interview with Cat Hope

Short interview with Cat Hope curator of Drawn from Sound

Edith Cowan University

Mt Lawley

Spectrum Project Space

March 28^th – April 12^th 2013

Http://www.drawnfromsound.com

Jacqui – Hello Cat

Cat -Hi,

Jacqui -Notating sounds can come in all sorts of forms

Cat -Yes that’s right. And sometimes, composers don't want to notate the sounds specifically, rather- just provide information about how sounds may come about. Traditional music notation is good at communicating ideas about melody, and harmony – not so great for describing how something actually 'sounds'. This is one of many reasons composers use graphic scores

Jacqui - What are some of the key works in the exhibition?

Cat - For me, the Percy Grainger Free Music No.2 is a key work. Written in 1937, we are presenting digital copies of the only remaining photostat copies that are held in the Grainger Museum archive in Melbourne. David Young's 'Not Music Yet' (2012) is a stunning watercolour, commissioned by Sydney pianist Zubin Kanga last year, and has drawn a lot of attention. Otherwise, all the works are key, because they all show different ways ideas about music can be communicating. The exhibition is of maps for music making.

Cat Hope installing Percy Grainger

Jacqui - What feedback have you got so far?

Cat - Well, overwhelmingly  positive, and some confusion. How can this be music? Some ask.  Most people are pleasantly surprised there is so much diversity in music communication, whereas others don't think these works are music at all. The exhibition is surprising silent – I just wanted to show the 'diagrams' or 'design' for sounds, rather than how they sound. The viewers can make up their own minds about that!

Jacqui - Where did you get the idea of the exhibition?

Cat - After years of making music (improv, text,songwriting and playing) I finally started 'composing' (writing things down) myself when I used graphic scores. They opened up a whole world of possibilities for me, and the kind of music I wanted to make.  Through this, and commissioning work for my new music group Decibel, I came across lots of different approaches to graphic scores, that I thought it would be a good idea to survey them. As far as I know, this is the first all Australian graphic score exhibition.

Jacqui - Decibel have performed how did that go?

Cat - Great – we have a lot of experience at reading graphic scores, but it was fun to do them in this environment, where they are on display.

Decibel performing Nathan Thompson

Jacqui -There has been an interest in ideas surrounding sound in the gallery space do you think its on the increase?

Cat - Yes, though this exhibition is more about signs than sounds. We are really in the age of multi/inter disciplinary practice: time to get rid of words like visual art, sculpture, music, noise, sound art…. And just say…. Art.