So what sort of music is Bower, a classical violinist, is using to make sweet layered music with the loop station? “Contemporary classical,” she answers. “Which means classical music that’s been written in the 20th century, recently, or in the last few years. Not Mozart or Brahms or Bach, more modern classical music.”
Bower says, not being a composer herself, that she’s not using her own music, rather she commissioned works from different composers for her performance. “I’ve done the odd improvisation here and there but I’m not trained in composition.” How did she source the composers? “People that I know,” she answers. “Grace Hugie Robbins I know from VCA. Max Perryment is from the UK where I’m originally from. I wanted to work with someone from back home. I’d heard his work for ads. He writes amazing music – and I thought he might be into it. We’ve had a long-distance collaboration.” Ade Vincent is a local composer who’s written a piece called Clockwork Owls for the show. On the Saturday night he will be joining Bower for a Q&A after the show, as will composer Charles MacInnes after the Sunday show. The talks provide an opportunity for audiences to better understand the collaborative process involved in creating Through the Looping Glass and to hear about the technical challenges faced in trying to combine traditional score with modern technology. “The music is all very different,” says Bower. “I’m creating ‘soundworlds’. It’s evocative; it creates lots of mental images. I hope audiences get that feeling of going to four completely different places while they stay in the one room.”
Is anyone else combining classical violin music with a looping machine? Or has Bower come up with a whole new genre? “I will definitely not say that I’ve invented a whole new genre!’ Many musicians use a loop station; lots of people are into this stuff and making new works with a loop station. But I didn’t find a lot of music stored for classical violin.” Bower can see herself continuing to develop this sort of sound experience and moving towards collaborating with artists from other art forms. “Dancers, visual artists, other musicians. I’ve got lots of ideas. But we’re still waiting to see what people think of this show! I just hope they enjoy it; that’s the important thing right now.”
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
