The Sounds of Chow Gar

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posted on 2024-03-05, 04:53 authored by Thomas GreenThomas Green

The Sounds of Chow Gar is a musical work comprising cinematography, audio, and instrumental performance, and a collaboration between The Australian School of Kung Fu and Tai Chi, music duo Shugorei and Black Square String Quartet. It was conceived, composed and produced by Thomas Green. Adopting practice-based methodologies, this work exemplifies a newfound focus on embodiment in contemporary composition via an exploration of the relationship between music and martial arts, and tells a story of a Queensland family who, via their Chinese heritage, have maintained and evolved an ancient Chinese tradition in Queensland. Elements of this work were presented at Performers(') Present, a research symposium at Yong Siew Toh University in Singapore 2023. The complete work was premiered in full in February 2024, as a part of Brisbane City Council's BrisAsia Festival. A studio recording of the music was released on the 20th of February 2024, and various elements of the larger work, as well as related works, have been released online throughout 2023 and 2024.

Funding

Arts Queensland QASP Grant

CARI Internal Grant

CARI Travel Grant

Brisbane City Council via Bris Asia Festival

Support from Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music

History

ERA Category

Original Creative Work - Musical Composition

Funding type

Public funds

Eligible major research output?

If not major research

Major Research

Research Statement

Overview: The Sounds of Chow Gar combines original music with the physicality of Chinese martial arts. Expert kung fu practitioners perform traditional Chinese solo martial forms, captured as cinematography and digital audio (ie. sounds of movement and physiology), which are set to music for percussion, strings and electronics. This manifold work exists in a variety of digital forms and fifty five-minute concert performance consisting of live music alongside videography of the kung fu forms. Interviews with the practitioners, outlining their story as practitioners of an ancient Asia-Pacific art in Queensland, were filmed and are a part of the work. Research Background: Richard Shusterman’s philosophy (somaesthetics) asserts that art exists as experience; this contrasts with how classical music is traditionally envisioned. Christopher Small, Anna Bull, Wayne Bowman, Michael Stepniak and Peter Sirotinin, in their investigations of deep-rooted problems in the classical tradition, have all questioned the traditional concept of classical music as objectified, static, perfected and elevated. There is a burgeoning tradition of Australian composers who are, although stylistically diverse, concerned with the physicality and experientiality of music, its sensory qualities, and its relation to doing. Cat Hope, Lisa Illean, Liza Lim, Anthony Pateras, Kate Neal and Danielle Barry all emphasize experience (sometimes with respect to embodiment) in their compositions. This emphasis connects to a tradition of deep listening and sonic exploration, exemplified by Australian composers like Vanessa Tomlinson and Erik Griswold. These composers, each in their own way, trouble the edges of objectified music, welcoming sounds not traditionally considered musical. Additionally, Australian composers like Robert Davidson and Connor D’Netto experiment with videography, especially in creating musical compositions which are conceived of as composites of sound and video, and in doing so, join an international colloquium of composers whose novel works Louise Harris describes as audiovisual compositions. These are works which cannot be readily separated into either audio or visual, as the result is “greater than the sum of its parts” (Harris, Composing Audiovisually, p.43). Thus, Australian composers, as part of a growing international community of composers, frequently question objectified music and explore the notion of art as experience. Martial arts is art inasmuch as it exists as experiences—in its case, the art is in the doing. It is this analogy that this project seeks to explore, especially in directly provoking musical gestures via the doing of the traditional Chinese martial forms, radically relocating the seat of musical novelty to be an exploration of bodily motion and a celebration of mindfulness; phenomena musical artists might re-experience through martial arts. My recent work (So, I Am Shouting (2022); Shugorei (2022)) has been either implicitly or openly concerned with embodiment and music. This project might serve to break ground, push forward, empower other creators and researchers, becoming an exemplar and discussion point. Research Contribution Being a cross-disciplinary, cross-media work with a variety of manifestations, The Sounds of Chow Gar is highly multifaceted in terms of its contributions. The work addresses ways in which a musical composition achieve novelty via collaboration with Chinese martial arts practitioners; centrality of embodiment via the elevation of mimesis of physicality and of action; novel workflows for musical composers who incorporate visual media; revaluating the role of composers in relation to visual media; and a stimulus for musicians, composers, teachers, academics and the broader community, especially via a musical portrayal of a Queensland family practice upholding an ancient Asia-Pacific tradition. Research Significance The work was premiered on the 16th of February, 2024, as part of the Brisbane City Council’s Bris Asia Festival. The premiere was to a full house and prompted a standing ovation. The studio album of music was released on the 20th of February. Various smaller sections of the work were released online leading up to the premiere, as well as two “production vlogs.” Total cumulative views for these online materials is over 58000 at the time of writing. Elements of the work furnished a presentation at the international music symposium, Performers(‘) Present, at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in October 2023. The work has been written about by Scenestr magazine, the Australian Music Centre, CutCommon, Happy Mag, Backseat Mafia, and other outlets including 4ZZZ radio.

Publisher URL

https://shugorei.bandcamp.com/album/the-sounds-of-chow-gar-ost

Confidential / Culturally sensitive

Copyright notes

Language

English

Medium

Multimedia: Musical composition and production Cinematography Documentary Live Performance

Size of work

Approximately 55 minutes (live performance) Approximately 35 minutes (musical album)

Length of recording

35 minutes

Duration of performance

55 minutes

Performance size

Group

Number of work performers

Estimated size of audience

200

Authors of work performed

Thomas Green

Exhibition date from

2024-02-16

Exhibition date to