WEAVING AN EXPANDED SONIC PRACTICE: PROPOSING A TEXTILIC SONIC METHOD

Abstract

AbstractThis article discusses the way textile metaphors can act as catalysts for reflection in my practice as a trumpet performer and composer. Metaphors such as ‘fibre’, ‘spin’, ‘yarn’, ‘ply’, ‘weave’, ‘loom’, ‘drape’ and ‘felt’ are engaged as lenses through which the dynamic, contingent and tailorable interactions are made between sonic and extra-sonic elements in my expanded practice. The metaphors are engaged to shape instrumental techniques, improvisation, form, audiovisual media, physicality and spatial design. In this article, I describe how I developed my own expanded sonic practice by using Tim Ingold's concept of ‘textility’, expressed as a Textile Sonic Method (TSM). I demonstrate the application of this method using a subset of textile metaphors as the basis for the development of new double-bell trumpet techniques and applications in a range of compositions: Gradient (2020–23), for double-bell trumpet, live video and sound processing, co-composed with Olivia Davies and Nick Roux; Untitled (2021), for double-bell trumpet, portative organ and electronics, co-composed with James Rushford; and my own work Charcoal VI (2017), for spatialised, amplified double-bell trumpet. This article outlines the potential for the application of metaphor as a creative catalyst in an expanded sonic practice.