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W Dances 8 - 14

by Julian Broadhurst Drum Music

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about

W Dances 8 - 14 - Drum music, Dm 16 - my 100th album. A second album collecting the W Studio music.

Drum studies [W] nos. 7 and 8 - Rh 390 and 391

W dances 8 - 14 - Rh 397 - 399, 404 - 407 .

At this time I was working with Choreographer Joanna Leah Geldard [now just Joanna Leah], as 'Etuda' - a project to choreograph a Dance performance to my enormous Beriom 10. In the end we couldn't get funding, so spending so much time in the studio - we developed a series of filmed movements - the W dances - inventions leading to a 19th piece ‘Interpreting the void - the 19th W dance - exciting and informative for us both. In addition, we recorded two albums together as Etuda - at that time, in that space - [] Intonation W, a collage for voices and [] Percussion W - free furious and amazing ! Joanna is now a successful Architectural Artist and still occasionally dances - She has recently gained her Doctorate.

In the midst of which I spent alot of time alone in the studio tape running continuously, recording, recording, recording - a wealth of work that is now on Albums Dm 14 - 17, Sonatas and studies for me and Dances for Joanna to work to, and an unexpected bonus of this time - The W Dances

The W Drum Studies and the W Dances are important works in my drum development - recorded at the W Dance Studio. A music I had imagined for years - now under my fingertips. The W Studio is a Dance rehearsal space with an incredible natural acoustic, being a high ceilinged stone room, a huge open space with a wooden floor - meaning I could play the acoustics. This made the Drum a naturally sustaining instrument, giving me duration as well as pitch, and the natural timbre of strike, damping and placement on the skin or rim. An additional richness comes from my stopping the bell of the drum in a French Horn like fashion, to give by degree about an octave change in pitch like a tuning peddle.

The first placed ‘W studio recording is the Sonata No 8 - Rh - 370, paired with the 4th Inventions for Djembe on [] Album Dm 14 - an album in the previous Group [the Inner Blue Group]. [] Album Dm 15 begins the W Studio documentation proper with the first set of W studies - ‘Six 'Drum Studies [W]’ - Rh 369, 376 - 380 - which are followed by the first Set of W Dances, the first 5 of 19 with very complex dynamics and movements for Joanna to Dance to. Indeed we occasionally hear her - showing the practical origins of this music - which in terms of quality must be thought of as a Set
of inventions by any other name Album Dm 15 ends with it’s title work - the Big 9th Sonata for Solo Drum - notable for its use of a long wooden pole as a punctuation ‘klang’.

The W Dances come to the fore here in second volume of these W studio recordings - [] Album Dm 16 W Dances nos. 8 - 14 - the real heart of the matter in terms of our collaboration. Much was decided in these. This music and our two Etuda albums are the material result of our collaboration.

On [] Album Dm 17, the third volume of these recordings we have my Sonata for solo Drum no. 10 - of the 12, itself in four movements. That is coupled with the last set of W Dances - nos. 15 - 18 and the final blush ‘Interpreting the Void’ - our rather pretentious title for the 19th dance - the nominated final result of work - for which unfortunately no actual Dance remains - I am pleased to say though, that this music dose.

I gave Rh catalogue numbers to the music components of the W Dances, my music, since they now stand alone as work wholly belonging to me. The 19th dance is Rh 417A - Very unusually for my Rh works Catalogue, infact uniquely, I had to introduce an ‘A’ into the numbering because I found an error during the final checking for my 2020 British Library edition [still working through it all in 2022].


Sonatas and Studies - The W period.


A name I gave to this general period of my music - a short but important period I documented over Six Albums - albums for Solo Drum and for Solo Cello. What connects them is the place they were recorded - the W Studio.

[] Album 094 - Dm 14 - - - for Drum

[] Album 097 - MSEP 22 - for Cello

[] Album 098 - Dm 15 - - - for Drum

[] Album 099 - MSEP 23 - for Cello

[] Album 100 - Dm 16 - - - for Drum

[] Album 103 - Dm 17 - - - for Drum

There is a Gordian knot of relationships between these Albums whose material was recorded on a number of sessions at the W Studio early in 2009 - as ‘dance studies’ and as solo recordings. Drum Sonatas, Cello Sonatas, Drum studies, Cello studies, and The 19 W Dance studies for Dancer-Choreographer Joanna Leah Geldard. The W studio being space in a former church whose acoustics are phenomenally rich.

