xx MUSIC & HANGOUTS
Germany / 2007 / 40'
Concert
“There is something in Ulher’s art that
makes her a highly interesting musician.
Sometimes I imagine her trumpet as
some sort of microscope, with a set of
lenses that unexpectedly turns a
grainy
image into brocade.”
– Johan Redin
Air, breathe in, breathe out, diaphragm, oral cavity, tongue,
lips, trumpet, reflection, composition, improvisation, sound, silence,
multiphonics, extended techniques, original preparations of the
instrument, room acoustics, digital sound processing, field recordings,
extended speakers, quadrophonics, trumpet as transmitter and receiver,
as an acoustic chamber, festivals, club scene, original venues,
independent and academic scene.
Tomaž Grom
Birgit Ulher uses extended speakers, fed
with radio noise in her trumpet mutes. The
trumpet functions as an acoustic chamber and
modulates the radio noise, thus the trumpet
is transmitter and receiver at the same time.
She also uses metal sheets as ‘vibrating
systems’. By varying the pressure on the metal
sheets, which are held against the trumpet
bell, she creates multiphonics and splitting
sounds. In addition to trumpet and mutes,
Ulher’s instruments on the solo album Radio
Silence No More are radio and particularly
speakers. Also in this area she has stretched
the limit for both the speaker’s capacity and
its functionality. What remains is an element
that could more accurately be compared to
percussion. Actually, Ulher’s playing with radio
noise sometimes sounds completely electronic,
although the music is essentially acoustic.
Organisation: Zavod Sploh. In collaboration with City of Women and Menza pri koritu – ACC Metelkova city.