TRACE-E Project – Photo Gallery
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It’s just a little over a month since the TRACE-E performances on stage at Southampton’s Turner Sims, part of University of Southampton’s SOTSEF festival. These new photos offer a glimpse into what was an incredible day.
Click on any of the photos to open the light-box. Huge thanks to talented young photographer Josh Merry for them.
Flip through the album to get a glimpse of what went on during these performances, and an insight into the amazing people who made it all such a success. Not only are there some great shots of the musicians I was lucky enough to share the stage with, but also of the two young speaker-writers, dancer Stacey Barnett and Prof Ian Williams – Principal Investigator for the project, without whom none of it would have happened.
There are also some gear close-ups for those who like such things (I certainly do) and the ever-present bananas.
There’s also a documentary film of the project in the pipeline, as well as the release of selected tracks and recordings on my Soundcloud page – all coming over the summer. Keep an eye on my social media channels for updates on this and more.
Scroll down below the gallery for a reminder of who’s-who in these photographs and behind the project.
TRACE-E Project Performances
Saturday 7 May 2022
Turner Sims, Southampton
Part of University of Southampton’s Science and Engineering Day 2022
Robin Browning (Musician in Residence) – Composer, Keyboards, Ableton Live
Rowan Baker – Arranger, Co-composer, Keyboards, Ableton Live
George Pertwee – Sound Design, Percussion, Ableton Live
Marike Kruup – Violin
Anca Campanie – Violin
Austen Scully – Cello
Stacey Barnett – Dancer
Lara Prince & Sofia Mykulynska – Speakers
Ian Williams – Principal Investigator
Alice Brock – TRACE-E Project Intern
Devon Williams – Electronics & eTextile development
Alison Westcott – Fashion design
The TRACE-E Musician-in-Residence Project is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council through the IAA at University of Southampton
TRACE Project – Tickets Announced
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"Fascinating, absorbing and eerily beautiful"
TRACE-E Project Performances
Saturday 7 May 2022
1pm and 3pm
Turner Sims, Southampton
(Events will last up to one hour, and may involve short periods of flashing light)
Part of University of Southampton’s Science and Engineering Day 2022
Robin Browning (Musician in Residence) – Composer, Keyboards, Ableton Live
Rowan Baker – Arranger, Co-composer, Keyboards, Ableton Live
George Pertwee – Sound Design, Percussion, Ableton Live
Marike Kruup – Violin
Anca Campanie – Violin
Austen Scully – Cello
Stacey Barnett – Dancer
Lara Prince & Sofia Mykulynska – Speakers
Ian Williams – Principal Investigator
Alice Brock – TRACE-E Project Intern
Devon Williams – Electronics & eTextile development
Alison Westcott – Fashion design
Tickets have just been announced for the two TRACE-E Musician-in-Residence performances this May, and are now available for you to get – for free! – via the Turner Sims website. The team behind the whole TRACE-E Project are super-excited about this, because it not only showcases the work we’ve been doing in recent months, but it also introduces you – our audiences – to crucial things about the issue of electronic waste, as well as inviting discussion with scientists and environmentalists. It also means we can share what we think is some beautiful music with you all. It promises to be fascinating, absorbing and eerily beautiful.
More info will come soon as we continue developing things over Easter. But here’s an idea of what you’ll see and hear at this fascinating event combining science and art…
Completely new, specially-composed acoustic and electronic tracks, fusing found-sound and live-sampling with strings, percussion and multiple keyboard instruments from grand piano to retro 80's synths
The TRACE Project dancer showcases a bespoke eTextile jacket, designed to respond with embedded lights to each of her movements, as well as controlling the sound of the music with other gestures
Two young speakers are writing their own texts, in both prose and poetry, about aspects of eWaste, circular economy and the global environmental crisis. Their words, which they perform themselves, is a key part of the music and will be peppered throughout the event
Musicians on stage will explore multiple sound-worlds using all manner of electronic clips, loops and ambient granular clouds. They'll take live samples from some of the audience's electronic devices – mobile phones, toys, laptops – and turn them into amazing tapestries of sound, becoming new pieces of music right before your ears
Live discussions with the scientists behind aspects of the project, led by principal investigator Ian Williams and other environmentalists in the TRACE team, will explain why we're doing what we're doing, and what it all means. There will also be discussions about eTextile development, how musical sampling works, and what the future might be if we don't take greater action now
Free Tickets Available Now
You can explore more and pick up tickets by clicking on the button below. It would be great to see you all there!
