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Concerts by Composers: Philip Dadson
Works Performed or Excerpted:
1. “Gung Ho 123” – From Scratch Ensemble featuring Philip Dadson, Geoff Chapple, Wayne Laird, and Don McGlashan on percussion and homemade instruments
Philip Dadson
Phil Dadson: sound & intermedia artist, with an interdisciplinary practice including solo performances and exhibitions; building experimental instruments, video/soundinstallation, music composition and graphic scores, sound sculptures and improvisations on his invented instruments; founder of New Zealand’s most original rhythm/performance group, From Scratch. Following membership of the foundation group for Scratch Orchestra (London, 1969, with Cornelius Cardew, Michael Parsons and others), founded Scratch Orchestra (NZ), and later From Scratch (1974); known internationally for its fundy rhythms and intermedia performances on original instruments. Co-authored The From Scratch Rhythm Workbook with Don McGlashan, published by Heineman USA – a hands on manual of rhythm exercises and invented instruments, derived via the from scratch experience.
Philip Dadson on the Experimental Intermedia Series
“In terms of context, From Scratch was invited to NY in 1982 for performances at Intermedia Foundation and as part of a Composer Forum series on Broadway. We had come direct from Paris Biennale where we'd presented Pacific 3,2,1,Zero part 1, a protest work against French nuclear testing in the Pacific. I remember it being extremely cold at the time and reworking our repertoire for a three person performance given one of the members, Geoff Chapple, had returned to NZ direct from Paris. Elainne Summers and Phill presented us at Intermedia Foundation to a small but very appreciative audience. Subsequent to this I made several return visits to NY, maintaining contact with Phill and Joel Chadabe of Composer Forum, most recently in 2006 for a solo performance at Ear to Earth.” – Philip Dadson 2011
More information on “Gung Ho 123”
Gung Ho means ‘work together” and takes its title from the gung ho workers’ co-operative movement established in China in 1938 by New Zealander Rewi Alley (1897 – 1987). Gung Ho 1,2,3d is one in a series of works devised by Dadson during the 1970’s/80’s to explore the facets of triadic relationships. The egalitarian ideas and the ground plan for the work – an ancient symbol of strength and unity, an equilateral triangle in a circle – were found to align with Alley’s principles, plus with the gung ho symbol for strength and unity, an equilateral in a circle. 1,2,3d refers to the physical layout of the performance with three percussion stations (High, Medium and Low racks of PVC slaptubes, tuned drums and chimes) and a fourth drone role.
The drones are acoustic, designed to provide a steady background accompaniment of humming, whistling or growling tones. At the time the work was evolving, Geoff Chapple was also researching Alley’s gung ho initiative, both for a documentary and a biography on Alley. The two merged.
Like many of Dadson’s compositions Gung Ho 1,2,3d uses the technique of hocketing, where the intricate patterns of separate voices collectively contribute to a single song (see separate ‘hocketing’ notes). The one hour work is in 7 sections, 3,4,5 through to 9,10,11, with each module exploring consecutive number, triadic and tonal permutations. Each module gets progressively longer as the piece evolves.
A video of a performance of this piece can be found here |
