BY THOMAS MISSON
Donald Trump’s thoughts on women have attracted all manner of satire in the media – be it on TV, YouTube, or the trusty old newspaper.
However, few choral works have broached the issue.
Enter Australian composer, bassist and lecturer Robert Davidson. Robert is well known on the music scene for his work with indie-classical quartet Topology, his collaborations with a wide variety of artists across several genres and for writing politically charged music.
His latest project Total Political Correctness is featured in the Australian Voices new release Reverie. Robert sets to music some of Donald Trump’s most extraordinary statements about women.
We take time to chat with Robert about his new work Total Political Correctness – and his distaste for all things Trump.
How did the idea for Total Political Correctness develop?
I’ve been fascinated by the music of speech since I was very little. I have recordings of myself at six playing around with the boundaries between speaking and singing. When I heard Trump’s voice, I heard a lot of music. I was reminded of the late Oliver Sacks’ chapter in The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat where he describes a roomful of people – aphasiacs – who had lost the ability to understand words, but still had intact their ability to hear spoken intonation (the melody of speech). They were watching President Reagan on television and laughing; he concluded that ‘one cannot cannot lie to an aphasiac’.
He cannot grasp your words, and so cannot be deceived by them; but what he grasps, he grasps with infallible precision. Namely, the expression that goes with the words; that total, spontaneous, involuntary expressiveness which can never be simulated or faked, as words alone can, all too easily.
This seemed apt in approaching Trump. I want us to hear what is behind the words, to get the perspective of an aphasiac.
You visited the issue of misogyny in Not Now, Not Ever!. What has drawn you back towards this issue in your new work Total Political Correctness?
Every day, I’m struck by how much work there still is to be done before we even start to approach gender equality. It is unbelievable to me how unequal things still are. So it’s probably quite natural that it comes to the fore in my creative work. I was just stunned by how much misogyny was being aired by a chap who was actually in the running for the top political job in the world.
What kind of considerations are made when combining the text and music for Total Political Correctness?
I look for speech segments that seem pithy both in words and in the music they make. I’m looking for hooks, such as ‘total political correctness’, but then I’m looking for more prose-like passages, too. I want to go back and forth between content and emotion coming to the fore. This particular composition is much more of a caricature than others I’ve written, so the musical setting dwells on how ridiculous the words are, without actually saying so directly. Though of course, some of the setting really underlines certain passages like stopping to let the ‘blood dripping out of her…wherever’ stick out like a sore thumb.
Beyond entertainment, what do you hope the audience will get from this work?
I hope they get a sense of how extreme these attitudes towards women are, without having to be preached to.
What’s it like working with conductor Gordon Hamilton and The Australian Voices?
It’s fantastic! Gordon is always so enthusiastic and energetic, and never thinks anything is impossible. Same with the singers. When I first showed them Not Now, Not Ever!, they looked at the complexities of actually singing spoken intonation (it looks very intricate on the page when you notate it), and had a bit of a panic. But they said: ‘Ok, let’s just learn this’. Then they broke through into an entirely new way of singing. It’s amazing – I feel very blessed to be working with people who stick at it with enthusiasm and full effort. And they are such great people to hang out with.
You’ve had quite an eclectic background in performance and composition including collaborations with Kate Miller-Heidke, William Barton and the Brodsky Quartet. Do you think it’s becoming a more necessary part of a musician’s development in recent times to broaden horizons, abilities and interests further? What are your thoughts?
It strikes me that the most notable thing about music in the 21st Century is pluralism, and it’s more and more typical for musicians to work in multiple genres and collaborate across increasingly diverse style boundaries. I do agree that it’s becoming more necessary for a musician to be adaptable by being aware of specific details as well as broad trends in different musical approaches, particularly where the emphases and priorities vary. I’ve found working with diverse musicians extraordinarily rich, expanding my musicianship, enjoyment and creativity remarkably. I was a slow learner, and collaboration has helped me be a much better musician.
You’ve had extensive training in disciplines of performance and composition. Tell us about how those two disciplines interact and inform each other, as well as the struggles of combining or separating them when required.
I find it difficult to separate performing and composing. I was telling Daniel Rowland in the Brodsky Quartet that I thought he was like a composer in how he performed Ravel – the magical tapestry of sound colours he extracted from the Ravel quartet was so very creative. I also compose very ‘performatively’: improvising with my voice, piano, and other instruments. In both disciplines, I find myself going back and forth between acting and reflecting – tapping into intuition, then stepping back and bringing critical thought to what results. When either composing or practising, I do a lot of monitoring – often recording what I’m doing and spending ages going through the recordings to see what can be improved.
Lastly some words of advice for composers, particularly those working in two disciplines?
My biggest advice is to tune into what is the most true thing for you. Don’t get caught up with trying to be clever or impressive – go for what makes you light up and get really emotional or excited or in awe – you have no control over that, you just have to show up and catch it. Give yourself permission to create music without any judgement – let it be as cheesy or insane or crappy as it comes out. You can always tweak it later. But you need to get what is inside you, the thing that only you have, and let it come out – when you do, there will be other people who’ll be as moved by it as you are. You’re not that weird. I think the same for playing your instrument – tap into what is uniquely you – listen to your sound and allow it to flow through you. I’m aware of how hippie-dippy I’m sounding right now, but I’ve reluctantly found it’s all true!
Watch Robert Davidson’s Total Political Correctness as part of the Australian Voices Reverie album, conducted by Gordon Hamilton. The ABC Classics release is out now.
Image of Trump by Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC2.0.
