Artist of the Week
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Artist: Alexander Glyde-Bates
Artform: Composer and Performer What do you do and what are your main focuses? I am a composer and performer, although these two facets tend to rarely overlap. Compositionally I have a particularly focus on interdisciplinarity, or, more accurately, how I can use theories and devices from non-musical art forms to disrupt and defamiliarise the musically commonplace. This was effectively the focus of my recently completed PhD. (Available online for those seeking a cure to their insomnia.) As a performer, I most regularly play Sousaphone with Southampton-based brass band Tuba Libres, who I also write and arrange for. I also play tuba with my experimental/new music group, OUT-TAKE Ensemble, which I founded in 2016 on the back of a number of ad-hoc concerts I had been organising since I started my PhD in early 2013. |
Where have you studied?
At the University of Southampton, with Michael Zev Gordon, Michael Finnissy and Matthew Shlomowitz. It’s a bit of a regret that I’ve not been able to travel around more and take part in other courses and schools. But I’m hoping to rectify this in the next few years.
Tell us about 'Snare Dance'.
Snare Dance is in many ways the poster child of my whole PhD, mixing language, music and physical movement to de-familiarize the musically over-familiar. Originally written for a workshop with acclaimed Norwegian percussionist Håkon Stene, Snare Dance, for solo percussionist, investigates what is often hidden by conventions and titles. The musical object of this investigation is the Bolero, but not just the Bolero of Ravel and/or Torvil and Dean fame, a number of historical instances of the term. Elements from the more famous Ravel are collaged alongside encyclopaedia descriptions of the term as well as physical movements that are drawn from both its modern ballroom dance incarnation and its origins as an historical court dance in Spain.
At the University of Southampton, with Michael Zev Gordon, Michael Finnissy and Matthew Shlomowitz. It’s a bit of a regret that I’ve not been able to travel around more and take part in other courses and schools. But I’m hoping to rectify this in the next few years.
Tell us about 'Snare Dance'.
Snare Dance is in many ways the poster child of my whole PhD, mixing language, music and physical movement to de-familiarize the musically over-familiar. Originally written for a workshop with acclaimed Norwegian percussionist Håkon Stene, Snare Dance, for solo percussionist, investigates what is often hidden by conventions and titles. The musical object of this investigation is the Bolero, but not just the Bolero of Ravel and/or Torvil and Dean fame, a number of historical instances of the term. Elements from the more famous Ravel are collaged alongside encyclopaedia descriptions of the term as well as physical movements that are drawn from both its modern ballroom dance incarnation and its origins as an historical court dance in Spain.
In a reversal of the common understanding of what the word ‘Bolero’ signifies, Snare Dance is structured around the encyclopaedic description of the historical court dance, which is also used as the spoken text. Everything spoken in this text is also true of Snare Dance. Its AAB form, the use of physical gestures to punctuate musical form, the self-accompaniment of the performer are all true of this work, if in de-familiarised and inverted forms. On the surface, the more familiar Ravel music competes in a collage with physical gesture and spoken text in order to challenge the identity conditions with which ‘Bolero’ is most closely associated.
This collapsing of the history of the Bolero’s historical development in a collage of historically discrete instances of the idea of the ‘Bolero’, Snare Dance invites the viewer to re-examine how they understand and relate to what is on the surface an apparently familiar musical object.
Why do you compose?
I have always been driven to ‘create’, whether that’s composing, performing or writing. I have always wanted to understand how and why people work and operate the way they do. To try and explore and investigate the mechanisms, processes and relations that people construct and interact with on a daily basis. It’s a way of trying to see, process, understand and — if I’m lucky — try to make the world a slightly better place than when I found it.
This collapsing of the history of the Bolero’s historical development in a collage of historically discrete instances of the idea of the ‘Bolero’, Snare Dance invites the viewer to re-examine how they understand and relate to what is on the surface an apparently familiar musical object.
Why do you compose?
I have always been driven to ‘create’, whether that’s composing, performing or writing. I have always wanted to understand how and why people work and operate the way they do. To try and explore and investigate the mechanisms, processes and relations that people construct and interact with on a daily basis. It’s a way of trying to see, process, understand and — if I’m lucky — try to make the world a slightly better place than when I found it.
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Who and what are you influenced by?
My interests and influences have always been stronger from non-musical sources — particularly art and film. The Conceptual artists of the mid and late 60s — the Art and Language Group and Joseph Kosuth especially. The latter of whom introduced me to the work of philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, and how that could potentially be applied to art and music. The east-London based filmmaker John Smith is another massive influence on me. His work blends structuralism, language and humour in ingenious and powerful ways. Everyone who hasn’t seen it should check out his Girl Chewing Gum, which is available on YouTube. As someone who feels uncomfortable repeating myself my musical influences tend to be every changing and determined by whatever I’m working on at the time. John Zorn and Michael Finnissy’s work have been a fairly constant touchstone for me over the past few years. But in terms of younger composers I’ve been finding the work of Johannes Kriedler, Mark Applebaum and Tom Johnson particularly good reference points for my current work. But I’m probably also missing some other important names that I’ve temporarily forgotten. |
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What excites you about the art world today?
