Andrew Toovey: Adventures with Swans, Coots, Ducks and their young. Filmed on the Grand Union Canal and Golders Hill Park, London.
Music derived from part of the vibraphone melody from Whisper(ingly) Crumbling (into) Silence (1988) for percussion trio.
Performed in a new version played by Andrew Toovey on voice, violin and Indian harmonium in various layers and combinations with an additional recording of the sea and wind.
During the recent lockdown time because of the Covid 19 virus, I wanted to spend some time trying to play/sing again. I decided to use the melodic material I wrote back in 1988 and see if I could make use of this in a different way than initially intended. First I played the opening section of the melodic line freely on my Indian Harmonium to see how that went with some drones as well. I then recorded it again adding my voice at the same time, decorating the line, ad lib. I then added the violin. I had not played the violin for over 10 years, but decided to ad lib around the line and later adding rhythmic patterns to the first section and natural harmonic sustained notes at the end. There are also silent moments and the sound of the sea/wind I recorded on a recent visit to Norfolk.
What I did at that moment of the first recordings I kept, rather than re-recording until I had achieved what might have been a more exact and polished performance. I wanted the immediate attempts to be the final version however unpolished they may be.
I filmed on my phone over a period of weeks the various moments in the life of the swans, coots and ducks with their young, and once again what I filmed is what you see here, simply joined together.
More information and free PDF’s of scores can be found at the website: www.andrewtoovey.co.uk