For the month of January 2016, The Lab will host an artist residency for composer, performer, and musical instrument designer, Ellen Fullman. Over one hundred strings will be installed from wall-to-wall, spanning the 53-foot length of The Lab for an expanded version of Fullman’s Long String Instrument.
Fullman has continued to develop this concept for over 30 years, inventing a unique musical language that turns the environment of the room itself into a musical instrument for the performer, and indeed the public as well, to enter into. She has worked to refine the timbre or tone of the instrument by empirically testing concepts in wooden resonator design, custom-milled tuning capos, many different string alloys and through exploring the effects of microtonal tunings. Fullman has designed a graphic notation system specifically for this instrument, mapping the performer’s movement through the overtone spectral banding that occurs naturally along the string lengths. Her performance produces a mesmerizing musical effect much like watching a river flowing: there is a sense of stillness and motion all at the same time. For The Lab residency, Fullman will present pieces that represent different areas of exploration in her music and in collaboration with other artists.
“Harbors”, is a collaboration with composer and cellist
Theresa Wong. Pitch material used in the piece is generated from the harmonic series of each of the open strings of the cello and the tones resulting from pressing a string at a harmonic nodal point. Wong and Fullman researched and mapped this palette, selecting subsets as tonal areas of focus for each movement of the piece. A recurring motif is a simple two-note cello phrase: harmonic, then pressed. Wong captures material using Ableton Live! which she can then play as another instrument, layering harmonic possibilities. “Harbors” draws inspiration from the soundscapes as well as the stories and atmospheres that manifest around such bodies of water that propagate exchange.
“Past the Angels” is a work for an ensemble of four performing on Fullman’s Long String Instrument using the Box Bow, a hand-held wooden tool used to strike the strings in a percussive manner. Seasoned Bay Area composer/performers
Mark Clifford, David Douglas, Ryan Jobes and
Crystal Pascucci will play the hocketed box bow parts. In this work, Fullman brings together the ethereal and the folk-inspired possibilities of her instrument.
Cost: 15