume (that means the distance for movement) and speed.
  4. 'Go gestures' belong to the functional category and are “when” gestures. You determine when someone should start or stop.
  5. 'Modes' belong to the shaping category, are “like” gestures and control the manner of execution. Examples: Scanning, Point to Point, Play can't Play, Shapeline, Launch Mode.
  6. 'Pallets' belong to the formative category, and are "what" gestures. They indicate previously studied material.

Mainly sound painting ensembles

Surname country city year actor music dance theatre Artistic Director
Amalgams France Paris 2005 31 x x x Christophe Mangou
BalBaZar France Paris 2003 16 x - - Deniz Fisek
Batik Soundpainting Orchestra France Clermont-Ferrand 2009 20th x x x Eric Chapelle
Berlin Soundpainting Orchestra Germany Berlin 2011 15th x - - Hada Benedito
Le CuBe France Orleans 2011 10 x x x Yann Kaddachi
Fischermanns Orchestra Switzerland Lucerne 2007 12 x - - Simon Petermann
Helsinki Soundpainting Ensemble Finland Helsinki 2007 10 x - - Sonja Korkman
SOUND COLORS ensemble France Paris 2010 13-16 x x x François Cotinaud
London Soundpainting Orchestra United Kingdom London 2010 40 x x - Diego Ghymers (1974-2015).
Matters Belgium Saint-Gilles 2009 34 x - - Augustine de Bellefroid
SooL: Soundpainting Orchestra Of Lille France Lille 2013 10 x - - Pierre Yves Langlois
Le SPANG! France Lyon 2009 22nd x x x Benjamin NID
SPIO Soundpainting Italian Orchestra Italy Milan 2005 11 x - - Carlo Virzi
Le SPOUMJ France Paris 2005 15th x x x François Jeanneau
TSO Tours Soundpainting Orchestra France Tours 2006 12-23 x x x Angélique Cormier
WTO Walter Thompson Orchestra United States new York 1984 8-25 x x x Walter Thompson

Festivals

  • Soundpainting Festival: This festival, organized by the Jazz Bank Association, has been held in France in October since 2013 (mainly in Paris).

Recordings and films

  • Deconstructing Haydn / Modern Chamber Orchestra with Gil Selinger (cello) and Walter Thompson (soundpainter) / Concerto in C majeur - (CD 2001–2002 Novodisc Recordings Ltd. NY)
  • François Cotinaud : Klangfarben Ensemble Monolog von Schönberg and Variations sur une collection de timbres . Film directed by Patrick Morel. (CD-DVD 2012 Ayler Records / Musivi - France)
  • Fischermanns Orchestra: Conducting Sessions (CD 2012 Unit Records )
  • François Cotinaud and Benjamin de la Fuente, ensemble Multilaterale: Mosaïques. Film by Jérémie Schellaert. (CD-DVD 2017 - Soundpainting Collection / Musivi - France)

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Mark Duby: Soundpainting as a system for the collaborative creation of music in performance. May 20, 2006, accessed April 4, 2011 .
  2. ↑ Other Conducted Improvisation Techniques
  3. ↑ Report ( Memento of the original from October 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. about an appearance by Thompson at the IASJ Conference 2007 in Freiburg. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.emueducacionmusical.com.ar
  4. ^ Report on a performance by Thompson in Lucerne with a university ensemble.