Very little, but I’m a very grumpy, un-excitable, person. The Halycon days where there was an ‘autonomous’ art world — such that it ever existed at all — are long gone. You don’t have to dig down very far to find it’s all about the money in the end. That said, modern technology and the internet does mean that communities can arise and out on their own events on the cheap in a way that they couldn’t before. But these things are a double-edged sword, and it’s too easy to uncritically proselytize technology as being some universal, unquestionable good. It is a tool, and is only ever as ‘intrinsically’ good as its user.
Very little, but I’m a very grumpy, un-excitable, person. The Halycon days where there was an ‘autonomous’ art world — such that it ever existed at all — are long gone. You don’t have to dig down very far to find it’s all about the money in the end. That said, modern technology and the internet does mean that communities can arise and out on their own events on the cheap in a way that they couldn’t before. But these things are a double-edged sword, and it’s too easy to uncritically proselytize technology as being some universal, unquestionable good. It is a tool, and is only ever as ‘intrinsically’ good as its user.
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What is more important, talent or hard work?
Hard work, by a significant margin. Although in practice its somewhat a false dichotomy. For the most part those we consider to be extraordinary talents also tend to me to be extremely hard or obsessive workers, even if they pretend otherwise — they are quite symbiotic. We also, culturally, have a tendency to dismiss just how important blind chance is to ‘success’. So much is determined by being in the right place, right time and knowing the right people. There’s a certain myth that those who are the most successful are there purely on merit, which is rarely the whole truth. |
What is your favourite instrument to compose for and why?
Whatever is in front of me. I certainly have instrumental groups I find both easier and harder to write for, but I’ve never understood having a preference for one type. For me writing is about overcoming a challenge, trying to solve a problem. That said, as I’ve grown older I’ve lost interest in writing for large groups. With the advent of powerful and portable technology large orchestras always seem to be more hassle than they are worth, unless you are already writing in a particularly narrow stylistic window that is in their comfort zone. Over the past four or five years I’ve come to the realization that you can do and explore with a small group or lone performer just as much as you can with a large one. And frequently the collaborative process is far more rewarding — both aesthetically and personally — with smaller, more committed, groups.
Whatever is in front of me. I certainly have instrumental groups I find both easier and harder to write for, but I’ve never understood having a preference for one type. For me writing is about overcoming a challenge, trying to solve a problem. That said, as I’ve grown older I’ve lost interest in writing for large groups. With the advent of powerful and portable technology large orchestras always seem to be more hassle than they are worth, unless you are already writing in a particularly narrow stylistic window that is in their comfort zone. Over the past four or five years I’ve come to the realization that you can do and explore with a small group or lone performer just as much as you can with a large one. And frequently the collaborative process is far more rewarding — both aesthetically and personally — with smaller, more committed, groups.
Have you ever failed at something and what happened as a result? What advice would you give to people as a result of that experience?
Everything I do is a failure, the trick is to learn how to healthily critique yourself and learn those lessons productively. There’s a lot to be said by Beckett’s oft-usurped ‘Fail better’ addage.
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to become a composer and/or performer?
Decide whether you want to be a martyr over your art sooner rather than later. For some people the act of making a living from being a ‘creative’ — a term I despise for a host of reasons — is enough for a fulfilling life. Some need to retain full artistic agency to have a life that is fulfilling for them. Both require different skill sets and approaches to craft, and subsequently each requires different sacrifices. The sooner you make peace with that fundamental choice and its repercussions the healthier you’ll be, and the more easily you’ll be able to see what you need to do to get where you want to be.
Everything I do is a failure, the trick is to learn how to healthily critique yourself and learn those lessons productively. There’s a lot to be said by Beckett’s oft-usurped ‘Fail better’ addage.
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to become a composer and/or performer?
Decide whether you want to be a martyr over your art sooner rather than later. For some people the act of making a living from being a ‘creative’ — a term I despise for a host of reasons — is enough for a fulfilling life. Some need to retain full artistic agency to have a life that is fulfilling for them. Both require different skill sets and approaches to craft, and subsequently each requires different sacrifices. The sooner you make peace with that fundamental choice and its repercussions the healthier you’ll be, and the more easily you’ll be able to see what you need to do to get where you want to be.
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Anything interesting coming up soon?
A lot. OUT-TAKE are about to undertake a mini-tour of the South, with three concerts in Southampton, London and Bristol across November and early December. They’ll be a chance to see my Snare Dance in Bristol and a new work called Tropography in Southampton and London. I’m also in the process of putting together a joint new music concert with electric guitarist Jamie Howell, currently penciled in for Easter 2019. The fantastic Laefer Saxophone Quartet are reviving my piece from them in a Lunchtime recital at the Turner Sims Concert Hall in Southampton on 3rd December, which I’m greatly looking forward to. As a performer, Tuba Libres have our second album coming out hopefully by the end of this year and I’ve just started laying the ground work for new tuba-based jazz/pop group influenced by Sons of Kemet and Too Many Zooz. |