I had been interested in Dance and was looking for a choreographer to create a Dance score for my large electronic piece Beriom 10 and the name and reputation of Joanna Leah Geldard came to the fore. We met and she was interested in trying to make a stage work with my ‘Tape’ Beriom 10.

Unfortunately after numerous sessions no final work emerged. We did though form the experimental Duo ‘Etuda’ - releasing two albums on my DCM label - ‘[] Percussion W’ and [] ‘Intonation W’ - W after the Dance studio we used. Also from our percussion and Dance sessions I drew a set of pieces I called the W Dances, split between three albums - ‘Drum music 15, 16 and 17.’

There are then two kinds of W studio recordings - here - one with Joanna - who introduced me to the Studio in the first place and a second for my solo work, in that period in 2009 and in the years that followed. The first actual fruit being our two Etuda Albums. I then take a break - to record the album [] Blue Dark Marine for my Em genre and even before I finish that - I’m Back in the W studio. This time I’m on my own - a development - mentally and musically. Playing for Joanna has led me back to the W studio and into a very rich musical period beginning with the Drum Sonata no 8 which followed immediately by - the first Cello sonata. I feel it is necessary to trace that progression - the richness of the W acoustic led me to new ground. I call this whole time ‘Sonatas and studies’ or my ‘W Period.’


- From my Etuda Collaboration -

[] Album Etuda 1 - Intonation W

Intonation W - a Collage for voices.

[] Album Etuda 2 - Percussion W

Two souls percuss the acoustic.

There is an Etuda 3 recording in my Arkiv Box - my 12 disc Archive - ‘a Box of Delights’ is my album number 113.


- And then it was my time -

Watch the Rh numbers for a works chronology.

[] Album Dm 14 - Fourth Inventions for Djembe and Sonata for solo Drum no. 8.

Drum Sonata No. 8 this new generation of sonatas for Solo Drum that plays upon the W studio acoustic. My first solo use of that sound. Here coupling with the Fourth Inventions for Djembe. It finds itself ruled in the Inner Blue album group - whereas the rest of these albums - in this study - are ruled into the Outer blue Album Group by happenstance alone.

[Fourth Inventions for Djembe - Rh 359 - 364].

Sonata for Solo Drum no 8 - Rh 370 - in five movements.

[] Album MSEP 22 - Sonatas for Solo Cello nos. 1 and 2

Sonata for Solo Cello no. 1 - Rh 371 in four mvts.

Sonata for Solo Cello no. 2 - Rh 381 in five mvts.

[] Album Dm 15 Sonata for Solo Drum no. 9

Drum Studies [W] nos. 1 to 6 - Rh 369, 376 - 380

Six Studies from the W studio sessions. Notice no. 1 - Rh 369 was recorded before the Dm Sonata no 8. I drew these Studies together into 6 as a set.

W Dances nos. 1- 5 - Rh 382 - 386.

A classic example of drawing suites from recorded music. In this case recorded live for Joanna Leah to dance to, for us - a week or so before - really playing the acoustics. However, Etuda [our Contemporary Duo] Split when Joanna left and this I felt was my music. So I had nineteen pieces - which I would collect over three Dm albums. As if confusion wasn’t enough - two of these are for Cello. They stand as a memory of an interesting time and someone I wont forget. You can hear her voice on the tapes.

Sonata for Solo Drum no. 9 - Rh 389

Notable for its use of a wooden pole with the gorgeous natural acoustic, including my throwing it to the floor at the end. That klang, being part of the music - as an extended gesture of the performance.

[] Album MSEP 23 Sonatas and Studies for Solo Cello. The album that names the whole period for me - a short but intense creativity - the ‘Sonatas and Studies.’

Sonata for Solo Cello no.3 - Rh 392 - in four movements.

Six Studies for Solo Cello - Rh 372 - 375, 394 and 395

I would often refer to my Visual Art works as studies - here to focus my attention on the sound. The suite is drawn from several places - the Rh Catalogue numbers show that compilation. Six here to parallel my Drum Studies.

Sonata for Solo Cello no. 4 - Rh 393 - in one movement.

Recorded at the same session as no. 3 - it’s tiny at 7 minutes but it is full of itself and packs of a lot of thought in.