Plus, you can join the discussion on social media now, continuing right through the event and beyond by using the hashtag #TRACE
Follow me on twitter @Robin_Browning and the TRACE Project @TRACEProject22
The TRACE-E Musician-in-Residence Project is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council through the IAA at University of Southampton
TRACE–E… Latest update
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Time for an update. I’ve been a bit silent about this whole Musician-in-Residence project lately, because I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole of composing, drafting, sketching, followed by throwing it all in the bin and starting again. You know, the typical creative sequence of self-absorbtion then self-doubt.
This weekend Ableton has gone offline for some reason. It’s not just me. Musicians the world over are screaming at their laptops and venting on twitter right now. But it does mean that I can’t save or export anything I come up with.
I tend to use all manner of methods to capture my musical thoughts as they come – scraps of paper, backs of envelopes, iPhone voice-notes, manuscript, you name it. And I’ll often use Ableton to multitrack loops and ideas which sound well together, but for which I haven’t yet figured a final format.
Right this moment, I’m loathe to boot up Ableton and start noodling around on Noire or Cycles (my two most beloved go-to plug-ins, for now at least). I just know it’ll be sod’s law that the muse will strike (lucky me), but I’ll get frustrated I can’t save anything. So I’m writing this blog post, the one you’re currently suffering, while I wait for Premier Pro to export a test video file (I’ll be using something like that as a background loop for the entire performance on stage in May).
New eTextile Dancer's Jacket
Plans for a bespoke eTextile jacket have moved on well in the last couple of weeks. This will be worn by a dancer, who’ll be moving elegantly and expressively to some of the tracks.
The jacket is in a beautiful, minimalist style (combining well with my music, I think) and will be fashioned out of discarded items and reused fabric (again, like some of my own sound loops). Embedded in the fabric, sewn into a kind of mesh (to make it super easy to remove and repurpose once the jacket has served its purpose) are hundreds of mini LED lights, controlled by accelerometers in microchips at each wrist point. These are like the gyroscope that enables you to read your compass on a mobile phone, for example. In this case, they’re packed into an ultra small chip.
In the photos, Fashion Designer Alison Wescott (from Winchester School of Art) and Neuroscientist and Entrepreneur Devon Lewis (from University of Southampton’s School of Electronics and Computer Science) talk to me about an early prototype for the design. We’re interested in the tech, of course, but also the fit, style, look – as well as making sure that even this early mock-up has sustainability at its core: Alison made it from a simple, stitched square of material from a discarded umbrella!
So, when the dancer moves her right arm upwards, let’s say, a cascade of lights are triggered. The glowing thread flows down the right hand side of the jacket, over the shoulder and across the back. It’s all in time with her movements, because she is – quite literally – controlling it all.
At the same time, those microchips are synced to Ableton via MIDI-mapping. This is when you decide that a particular dial on a synthesizer controls a certain thing inside the software. You can pretty much map anything, to anything. So you can assign this knob to control volume, this other fader can control reverb, etc etc…
In this case, we’re assigning certain movements from the dancer (and correspondingly, the chips at each of her wrists on the jacket) to aspects of the sound. For example, she punches the air to her left, and this triggers a Whitney Houston 80’s style cowbell sound, inside Ableton. Except we won’t use that sound (thank God). We’ll be using found sound and other samples. Besides, I never liked cowbells, except in Mahler.
The other arm could open and close a filter on, say, a cloud of notes that are in the same key as the music. Or pan the sound from left to right. We’ll see… the possibilities are kind of endless.
Ultimately, the dancer will be able to shape and control the sound of the music she’s dancing to. And that’s crucial – because it’s an evocative metaphor for what this entire project is about.
A 180º change for our planet
All this is great, but it isn’t just about a cool jacket. Or about cutting-edge semiconductor tech. Or about my music, the players, or any of that.
The point is that if we’re going to have any hope of saving this planet, and turning back the tide of global climate problems, we’re going to have to do an abrupt 180º in our thinking – an about-face in the way we approach everything we do as a species – or else it’ll be too late. The concept of the Circular Economy – the idea of reusing, repurposing, repairing and recycling everything – is at the heart of the TRACE-E project. And it’s precisely this kind of thinking which we need to change in order to prevent the impending catastrophe.
