Hands, feet, mouth make music

Press, 26 June 1987, Page 2

Hands, feet, mouth make music

Chris Cree Brown called his composition “In Sympathy.” At first glance it is the sole musician who has to play three trumpets and two duck-callers who most, needs sympathy.

But a Christchurch trumpeter, John Young, is confident about playing the work at a Continuum concert at the Arts Centre on July 1. Granted, he does not usually play three trumpets at once, but he thinks there will be no problem. He will play one with his hands and two with his feet.

Two of the trumpets have been connected to

compressed-gas cylinders given by New Zealand Industrial Gases for the concert. Balloons, tape, and plastic piping carry the gas from the cylinder to the instruments.

The player controls the sounds by the pressure of his foot at the point where the piping connects with the cylinder. The two trumpets will hang on elastic above him and he can also control the sound by adjusting with his hand the balloon connection to the trumpet. John Young will play the other trumpet as trumpets are usually played. One duck-caller is

controlled by a foot pump; the other is blown.

Chris Cree Brown, the composer, says he called the work, written in 1981, “In Sympathy” because the elastic allows the suspended trumpets to move up and down in sympathetic motion. The sounds of the trumpets have an air of pathos and at times he has the trumpets “talking” to each other.

The composition was made into a short film, and shown at the 1983 Wellington Film Festival, but the July 1 concert will be the first public performance of it.