The W Dances no. 7 and 8 - Rh 387 and 388.

Two Oddballs tucked in at the end. They are part of the W Dances set I spoke of - for / with Joanna but this time a lick of cello.

[] Album Dm 16 W Dances 8 - 14

The body of the W Dances - performed for Joanna Leah [Geldard] - the Dancer Choreographer - now distinguished Artist Dr. Leah. I have spoken at length about our Collaboration as Etuda, and my performing with her as she danced. I recorded my performances - and I chose to document them as part of my Drum Work.

The W Dances 8 - 14.

WD no. 8 - - Rh 397 - Automatic Dance
WD no. 9 - - Rh 398
WD no. 10 - Rh 399
WD no. 11 - Rh 404 - Window Dance
WD no. 12 - Rh 405 - Stair Dance 1
WD no. 13 - Rh 406 - Stair Dance 2
WD no. 14 - Rh 407 - Combination Dance

Her titles - we hear her voice on them.

Drum Studies nos. 7 and 8 [W] - Rh 390 and 391.

Two further slices of the [W] Studies cake following the six on the Album Dm 15 [confused ? I was - it took an age to compile these albums]. These are quite a bit later and aren’t so much a part of the others - as a little tinkle on their own - and placed here.

[] Album Dm 17 Sonata for Solo Drum no. 10 - Rh 411 - in Five Movements - the last of the W studio Generation of Drum Sonatas - nos. 8, 9 and 10.

Sonata for Solo Drum no. 10 - Rh 411 - in Five Movements is sublime in its difficulty and its subtlety. Its diminutive size really belies its importance to me as a statement of compression in my musical thought. If I had finished the series at no. 10 it could have been in itself a fitting conclusion but I had go on to 12 - the canonic 12thth much later on.

W Dances nos. 15 - 19 - Rh 412 - 417A. I conclude here the collection of the W Dances. Together they were an exciting and informative experience for us both. We settled on no. 18 as the score to a dance piece - no. 19 is that scrubbed up - with a somewhat pretentious title.

WD no. 15 - Rh 412
WD no. 16 - Rh 413
WD no. 17 - Rh 414
WD no. 18 - Rh 417 (Dance Score).
WD no. 19 - Interpreting the Void - Rh 417A

These Sets are clearly a logistical order - but here that took precedence over a true studio order - a true chronology. Here the Rh catalogue order gives that true order.

This album closes the period and closes itself with 3 unrelated Items - Vernal warning - Rh 426; Bedism - Rh 410 and ‘In line music at St Margaret’s - Rh 434. Interesting music but recorded all over and outside the scope of this Article. See that Album’s home page.

Rh 415 and 416, just to note, are a separate project called Hammermusic Album MPm 12, compiled for release immediately after Album Dm 17 - my 104th album. Just to complicate matters even more - as if that weren’t so enough for anyone - two albums protrude into the period above which don’t belong to it - Albums 101 and 102 - Dodecette and Luigi - two large scale electronic works - please see their respective pages.


The Outer Blue Album Group - Dm Indices


An early reorganization of my music research interests had defined my music into dedicated sets of Albums. This way things of a kin got heard together - as one type of album or another - by Genre - or Tranche as I styled them. In this case Dm, music for Drums of various kinds. By Convention Dm.

Beginning as a percussionist my first 7 albums are for Drums of various kinds, Drum music or Dm, my first area of research interest or Tranche. I soon realised there was a second area of percussion, as a generality over a specialism - percussion on anything other than Drums, Metal Percussion music, or MPm. The third of five is the Phase music, realised by tape looping and timing, Phm. The fourth, a genre of Electro Acoustic composition, Music for Strings, Electronics and Percussion, or MSEP. The last genre is Electronic music, Em, taking the longest processing detour from an original acoustic source.

Album numbers 96 to the End [that is to my last numbered album] - form my Fifth ‘Group’ - a 5th time division across my Genres, my Outer Blue Group. The End being what it will be, but I have no plans, at the time of writing, in August 2020, to number any further albums, the given End being 142. This all builds on the foundational 'Blue Cherry Group' [where I had introduced my 5 areas of research interest] and the big 'New Horizon Group' - [where I explored to see where these five genres were leading me]. There then seemed to be a ‘band of gold’ across my discography. My Golden Band Group, that mark a particularly successful time for me. The albums that follow that, 76 to the End, are a ‘Blue Horizon’ - after the phrase ‘blue sky research’ - the ‘Blue Horizon Group.’ For convenience, I divided this Huge area into the Inner and the Outer Blue. So my Fourth Group is the Inner Blue Group. Then a Fifth and last Group builds upon that - my outer Blue Horizon - or Outer Blue Group.

