Tom Parkinson | Musical Experiments
Binary Code
Tom Parkinson and Jess Latowicki in Binary Code
Eastenders Phase
Tom Parkinson and Jess Latowicki in Binary Code
Eastenders Phase
Duet For Four Chambers
In Thrall (upwardly)
In 2011, I spent two days walking around the German city of Potsdam searching for pianos. On every piano I found, I recorded an A major scale from the bottom of the keyboard to the top repeatedly for several minutes and then layered the recordings on top of each other. The nine pianos heard on the recording are from cafes, a music school, someone's house and an aquarium. You can also hear environmental sounds such as diners talking. At the end, you can faintly hear someone playing Life is a Cabaret from the neighbouring practice room. In Thrall refers to both childhood piano practice and to James Tenney's influence on my musical imagination, in particular his piece For Ann (rising).
Every Online Metronome
Nothing Ever Said
Matt Lewis and I make music that omits all frequencies that are producable by the human voice. By playing only bass and treble, the unique evolutionary sophisication of the human ear is negated, leaving a framed silence, a perceptual absence of the sonic materiality of speech. In performance, this is preceded by a performance-lecture that theatrically guides the audience into the work and suggests ways of being within it (after a certain amount of time, the audience are given license to talk). It is possible to play this piece very loud yet still have a conversation at normal volume.
Matt Lewis and I make music that omits all frequencies that are producable by the human voice. By playing only bass and treble, the unique evolutionary sophisication of the human ear is negated, leaving a framed silence, a perceptual absence of the sonic materiality of speech. In performance, this is preceded by a performance-lecture that theatrically guides the audience into the work and suggests ways of being within it (after a certain amount of time, the audience are given license to talk). It is possible to play this piece very loud yet still have a conversation at normal volume.
Accident
In this piece, my identical twin brother and I play chaotic, seemingly improvised linear drum solos on identical drum kits in complete unison. The longest performance of this was in Shunt vaults and lasted eight hours. We are dressed in military combat fatigues. It was my first attempt to present musical performance as choreography. For occasional performances, we were joined by twin sisters who danced - also in unison. The last ever performance in Shunt was a condensed ten-minute, extremely technical percussive version of this - out of costume.
In this piece, my identical twin brother and I play chaotic, seemingly improvised linear drum solos on identical drum kits in complete unison. The longest performance of this was in Shunt vaults and lasted eight hours. We are dressed in military combat fatigues. It was my first attempt to present musical performance as choreography. For occasional performances, we were joined by twin sisters who danced - also in unison. The last ever performance in Shunt was a condensed ten-minute, extremely technical percussive version of this - out of costume.