A dancer who triggers the music, rather than simply responding to it, isn’t going to change the course of the world’s waste problems. However, it does succinctly encapsulate the whole idea of the Circular Economy within something artistic, informative and educational – precisely what TRACE-E is all about. The whole project is about sharing knowledge, enabling people to grow more aware of the problems, and to join together in the search for solutions (just as with the original TRACE and SÓN eWaste Projects).
The idea of a dancer creating their own music as they move is a radical shift from what is normally done on stage. And right now, we need to find ways to make a similar change for humanity, as we strive to steer away from the brink of disaster. A 180º is needed, pure and simple.
Musician in Residence: the journey so far
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Right. Musician-in-Residence. What’s all that about, then?
It’s a bit of a fascinating one, this, and also a tad convoluted. Stay with me. Won’t be long.
Way back before the pandemic changed our world, I was heavily involved in a big education project, with 85 school-kids all singing about things to do with Electronic Waste and the Circular Economy. Along with SÓN Orchestra colleagues, we managed to perform this, twice, just before the portcullis of lockdown descended.
This was the SÓN eWaste Project – part of the larger TRACE project, the title coming from TRAnsitioning to a Circular Economy. The other part was some inspired artwork by Susannah Pal.
Fast-foward a few years, and here we are again. Not only did the original TRACE Project win Campaign of the Year at the 2021 National Recycling Awards, but funding has recently been awarded from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for another project, this time involving me as Musician-in-Residence. The TRACE-E Project continues themes of eWaste and circular economy, but also brings me into close contact with some of the world’s top scientists working in semiconductor tech (with ARM, the chip giant), eTextiles, optoelectronics, waste-management and sustainability.
In essence, I’m meeting with research scientists, and seeing what triggers an artistic response. Searching for that little gem which gets my creative juices flowing.
And, then, I’m going to be bundling it all together into a performance piece, telling a story about the growing eWaste problem, using sound, music and more. The goal is to sow seeds of change in those who hear it. In other words, informing catalysing change through art.
Electro-minimalism: my guilty pleasure
Over recent weeks, I’ve been plunging regularly down the rabbit hole of Ableton, VST synth plug-ins, and all manner of sounds and samples. One of the chief difficulties has been bringing my music-tech knowledge up to the required speed for a project such as this – no easy matter, I’ll freely admit. I’ve spent 25 years as a professional conductor after all, and can perhaps comfortably tweak a Mahler symphony for performance, but finding where on earth I’ve put that sample loop is something I’m grappling with daily.
And then there’s the composing, the sketching, the finding of ideas that might actually work and not sound eternally crap. Or even, you know, create the actual mood I’m looking for. That’s something I’m finding frustrating and seemingly endless. Two steps forward, two steps back… And only a more furrowed brow to show for it.
But after a lot of faff I’ve developed scribble into sketches, ideas into samples, samples into useable sounds, and begun getting ideas to coalesce. Under a month ago, I didn’t even know what this project actually WAS – I had ideas, but none of them felt right, it lacked coherency and had no forward drive. Now as January eases into February, that has begun to change.
Only yesterday, I decided to add this little ditty – full of unashamedly retro, 80’s minimalist electro loops (courtesy of some marvellous Arturia sounds and a sample or two) – to some film clips of micro chips and circuit boards. And now it’s out into the wild, for all the world to see.
Bear in mind this is quite a big step for me: I’ve spent decades performing other people’s music, none of my own, and now I’ve got to overcome years of inertia and probably quite a few inner demons to get my creative voice out there.
But I’m getting there, for sure. If there’s anything I’ve learned during the pandemic’s seemingly endless silence, it’s to stop waiting, to just get on up, and do things. Life’s too short to second-guess your every creative move.
Thoughts very welcome, of course. I’d love to hear your views and answer your questions. Pop a comment below, or ping me a message on Twitter or Insta.
Next update soon! Maybe with some more synthy sounds. I’ll be updating you on some of my musical and scientific collaborators, and giving you some glimpses into some exciting eTextile plans being hatched specifically for the TRACE project. Watch this space.
Rediscover your inner musician
Wow. A blog post. I know, I know. It’s been a while.