There are thirteen Dm albums in the Outer Blue Group: Dm 15 - Dm 27. The Dm Arkiv album ‘Sometime live’ is not numbered.

Albums Dm 15 - 17 continue to document my ‘W’ studio sessions for Drum - with the Complete W Dances - spread between the three. Together with album Dm 14 in the Previous Group they form an important set documenting my Dm work at that Studio - with Dancer Choreographer Joanna Geldard. in our Etuda collaboration. As Etuda we recorded two further albums - Percussion W and Intonation W.

These sessions were also important to me for three large Solo Drum sonatas - nos. 8, 9 & 10. Nos. 9 & 10 are on the albums in this Group. Confusingly, no 8 is in the previous group. Just logistics and chronology - it missed the cut. It is on album Dm 14. Years later I recorded there again, this time with my Ensemble D’juil - cellist David Dhonau and Concert Flautist Sara Minelli - becoming our album D’juil 25 ‘Trio in five Parts.’ So . . .

[] Album Dm 15 Sn for Solo Drum no. 9 - together with the first of the W Dances.

[] Album Dm 16 W Dances 8 - 14 - pieces for Joanna Geldard to experimentally dance to.

[] Album Dm 17 the Sn for Solo Drum no. 10 [of the 12] - together with the last of the W Dances.

Albums Dm 18 - 21 are sets of works with conceptual twists.

[] Album Dm 18 Zen Yen Zen is a set of Meditations for Drum and Wood Block - where the wood block is a particular stroke of the Drum - or did you imagine that.

[] Album Dm 19 Metrognomics - Three pieces where I make you think a metrognome goes out of phase with me - in live acoustic recordings.

[] Album Dm 20 Table music - a suite of pieces performed on the Leather skins of Books, on a table - in a hard resonant chapel room. Stretching a point I think to say it was drum music. It is MPm by the definition ‘Anything other than Drums. it is though percussion on akin - so what defines a drum ? Skin or resonation - this has both. I set out to re-imagine a drum - and that is why this is still Drum music.

[] Album Dm 21 Konnyek - is a Drum Part - I recorded for Serbian Pianist Marina Vesic to respond to, for our collaboration ‘Konnyek’ - I kept this part as music in itself - as an album for me. In 2020 German wind specialist Marcus Wenninger added a flute part to make the album ‘Music in the wake of Konnyek’ for our Wenninger Broadhurst Collaboration.

Albums Dm 22 to 25 are a complex but important bunch with a frivolity here and there. Dm 22 and 24 are more conventional recordings but are very difficult multimovement pieces. Inventions that touch the limit of drumming possibility, in live acoustic performance. Inbetween them is another conceptual work Dm 23 Drum Mantra - with Maria Finch - that goes way beyond live human performance. Chronology is an awkward Mantra. Dm 25 ends the Drum Sonata series with an 11th and 12th Sn, reaching the Cannonical 12th and closing the series.

[] Album Dm 22 Fifth inventions for Djembe - a fifth set, and a growlingly difficult multi movement progression - for my signature instrument - in a syntax of figuration.

[] Album Dm 23 Drum Mantra - a fantastic feature I made with fellow drummer Maria Finch for the rattle and hum of it. It fits here, at this point, for being at an edge with perception.

[] Album Dm 24 Sixth Inventions for Djembe. I have tried each time, in each set of inventions - to push ever further - till now I run along the edge of intelligibility. This is the last of this series - it isn’t possible to go any further along this course and say anything with it - I find a limit of perception. The Six sets of inventions for this instrument form the core of my Drum music - alongside the twelve Sonatas for Solo Drum.

[] Album Dm 25 Sonatas for Solo Drum nos. 11 and 12 - the Solo Drum Sonata was at the core of my Drum music since the very beginning. Now fittingly, at the end, are the last two. Unlike the Inventions for Djembe I didn’t pursue difficulty for its own sake. In them I pursued a performative ideal for the sake of music in itself - The Cannonical no. ‘12’ has brought them to an end.

