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Seven Calls

An invitation​

A collaboration with Mags Smith​

  1. Light Heart
  2. Raining Bells
  3. Tree Song
  4. Crosscurrents
  5. Hanging In There
  6. Big Tree
  7. Time and Tide

These seven music videos were made during the Covid-19 restrictions when Good Vibrations could not run workshops with participants. They were an attempt to bridge the gap: to reach over the gulf of restrictions and interact creatively when we couldn't be there in person.

‘The thing I miss most about being in a good vibrations workshop is interacting in the music… responding… playing in the moment, bouncing off an idea from someone else, discussion and insight.’

Each piece was looking for a response, an interaction – whether musical, visual art, words, or dance. We were not asking for people to critique the music or even like the music but to answer with a piece of art of their own, to invite interaction, creativity and expression – a bit like sending a sound out into deep space to see if there is anyone else out there.

Suggestions on how to use​

  • Watch the video and notice your first response…
    • Love it / hate it?
    • Bored/curious?
    • Movement/stillness
    • Toe tapping / tension / swaying?
    • Do words come to mind?
  • Watch a few times
    • Play or sing along
    • Move or dance
    • Sketch or draw
    • Write words, poetry
  • Consider creating and sharing something with us
    • Film/record or photograph anything you make while listening/watching the video
    • Create something new of your own

Behind the scenes​

We started with the small set of gamelan instruments we have at home and improvised on the gender and gambang on four or five different days for an hour or so listening back to see if we had played any sounds/ textures/ideas we wanted to repeat and make into pieces.

Light Heart and Tree Song came straight out as pieces from that process and were recorded live. Other pieces we recorded and then “layered up” other musical instruments on top in digital audio workstation. Some of the pieces were processed using delay, reverb, and so on. Crosscurrents includes some material coded in SuperCollider.

All the videos were taken by Mags on a mobile phone, some as far back as 2011 and simply pasted together in a movie editor, no special effects

1 Light Heart​

Instruments: gender, gambang
Video: light playing on the wall in Mags back room one evening in 2011?

2 Raining Bells​

Instruments: gender, gambang, saron
Video: Rain on Loch Awe, Argyll in 2018

3 Tree Song​

Instruments: gender, gambang
Video: Maple forest in Pollok Park, Glasgow 2020

4 Crosscurrents​

Instruments: gender, laptop
Video: White Cart Water, Glasgow 2020

5 Hanging in There​

Instruments: gender, gambang
Video: Spider under the bridge at Pollok House, Glasgow 2020

6 Big Tree​

Instruments: gender, gambang
Video: Big Oak Tree outside our window at home, Glasgow 2020

7 Time and Tide​

Instruments: Slenthem, saron, flute, trumpet, drum machine
Video: Beach, Isle of Coll, April 2014

Mags Smith
J Simon van der Walt
3 July 2020

Original yt posting by Good Vibrations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_efhBSmeS7g