Introduction
Chris Hill brought Phil Morton's System 50:50 for improvisers to London on November 6th 2022, it was a rewarding and fun day for 19 improvisers and a small audience at the Hundred Years Gallery.
The aim during 2024 is to increase the frequency of the sessions in London, to explore links with sessions in Oxford, Birmingham and to later in 2024/5.
Developments
- Ensemble 50:50, a schedule is crytallising, it is monthly sessions at the Open Ealing venue.
- This is an open session, limited by numbers that can fit the room.
- New participants have to apply in advance, and maybe requested to attend the first session as a member of the audience.
- Blank Canvas Tentet
- Participation is by invitation and application.
- Prior knowledge and experience of System 50:50 for improvisers is required.
- A schedule of regular gigs at this time is not agreed, There is work to be done on this.
- The players
- will be drawn from the experimental and improvised music scene in;
- London and are familiar names to many as performers in their own right and as regular participants in the London Improvisers Orchestra and Eddie Prevost's Workshop among other vehicles for the promotion of free improvised music.
- From the Oxford region, Liverpool and other regions of the UK.
- will be drawn from the experimental and improvised music scene in;
The names
The names.
ALAN NEWCOMBE - reeds.
CHRIS HILL - sound.
DOUGLAS BENFORD.
JAMES MALONE.
JAMES O`SULLIVAN.
MARTIN HACKETT, misc and korg ms.
PHIL MORTON, accidents and treatments.
KEISUKE MATSUI, cello.
JONATHAN GRIFF, melodica.
DARIUSZ BLASZCZAK, elecronics.
Tickets
Tickets for the audience
Admission for the audience on the day is £10.00 or by donation.
Adnvance tickets for the audience will be made available through the Eventbrite website. details to follow.
About System 50:50
The goal is to
- Create something new in a musical sense owned by those present
- Explore the possibilities of freedom and improvisation and their limits.
The approach is to
- Shape the sound with silence.
- Shape the ensemble size: moment by moment.
-
Empower musicians with agency in their contributions. Shape the music through active listening.
Description
The duration of the piece is agreed before the start of the performance..
A performer must play for 50% of the duration of the piece and remain silent for 50% of the duration of the piece
Example
If the duration of the piece is 16 minutes, the performer plays for 8 minutes and is silent for 8 mins. Each player is free to choose when they play and when they are silent within the duration of the piece but they must have a 50/50 balance between playing and being silent. It is expected that each player will improvise their music.
Quick summary using 50:50 ratio
Each player `improvises` for 50% of the piece
Each player is `tacet` for 50% of the piece
The totals are aggregated
Each player/improviser has their own clock and manages their own time
Each player has `agency` over the content they share during the performance.
System 50:50 for improvisers - Click the link for a detailed description and history.
https://www.improvisersnetworks.online/system-50-50-an-introduction
Delivered by the primary and preferred time management option:
Mechanical chess clocks are required to facilitate the aim of the system. One of the pair of dials is called ‘tacet’ and the other ‘free play’.See image above. Each performer has an individual chess clock to monitor and manage their contribution. The performer plays when the ‘free play’ dial is running down and is silent when the ‘tacet’ dial is running down.
Youtube demonstration, Duration 1 minute Ratio 50:50 or 1:1 Content, is speech, status managed by the rocker (lever): URL LINK
Link to image of an adapted chess clock URL LINK
Selected feedback about system 50:50
Simon Ross (Macclesfield), Blank Canvas Octet - Liverpool
System 50/50 works well - it’s a really good way to get a group to play effectively without egos , virtuosity , and shyness getting in the way. It is democratic, inclusive. coherent, leaderless, focused, there is room to think and time to listen, choices. It is less competitive more cooperative. Ends well.
Charlie Collins Sheffield
On system 50:50 “Definitely something with LOADS of possibilities - the reaction in the car driving back was unbelievably positive - no one could remember playing in a large ensemble that was so "open". The openness allowed me to play quietly, which meant the dynamics were incredible for an improvising large ensemble.”
Dan Goren, Oxford Improvisers.
`"It seems to me that any attempt to restrict what free improvisers play, presents a threat to the core nature of their music. Generally, 'To play or not play' is about as far as any predetermination can productively go, the player retaining (almost!) complete formal agency regarding when and what (s)he decides to play"
Richard Harding Liverpool.
``Sometimes in free improv it is just not working but we carry on in the hope it will get better, in system 50:50 if it (free improv) is not working one can select tacet and stop playing`
Jon Aveyard, Lecturer UCLan University England
`It gives me permission to do nothing`
Helen Conning, Liverpool.
It is democratic
Maggie Nicol - West Wales.
I want to buy twelve 50:50 clocks
Venues
This event takes place in the cellar of Ryan's Bar
Ryan's Bar. 181 Church Streetm Stoke newington, London N16 0UL
020 7275 7807
https://ryansn16.co.uk/
The overground station, Stoke Newington is a fifteen minute walk according to google maps.
Hundred Years Gallery
13 Pearson Street
London E2 8JD
Tel: +44 (0)20 3602 7973
Buses : 67, 149, 242, 243, 394
Train : Hoxton Overground
Hundred Years Gallery is a dynamic art space situated in Hoxton, East London supporting experimental and innovative art. The Gallery`s exhibition programme is aimed at presenting a wide spectrum of contemporary art production with an emphasis on providing a platform for radical ideas and young or unrepresented artists. The space also provides opportunities for those in the arts to become part of its exhibition programme through its annual open calls short residencies, internships and art projects.
Hundred Years Arts is a not for profit Community Interest Company (Registered company number 9059577)
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/hygallery
Twitter
https://twitter.com/hundredyearsgal
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/hundred_years_gallery/
Office use
RTM
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the checklist is here
https://www.rememberthemilk.com/app/#search/article/931320458
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