Alluvial Gold
Author Identifier (ORCID)
Research Statement
Research Background
This practice-based research has been concerned with how new expressive forms can be generated by exploring Erin Manning’s notion of ‘co-composition’ (2013). This output concerns the original score Alluvial Gold by Stuart James, a 48-minute solo work for percussion and electronics. The work explores the confluence of narratives about Derbarl Yerrigan, from the phenomenological and structural aspects of river systems and water, the storytelling and histories before European colonisation, the devastating impact of industrialisation, the sonic ecology and chemistry of the larger river system, and a musical language derived from the musical transcriptions of sculptures-as-instruments by Erin Coates. The research asked how might disparate ideas, forms, media and practices draw on this context.
Research Contribution
Coined by Manning, the term ‘co-composition’ is used to define compositional processes concerned with generating and transforming musical and extra-musical material in tandem to produce new expressive forms. Drawing from Manning’s performative definition of co-composition, music and sound art produced together with visual, performative, or textual components can be viewed as a co-compositional situation that encourages new compositional strategies, and results in new multimodal experiences. This project explored the many narratives associated with a cultural artefact, and by applying the principles of co-composition, interrogated these processes in a large-scale work.
Research Significance
The work premiered at Perth Festival 2021 with Tura Music, presented at PICA 2022, with DLGSC, ARC and Australian Council support, at the Four Winds Festival in NSW and the Melbourne Recital Centre in April 2023. A studio recording of the work is pending release on major international new music label Huddersfield Records HCR (UK) early in 2024.
Non-Traditional Research Output
Original Creative Work
Document Type
Non-Traditional Research Output
Date of Publication
2023
Location of the Work
Perth / Melbourne
Publisher
Stuart James
School
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts
RAS ID
57944
Event Title
Alluvial Gold
Event Dates
February 4-7, 2021; June 20-22, 2022; April 6-9,19, 2023
Event Venue
Heathcote Goolugatup, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA) / Melbourne Recital Centre
Duration
48 mins
Comments
James, S., Devenish, L., Coates, E. Alluvial Gold [Musical Performance]. Stuart James.