Cris Derksen, photo courtesy of the artist, and Olivia Shortt, credit: Alejandro Santiago | Classical Post

Cellist Isidora Nojkovic and violinist Aliyata Foon-Dancoes comprise the new cross-continental duo to pay attention to. They premiered works by Olivia Shortt and Cris Derksen who join me to discuss these exciting new works.

Olivia Shortt’s “bagaskaadagaazii”

The Audio Score In Olivia Shortt’s Music

Anna Heflin: This is different than any audio score I’ve heard but of course there is a history of audio scores and mimicking them. Eve Beglarian’s music comes to mind for me personally (specifically The Island of the Sirens) but I’m wondering if there were any particular strong points of reference for you?

Olivia Shortt: This is my first audio score and I wanted to approach it as a way to decolonize my work. I’m writing music that is coming from an Indigenous perspective and this means that I needed to find ways of disseminating music without completely relying on Western ways of notation which led me to an audio score with a short typed out instruction page. Within many Indigenous story-telling practices, communities have relied on a completely aural experience and passed down stories through Elders to their communities.

I only experienced an audio score once before made by Christopher Willes, where we were given instructions for specific movements or instructions to speak specifically that played through our headphones. That’s the only audio score I’ve ever worked with and also, my recording stopped working, which had my 19-year-old brain in a panic, so I actually ended up faking the rest of it since the audio couldn’t hear the score. I thought of audio scores in the same way that I think about sound design for film, tv, theatre, and dance. It’s telling its own story outside of the visuals as well as add to the visuals to create a fully imagined piece of art.

I asked Isidora and Aliayta to record their own sounds inspired by water since they are each located on different lands and are near different bodies of water, as well as record text which I later distorted and used to create part of the score with, along with audio recordings of news clips about water boiling advisories in reservations in (what is known as) Canada. The texts used spoke to the fact that the Canadian government hasn’t really been listening to the needs of Indigenous peoples.

AH: In this piece, you create a situation where a direct translation of the audio score is impossible for the musicians to communicate with the listener. What is specifically interesting is that your directions become overcome by the additional audio. How does this speak to the shortcomings of music notation while presenting a directed and specific improvisatory situation?

OS: “Listen to the water, remember, you’re the only one who can hear. You’re the only one hearing its story. You’re the only one hearing the beat. You’re the only one who can speak for it. Mimic but do it in your way. You’re improvising but you’re following the water sounds”.

The idea that the audience isn’t given everything also becomes a part of their experience and I hope, will engage them to think about why this is happening. The directions in the audio score are also their own component or musical line within the score. At one point, I even say, “to imitate what I’m saying, or not” which is partially said to encourage the performer to take a different approach each time they work through the score. Since there are so many sound layers (to varying degrees) throughout the work, it allows a number of sounds to be grasped onto and played with. I like to offer some kind of structure without taking away the performer’s ownership of how they interpret this score since I value what they can offer based on their own experience, knowledge base and bias’.

From a Western point of view, our society tends to love standardization so as to create rules and restrictions on how we interpret works. There are many arguments on how the Berio sequenzas or how a Beethoven Sonata should be played or performed. The focus of the work takes priority in that scenario versus in more free or improvised art forms where the interpreter takes priority. My core values have always been to prioritize people first so I very much prefer finding ways to open up space for the performer to become the focus.

AH: How does the musicians’ inability to express what they are experiencing and their position of being forced to imitate the track relate to identity?

OS: Being asked to imitate the track relates more to the traditional and cultural practice of aural story-telling as well as creating an experience that relates to Indigenous land and water protectors (who are fighting to protect the integrity of our planet and who are often not listened to by local and federal governments).

AH: In this scenario, listeners may have more information regarding the audio score and its contents than a concert performance as they are reading your answers. In a concert scenario, would you include the backing track information in program notes? I understand that the piece is about an inability to communicate and alienation but would you ever consider playing the audio score after the piece?

Olivia Shortt, photo credit: Alejandro Santiago | Classical Post

OS: The audio score itself is meant as something for the individual to take time to process so I wouldn’t want to offer it as its own performance and more like an installation. When this work ends up being presented in an in-person format, I would want to offer it as a pre-show listening experience so that the audience can make their own choices at their own pace (kind of like experiencing sound art in a museum or art gallery). There are definitely benefits to the audience understanding what is happening in the musicians’ ears as they interpret the work and I would want to offer in a less direct way.

