“Slip-Stick — Bowed Music”
Tim Catlin and The Overtone Ensemble
23 Nov → 1 Jan 1970

Slip-Stick (or Stick-Slip) is the frictional phenomena caused by two objects sliding over and sticking to each other. A few sonic examples of this include squealing car brakes, stridulating grasshoppers and squeaking chalk on a blackboard. Perhaps the most common musical example is that of bowed instruments where the action of the bow drives the strings in a regular cycle of stick-slip-stick-slip.

Slip-Stick will involve two performances by The Overtone Ensemble (Atticus Bastow, Dave Brown, Tim Catlin and Ceallaigh Norman) using predominantly friction-based instrumentation.

The Ensemble will be performing with four new instruments recently built by Tim Catlin. These Just Intonation tuned metal rod instruments are bowed or stroked by hand and produce an ethereal, haunting sound. The long sustaining nature of the rod’s sound and the close interval tunings of the instruments allow players a sonic palette of richly complex textures and harmonic complexity.

Other instruments used in these pieces will include: bowed acoustic guitars, cymbals and metal sculptures, chromatic handbells, wineglasses, singing bowls and glockenspiels.

These works utilise acoustic phenomena arising from Just Intonation interval tuning such as phasing, combination tones and sympathetic vibrations, as well the effects of room resonance to produce a deeply immersive sonic environment.

http://timcatlin.net/