Exhibition | 1 May 10 – 15 May 10
Address | 2/F Hong Kong Arts Centre

Granular Graph (work in progress) | by Phoebe Hui

Granular Graph is a sound instrument about musical gesture and its notation. The idea is inspired by a simple scientific instrument called harmonograph. It is a pendulum-based apparatus which can create curvaceous geometric images to represent harmonies and intervals in musical scales. Instead of merely rebuilding such a mechanical device, however, Granular Graph is trying to re-appropriate the mechanism in order to raise questions about the role of gesture in musical notation.

One serious problem for sound art is that gesture is very difficult to notate. In many phonetic poems by such Dada artists as Kurt Schwitters, for instance, there is no notation about the sort of vocal or facial gesture required, beyond just writing down phonetic symbols like letters. Other information about the gestural quality of the performance is very difficult to specify. The key problem is how to “ score ” the gestural aspect.

Granular Graph is an effort to notate the information about the event of sound production and graph the amount of energy, effort and tension involved in causing the sounds. Audiences can play Granular Graph by walking on the wooden platform. Their movements produce changes in the flow of the water, which affect the reflection of light. The sound generated through a light organ attached under the wooden platform will change, depending on the continuously changing light condition. Thus, the expenditure

of energy and the gesture of the performer are notated by means of water. This work should be seen as part of an ongoing project that explores the role of gesture in musical notation.

Granular Graph
Granular Graph 是一個關於如何標記演奏音樂姿勢的聲音裝置。作品的靈感源自維多利亞時期流行的一個科學儀器「諧振記錄儀」 (harmonograph) 。「諧振記錄儀」是一個由鐘擺原理建構而成的儀器，透過擺錘活動，儀器能繪畫出有趣的曲線幾何圖案，而有關的鐘擺活動模式與音樂和聲與音階有密切關係。 Granular Graph 希望透過挪用有關裝置的部分運作原理，嘗試去探討如何標記演奏音樂時的姿勢及聲音產生的過程。

關於記錄聲音的產生過程，其中一個重要的難題是 : 標示演奏音樂的姿勢是非常困難的。在很多注音詩中，例如德國達達藝術家史維塔斯 (Kurt Schwitters) 的作品，除了記下像音標符號的文字外，並沒有標示關於表演時，如聲音及面部表情的要求，以至其他關於演奏音樂姿勢的資訊。原因或許是這些種種，都難以清楚標示下來。究竟如何有效標示關於演奏姿勢的資訊呢 ? 這正是 Granular Graph 希望討論及試圖回應的核心議題。

Granular Graph 嘗試在製造聲音的同時，記錄關於製造聲音的過程，特別是演奏時能量與張力的轉換等資訊。觀眾彈奏 Granular Graph 的方法非常簡單，他們只需於木台上行走，透過他們的活動，影響到台下的水流，從而改變水中的燈光反射。依附在木台下的光敏電池樂器會因應水面的光暗變化而產生出不同的聲音。如此， 演奏者產生聲音的能量轉換及消耗，便能透過水，一一記錄下來。 Granular Graph 是討論標記演奏姿勢的一個試點，更多的研究仍在進行中。