Performance Archive
Gordon Monahan, theremin and Jesse Stewart, percussion
When it Rains, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, September 11, 2005
Guelph Jazz Festival, Guelph, Ontario
When it Rains: Gordon Monahan activates the elements
Sound artist and composer Gordon Monahan performed at the MacDonald Stewart Art Centre inside his installation When It Rains along with percussionist Jesse Stewart. Stewart, who is also a visual artist, curated the show and wrote the catalogue essay for Monahan’s exhibition. He does a great job of describing how the installation works:
In this piece, a complex titration system of plastic tubing and valves is suspended several metres above the gallery floor. The water valves are controlled by a series of MIDI triggers that cause the valves to open just long enough for droplets of water to form. The water droplets then fall onto a series of amplified household objects suspended below: plastic plates, pieces of stainless steel, vinyl records, etc. In the current incarnation of the work, motion sensors trigger the playback of numerous pre-programmed musical compositions written specifically for the installation.
One of the extraordinary things about When It Rains (in addition to the visual beauty of falling droplets of water) is the installation’s degree of musical precision. The water droplets produce a series of intricate rhythmic compositions that sound at times like a distorted gamelan ensemble and at others like urban techno music without the driving bass.
For his concert at the Guelph Jazz Festival, Monahan used a theremin to control the water droplets – both the rate of falling, and which object they would hit. The theremin could also trigger pre-composed patterns, amplitude, and other vectors. Additionally, an amplified piano wire was strung tautly over the space, with another wire hanging down from it by Monahan’s right hand. By pulling on the wire, Monahan controlled the sustained metallic pitches emanating from the piano wire.
Many thanks to Gordon Monahan and Jesse Stewart for permission to post this excerpt from their performance in the Sounds Provocative web archive.
To learn more about the technical aspects of When It Rains, check out Michael Waterman’s interview with Gordon Monahan at http://www.gordonmonahan.com/Pages/interview_03.html. For essays on Monahan’s performances and installations where long strings are activated by air (Aeolian) or by water (Aquaeolian) see the following :
Stewart, Jesse. “Music From Everywhere: The Sound Art of Gordon Monahan.” Catalogue essay for Gordon Monahan: Music from Everywhere. Guelph: Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Sept. 11-Nov. 6, 2005. http://www.gordonmonahan.com/Pages/Jesse_Stewart_essay.html
Waterman, Ellen. “Sound, Place, Space: The Immersive Sound Art of Gordon Monahan. (liner note essay for CD Saskatchewan Sound Installations, 2008) http://www.gordonmonahan.com/Pages/Ellen_Waterman_essay.html
Waterman, Ellen. “When it Rains: Experimental Music and ‘the Cultural Ecology’.” Western Front Research Library, Critical Writing Archive, 2009. http://front.bc.ca/research
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This research has been approved by the Research Ethics Board at the University of Guelph who can be contacted at 519-824-4120 x 56606. The project is generously supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the College of Arts, and the School of Fine Art and Music, University of Guelph.
Copyright 2005 Waterman, Ellen. Sounds Provocative: Experimental Music Performance in Canada. University of Guelph. All Rights Reserved