Abstract
Composed as part of Psappha – “Composing for Viola” Scheme 2020, developed in close collaboration with violist Heather Wallington
Programme Note:
This is a piece about viola jokes. It aims to question how much of a resistance we tend to have against those stereotype-informed opinions on who we are and what we do; and how this resistance manifests itself.
Threaded together by a distorted version of Bach’s G Major Prelude, most of the materials in this piece are arranged from a MIDI transcription of a recording of myself telling viola jokes. They are to musically uncover, as well as articulate the multiple layers of sarcasm entrenched within the intersection between cheap punchlines and incredible versatility. And by drawing associations between sound and words, in as implicit a way as it is, I hope for the resistance and an emergent theatre to naturally surface. Hence, this solo viola piece essentially embodies a network of dialogues between a violist who tries hard, a distant joke-telling voice, a superimposed narrative in which the jokes are greatly appreciated, the active resistance towards and against this narrative, and a viola virtuoso who subverts all existing prejudices.
Programme Note:
This is a piece about viola jokes. It aims to question how much of a resistance we tend to have against those stereotype-informed opinions on who we are and what we do; and how this resistance manifests itself.
Threaded together by a distorted version of Bach’s G Major Prelude, most of the materials in this piece are arranged from a MIDI transcription of a recording of myself telling viola jokes. They are to musically uncover, as well as articulate the multiple layers of sarcasm entrenched within the intersection between cheap punchlines and incredible versatility. And by drawing associations between sound and words, in as implicit a way as it is, I hope for the resistance and an emergent theatre to naturally surface. Hence, this solo viola piece essentially embodies a network of dialogues between a violist who tries hard, a distant joke-telling voice, a superimposed narrative in which the jokes are greatly appreciated, the active resistance towards and against this narrative, and a viola virtuoso who subverts all existing prejudices.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Media of output | Score |
| Publication status | Published - 2021 |