[] Album Dm Arkiv Sometime live - a summation of live pieces.

Albums Dm 26 and 27 are as chalk and cheese.

[] Album Dm 26 Double Up a set of album length Studio pieces that blow the notion of Drumming music out of the water.

[] Album Dm 27 In an English Parish Church - live in that is. In a Church near me, I helped out at the Summer fete, by giving a performance in the Church. With a wonderful acoustic to play into and many noises off I close my numbered Dm Genre. What a journey it was.

Outer Blue Group - Dm []

DCM 096 Em 38 -- Blue Dark Marine
DCM 097 MSEP 22 -- Sn for Solo Vc 1, 2

[] DCM 098 Dm 15 -- Dm Sn no 9. 9 []

DCM 099 MSEP 23 -- Sn & St for S. Vc

[] DCM 100 Dm 16 -- W Dan. 8 -14 []

DCM 101 Em 39 -- Dodecette
DCM 102 MSEP 24 -- Luigi

[] DCM 103 Dm 17 -- Dm Sn no.10 []

DCM 104 MPm 12 -- Hammermusic
DCM 105 MSEP 25 -- Consort m. for Strs
DCM 106 MPm 13 -- 45’23 - Mp solo

[] DCM 107 Dm 18 -- Zen Yen Zen []
[] DCM 108 Dm 19 -- Metrognomics []

DCM 109 MSEP 26 -- Nabucco - Om
DCM 110 EM 40 -- Profusion
DCM 111 Em 41 -- Cant for P C
DCM 112 Phm 12 -- Past for wind gr.
DCM 113 Arkiv -- Arkiv
DCM 114 Em 42 -- Funeral Music
DCM 115 MSEP 27 -- TUOE [Sym 2]
DCM 116 MSEP 28 -- Sin Vit [Sym 3]
DCM 117 MSEP 29 -- Symphony 4

[] DCM 118 DM 20 -- Table music []
[] DCM 119 Dm 21 -- Konnyek []

DCM 120 MSEP 30 -- Codasolo

[] DCM 121 Dm 22 -- 5th Inv for Dj []
[] DCM 122 Dm 23 -- Drum Mantra []

DCM 123 MSEP 31 -- Symphony 5

[] DCM 124 Dm 24 -- 6th Inv for Dj []

DCM 125 MPm 14 -- Footfall A & B
DCM 126 MPm 15 -- Inv for Steel Casing
DCM 127 MPm 16 -- Imp in 4 and 3 Pts
DCM 128 MPm 17 -- Six Sns. for Metal P.
DCM 129 MPm 18 -- Inv for Industrial Unit
DCM 130 MPm 19 -- Now is N. t. T. f Dan
DCM 131 MPm 20 -- Parellelia
DCM 132 MSEP 32 -- Organum
DCM 133 MPm 21 -- Perfor in Plastic
DCM 134 Em 43 -- Geut - B Version
DCM 135 Em 44 -- Vib. Blue Light
DCM Ark Em Arkiv -- What nu. Added to

[] DCM 136 Dm 25 -- Sn for S. Dm 11 &12 []

DCM 137 MSEP 33 -- They Make Music

[] DCM 138 Dm 26 -- Double Up + Per PP []
[] DCM Ark Dm Arkiv -- Sometime Live []
[] DCM 139 Dm 27 -- In an English Pa Ch []

DCM 140 MPm 22 -- Quarlium
DCM 141 MSEP 34 -- A Little Less than K.
DCM 142 MSEP 35 -- Gregorious A & B
DCM 143 MSEP 36 -- Entangled A.B & C

The DCM album numbers list volumes in a [for the most part]
chronological edition - the ‘DCM Broadhurst Edition’ - Prepared for the British Library in 2020. The volumes or albums themselves were actually released as and when it was possible. The Edition though, was planed from the start to stand on the 'foundation Stone' of the Blue Cherry group.

The Rh catalogue, numbers my individual works in order of Completion.

credits

released June 18, 2014

Julian Broadhurst - Drums and pole - Studies and Fretwork Solo at W studio. W Dances performed working with Joanna Leah [Geldard] as Etuda at W.
Album Mastered at Isabel.

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