BY KIYA VAN DER LINDEN-KIAN
We would like to welcome Kiya in his first story as a CutCommon contributor.
According to Nikki Edgar, there is no such thing as a “right way” to compose.
Exploring the contemporary medium of graphic scores and notation, the Forest Collective cellist uses long lines of colour to represent pitch. She believes this visual aspect of her work allows performers to inject their own personality in the music, and encourages a variety of interpretations.
Nikki’s musical career is split between her double life as a cellist and a composer. Her interests draw from a broad scope of creative disciplines and include electronics, working with graphic scores, and performing “improvised noise music” (read on).
With a commission from the notable Inventi Ensemble early in her career, Nikki was bolstered to pursue the creation of music. Eventually, after developing an interest in improvisation, she was invited to join Ensemble Density – a group featuring nationally leading figures in the field of contemporary classical music, including performers from the lauded Elision ensemble.
The collaborative approach of the Forest Collective, and its support to allow each of its members to explore their own personal styles, has provided a platform for Nikki to create and develop her talent. Her new work with Forest, Skin Deep, will be performed on 19 August, and is sure to be a blur of creative talent and individuality.
What drew you to become involved with the Forest Collective?
The Forest Collective has a great focus on collaboration, which showcases performances of varying genres. I was very interested to get involved with an experienced group that not only hosts events, but gives each performer the chance to express their personal style and support each other. And already, since only joining the Forest Collective at the start of this year, I feel very supported and comfortable in the collective.
Your new commission Skin Deep uses a graphic score. How does this medium of composition better communicate your ideas to the performers? Does it give them more agency over the work?
I hear music more visually than sonically, so this style of composing makes the most sense in my head. My own interpretation of this style of scoring suits my generally longer durational and meditative soundworld. Having long lined graphics means long sounds can be better represented since conventional notation is usually more pointillistic.
Scoring like this allows the performer to get lost in the moment rather than lost in the notation, and it encourages the idea that there is no one ‘right way’ of interpreting.
You also like to use colour to represent pitches in your works. How does this convey your intentions and affect the way the performers interact with the score?
My preferred interpretation does see colours as relating to specific pitches, which lets me explore long durational and close interval sounds. I find this overall soundworld very relaxing and enjoyable, because it lets you delve into how to play a single pitch in multiple ways, rather than creating the interest from a sequence of pitches.
I feel this composition style can be very simplistic, particularly with this interpretation in mind. The performers can visually see how the sounds develop; or, for some, it allows them to simply follow the score in a fluid and unpredictable way.
You play cello for Forest Collective, too. How do you balance your life between cello and composition?
I’m actually really bad at balancing both cello and composition equally. I dedicate time to either/or whenever I’m inspired to. As of this year, I’ve found myself creating and performing improvised noise music more than dedicating time to the cello specifically.
Why do you enjoy writing for other people? Do you ever write works for yourself?
I enjoy making pieces that I hope anyone and everyone can play. I want to see what people can do when given the opportunity.
I usually find myself performing a lot of my works, but mostly out of convenience (I know I’m always available to perform them). But this year, and particularly through Forest, I have met a lot of great performers who I can now get to play my pieces instead.
You’ve worked with an impressive list of artists, including a commission from Inventi Ensemble and being a part of Ensemble Density. Tell us what those experiences were like and how they shape your output.
Being commissioned by Inventi Ensemble when I had only just begun composing was a really great and crucial experience in that it gave me the support and encouragement to pursue creating from then on. Before then, I had very little experience improvising and never saw myself as being a composer.
And being asked to join Ensemble Density was another crucial push in helping me realise how I see myself as an improvising performer.
Having this support from so many people I respect has definitely given me the confidence to keep trying new things.
One of your specialities is improvisation. How did you become interested in this area and what did you do to develop this skill?
Improvising is still a very new experience for me, but it makes the most sense for my personality. I have little patience anymore to commit to maintaining a certain standard of playing, and enjoy not overthinking things, so improvising lets me experience something new each time I touch an instrument.
I also find it to be very honest; the audience experiences everything at the same time as I do. It may sound lazy, and maybe it is, but I find it more exciting and inclusive. You don’t have to be virtuosic to express something meaningful.
In the past, I’ve been humbled to watch you perform pieces that utilise electronics and lots of extended techniques. Have you ever had to come up with your own techniques and ways of playing things? Is that something you enjoy about playing contemporary repertoire?
Well, I’m still learning. So of course, at the beginning, everything sounds new. Extended techniques seem so foreign, yet after a while it becomes familiar and you realise the symbol or notation you came up with for a technique has existed for years. Then you change how you write it from then on, or you don’t; it all depends on what the intention of a piece is and what best describes that intention.
I definitely like finding something that sounds new to me, and I guess some techniques and sounds just can’t be replicated between performers, so you do find ways of playing something that is specific to you or your instrument.
I find the approach of contemporary repertoire to be surprisingly inclusive, since many people find it intimidating when they are first exposed to it. The approach is all about exploration and this is something everyone can take part in.
Forest Collective will premiere Nikki’s work Skin Deep at 6pm August 19 in the Abbotsford Convent.
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Image supplied. Credit: Meghan Scerri.
