Introduction
Brief history of Ensemble 50:50 London
Chris Hill's Babble and Squeak 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. Chris and Phil are back on the dates noted below. 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 develop the Half The Sky concept.
This event 09.06.2024 - Open Ealing Arts Centre. 15.45 (prompt!) - 17.15 Admission is free to participants and the audience.
- Doors 15.00
- Audience, it is suggested the audience arrive at 15.30 to be ready for a 15.45 start
- Participants, the players, should arrive to be ready to start playing (good to go) at 15.45
- There will be at least two sets of thirty-six minutes duration and maybe one short set of ten minutes
- End of the show is scheduled for 17.30
- All out: 18.00 hours.
- Admission is free to participants and the audience for this session.
The goal is to
- to encourage a music created by ensembles of three to thirty musicians without prior preparation
- to explore the possibilities of freedom and improvisation and their limitations.
- to shape the sound with silence,
- To shape the ensemble size: moment by moment.,
- to empower the musicians with agency, they shape the music through active listening.
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.
Tickets
Tickets
The price of admission is yet to be decided.
Tickets will be made available through the Eventbrite website. details to follow.
About System 50:50
The goal is
- to encourage music created in the moment by those present.
- to encourage music created by ensembles of three to thirty musicians. to support large ensembles to play free.
- to explore the possibilities of freedom and improvisation and their limitations.
The approach is
- To shape the sound with silence,
- To shape the ensemble size moment by moment.,
- To empower the musicians with agency over their contribution.
- To 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
The Open House online session supports
- Ensemble improvisations made without prior preparation.
- Using Zoom break-out rooms means we can support any number of participants.
- Open access - there is no peer-to-peer review of applicants - all levels of musical experience are welcome.
- You can bring whatever is in your sonic toolbox.
- An online session to support a hybrid working pattern for improvisers.
- It will increase your frequency of playing and ensemble improvisations.
Zoom Supports.
- You do not have to travel to the venue, come rain or shine.
- The participants will come from a more extensive geographical capture.
- A different social, community vibe - you are often face to face with everyone in the room.
- In Zoom, it is a simple process for the host to record a session. The Zoom host can share the recordings to support your interest and development in playing improvised music.
System 50:50 for improvisers supports.
- The shaping of sound with silence
- The shaping of the ensemble with tacet.
- System 50:50 works well on Zoom.
Here is what Simon Ross wrote about System 50:50
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. Simon Ross
About Chris Hill
Chris Hill is co-promoting Ensemble 50:50 - London with Phil Morton
Chris Hill lives in London and Phil Morton lives in Liverpool.
Chris Hill is a musician who is involved in the performance and promotion of free music and sound art.
A regular at the Eddie Prevost Workshop and the London Improvisers Orchestra he is keen to explore the joy, insight, and challenges afforded by collective musical performance.
He can be contacted at chimpee333@hotmail.com for information relating to future events and performance opportunities.'
Sign up
Suggested script:
- In the field - name of the event of project - please insert Ensemble 50:500 London.
- In the field, location, please insert London
About the venue
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.
OPEN Ealing
Unit 14 Dickens Yard London W5 2TD
OPEN Ealing is an arts organisation based in Ealing. We have been delivering a programme of creative projects and activities for 10 years
Our aim is to introduce a refreshing cultural space and exciting arts programmes to the community by bringing artists, performers, art groups and residents together, promoting creativity and creating new opportunities.
Our Manifesto
Creating a landmark contemporary gallery for West London and beyond
Working with emerging and established arts practitioners across the artistic spectrum
Enabling the professional development and training of artists
Being fully involved in the local community by offering activities and events and working with people of all ages and levels of ability
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)
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