AH: We briefly chatted back in May about the role that place plays when streaming a concert as audiences may feel less connected to the land that the concert takes place on. It’s been a few months since our conversation and streaming has really taken off, do you have any thoughts on this subject that you’d like to share?

OS: Land is such an integral part of our experience as humans - we ground ourselves in a moment by acknowledging where we are (emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physically). I’m noticing (and hoping it continues) that this time of exploration and re-imaging is bringing up new (and old) ways of presenting art.

I participated in a theatre work that was done over a phone call made once a day for six days. Other friends are singing from their porches to their neighbours. I hope that presenters and producers continue to be creative in how they present works both online and offline (following safe protocols) as it will affect how society looks at barriers for audiences and performers including physical accessibility and access to technology. This Land Acknowledgement is a great example of thinking about these elements all together in one place and how we as artists, creators, and presenters can think about our changing world.

cris Derksen’s “Latency”

Latency

Anna Heflin: When delving into the world of electronics, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all of the options as it opens up a whole world of possibilities. You kept the tools simple here with just delay (I believe), can you talk about sticking to one effect and exploring it in a piece of music and how that can be an effective compositional tool?

Cris Derksen, photo courtesy of the artist | Classical Post

CD: I’m an electronic artist, and use many tools and effects in my solo work. These two haven’t really delved into effects yet and I wanted to play with delay because it gives so much. It allows for natural latency, which is something we are experiencing in these Covid times on the Zooms and streamed concerts. At the top of the piece with slow moving chords, the bleed of the notes allows for natural latency, so time and notes actually blur. But I also love playing with the rhythm the delay gives- which is kinda the opposite of latency as it does have to be "in time".

Idiomatic Writing

AH: The string parts sound really idiomatic and flowing, which makes sense as you’re also a cellist! What has the experience of writing for Isidora Nojkovic and Aliayta Foon-Dancoes been like as a fellow string player?

CD: As a composer who composes for all sorts of genres, art forms and ensembles I found this mission to be fun and pretty easy. I also wanted to create something simple and beautiful.

Music And Dance

AH: I read your bio after listening to the piece and it made a lot of sense to see that you frequently collaborate with dancers, I can hear how this would work beautifully and seamlessly with dance. Do you envision movement during the compositional process or does your music naturally lend itself to movement?

CD: Music naturally lends itself to movement. Music is part of life - as is movement - they go hand in hand. They are influenced by each other.

Olivia Shortt

Olivia Shortt (They/She): Anishinaabe, Nipissing First Nation) is a Tkarón:to-based artist. They work as an artist manager, performer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, improviser, composer, sound designer, theatre artist, teacher, activist, curator, and producer. They are currently working with the JACK Quartet as a commissioned composer in the inaugural JACK Studio.

Cris Derksen

Juno nominated Cris Derksen is an Internationally respected Indigenous cellist and composer. In a world where almost everything — people, music, cultures — get labelled and slotted into simple categories, Cris Derksen represents a challenge. Originally from Northern Alberta she comes from a line of chiefs from NorthTall Cree Reserve on her father’s side and a line of strong Mennonite homesteaders on her mother’s. Derksen braids the traditional and contemporary, weaving her classical background and her Indigenous ancestry together with new school electronics to create genre-defying music.

Isidora Nojkovic

Isidora Nojkovic is a Serbian-Canadian cellist who performs internationally as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician. She has appeared at Harpa Music Festival in Iceland, Ottawa Chamberfest, Belgrade International Cello Festival, Music on Main, and Scotia Festival of Music with Lynn Harrell in Canada. She was one of two cellists featured in Spoleto Festival USA’s American premiere of Luca Francesconi’s opera Quartett in 2017.

Aliayta Foon-Dancoes

Born in Vancouver, Canada, Aliayta has performed with ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra, Victoria Symphony, Sidney Classical Orchestra and the Galliano Ensemble. Aliayta is the first violinist of the Echéa Quartet, the 2019/20 String Quartet Fellows at the Royal Academy of Music. The Echéa Quartet have performed across North America, Europe, and South America where they have been featured artists with the BBC, CBC, and NPR.