Holly Harrison talks us through her music for Spectral Tech

BY HOLLY HARRISON AS TOLD TO STEPHANIE ESLAKE

My piece is called Bend/Boogie/Break and is written for the full forces of Ensemble Offspring (flutes, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion, and piano). The name describes the character of three recurring ideas in the work:

• Bend refers to the use of glissandi and pitch bends (particularly strings).
• Boogie refers to the underlying funk bass.
• Break: as in, to break apart or a ‘breakdown’ section (perhaps a nod to metal rhythms!).

Inspiration is drawn from post-rock, funk, and honky-tonk piano, as well as the overarching idea of warping vinyl and things ‘going wrong’ – perhaps bent out of shape, broken, or not quite right.  

Besides the obvious – the tremendous musicianship of Ensemble Offspring – one of the great things about working with the group is the opportunity to workshop the piece early on in the creative process. This makes it more collaborative from the get-go, and allows us to write for the specific personalities and skills of the group – their insights and comments are invaluable.  

For example, we workshopped part of the piece back in April, and I found that while certain things worked, there were many elements that I wanted to change, including the percussion set-up; adding a longer, slower section in the middle; and creating a more prominent violin part.

Ultimately, I kept a third of this original material and re-wrote the rest in July. This offers a level of experimentation that acts as a vital sounding board.