Yarn (2024) is the third composition in an ongoing series for clavichord and electronics, BEBUNG. An audiovisual work for live performance, it reimagines the clavichord as a textile loom: the horizontal brass strings become the warp, the vertical listing the weft.
The title refers to the felt ribbon—the ‘listing’—woven between the brass strings. Listing serves two purposes: it dampens the section of the string once the key is released and suppresses the shorter, non-sounding section while the main string is vibrating.
In composing the piece, a video recording was made of the listing being applied to the instrument. The quiet sounds of the ribbon being threaded were transcribed into musical notation using a sine-wave model from Ears, a recent addition to the Bach family of computer-aided composition tools in Max.
The performer plays an edited transcription of this recording while the audience watches an edited version of the video. Beyond standard keyboard technique, the work also requires the clavichordist to pluck and strum the seven brass strings directly, imitating the way the hands engage with the instrument when applying the listing. The sound of the video is thus returned to its images, mediated by the materiality of the instrument itself.
Yarn received its first performance in a solo recital at the University of Surrey, March 2024. For more information about the BEBUNG series, click here.
Technical Requirements for Performance:
- Four full-range loudspeakers surrounding performance area (FL, FR, RL, RR at corners of performance space).
- Small table and piano stool for clavichordist
- HD projection system with HDMI access for performer
- TRS cabling and 3 × 240VAC power outlets to table