And that’s kind of the point. As you can see, I’ve been doing some tinkering around here. And I’ve also been doing some tinkering in my head. They’re related, I guess.
The upshot is that, as we all slowly emerge from underneath our lockdown-induced rocks, I’m beginning to come to terms with what strangely feels like a new beginning – as a musician, as an artist, as a creative person. And together with that, I feel inspired to do some long-overdue updates to my website, and also to the software my inner-musician has been running all this time.
I’m sure you, like me, have had a truly difficult journey as the global pandemic swept our world. In my little bubble – that of the musician, conductor and teacher – the landscape was effectively rendered mute almost overnight. It’s been tricky juggling plans, repertoire and programming, as well as income, livelihood and any sense of a career path. But I know it’s been beyond tough for all. And I also know I’ve had it better than most. I still have a roof over my head and work to look forward to. The diary is most definitely filling up (in some cases scarily quickly).
A new beginning – as a musician, as an artist
Despite the difficulties lately, I slowly realised that I was somehow starting to come to terms with who I am as a musician. During the silence, the occasional solitude, the endless hours of cogitation, I was able to check in with bits and pieces of my artistic self that I’d been unable to do for years, decades even. Endless gigs, life on the road, piles of study and admin, always having at least one if not multiple programmes hurtling around in my head – this was all so exhausting, draining even, and I hadn’t stopped to realise it.
But then the world stopped me. Gave me no choice. I did gigs right up until the first lockdown. The final event I gave with SÓN Orchestra was probably the very last time anyone on that stage performed in public for many, many months.
To begin with, I explored everything but music. Gardening. Learning coding. Forex trading. Crypto trading (it’s like the wild west, don’t do it). I kind of pretended I was no longer a musician. Hundreds of my colleagues were posting online, playing micro gigs in their back-garden, or craftily-woven online duets and whatnot. I was both in awe of this – feeling out of my technical depth – and also rather tepid: I simply couldn’t be bothered. I wanted to disappear. I left the ‘music-making’ – online, frankly a bit sterile – to those who did it well, and disappeared down the rabbit hole.
Like kicking leaves in autumn just because you can
Yet, in due course, all this self-reflection reminded me what a musician is, and – whether I always felt like it, or not – that is what I am. As lockdown eased, some of us began stumbling back into rehearsals (more were cancelled than not). No matter what the insecurities were, it felt giddyingly reassuring, like rediscovering that favourite toy, or realising you’re not going to fall when Dad takes the stabilisers off the bike. Or like kicking leaves in autumn just because you can.
Months of silence, of not even breathing or thinking like a musician, showed me how deeply I am one. It turns out I have no choice. It chooses me, not the other way around. And (channelling my inner Bowie) that is that.
So now, because I CAN, I’m surging forwards – here, on my website, with some new blog-posts, and with many exciting new projects. There’s much I can’t share with you right now, but I’ll tell all about things very soon. I’ve got things lined-up connecting music & technology, music & environment (always topical, especially as I’m writing this during COP26) and more conducting teaching and training on the horizon, too.
I want to share more with you as this all picks up, and as I steer into the new unknown – like we’re all doing. I’m going to be writing more here, so please follow my social media – especially on twitter – for updates. I may even start YouTubing or vlogging. Yes, I know, I should have absorbed myself in all these skills during lockdown, but I was too busy navel-gazing. Better late than never.
If I have any tips, it’s to never allow yourself to fester too long before you retreat from the world. At least a little bit. I’ve heard of people who build a personal retreat into their schedule and ring-fence it, protecting it like a medieval castle would from the marauding hoards of regular life. One day a month, one week a year, and so on.
I’ve just done the same myself. Disappeared on my own to a little cottage in deepest Dorset. All artists need to restore. That’s the one, small blessing to come out of the lockdowns – it has offered us no option but to reconnect with ourselves, with our inner voice as artists.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. If you’re an artist or musician – or even if you’re not – how did you spend your time through seemingly endless lockdowns? Did you find opportunity to reflect? And, if you did, what kinds of things did you learn?
Do scroll down and leave a little comment below.
I can’t help thinking that the art (of all kinds) that emerges now and in the coming months is going to be some of the most profound, touching, and reflective in recent decades. Personally, I can’t wait to see, feel, touch and hear it. I may even chuck some of my own into the mix.
Stay well everyone. I’ll write again soon.