• #38: Michael Pisaro – July Mountain

    (2009) michaelpisaro.blogspot.co.uk

    #38: Michael Pisaro – July Mountain
  • #37: Marcus Kaiser – unterholz#13

    (2014) www.opernfraktal.de

    #37: Marcus Kaiser – unterholz#13
  • #35: Laurie Tomkins – Sweat

    (2016) cargocollective.com/laurietompkins

    #35: Laurie Tomkins – Sweat
  • Parkinson Saunders in the studio

    Well we survived our live radio experience on Drivetime Underground yesterday and had a lovely time with Neil and Joseph the engineer. It’s quite a tight space in the Resonance FM studio, and it’s the first time in a while we’ve crammed everything onto one table, but it just about fit. Quite a lot ended […]

    Parkinson Saunders in the studio
  • phone off

    I decided to stop using my phone so much. It’s got to the point where it’s probably accurate to say this is one of my principal daily activities. It is not good. About a year ago I deleted all the games and switched the internet off. It’s been good on the whole, but a couple […]

    phone off
  • Parkinson Saunders on Resonance FM

    This Saturday Tim and I are guests on Neil Luck’s Drivetime Underground show on Resonance FM. We’ll be playing some of Tim’s songs, and answering questions. I think. The lineup for the whole series is great, and I’m just about to listen to episodes one and two, which included Lore Lixenberg, Adam de la Cour, and […]

    Parkinson Saunders on Resonance FM
  • no mapping

    MusikTexte have just published my short statement on mapping in their latest issue. It is part of a group of texts requested by Jennifer Walshe that deal with physical, theatrical and visual elements in recent music. My text is a response to some recent work which maps data to pitch and duration (mostly), or visual […]

    no mapping
  • Basel Parkinson Saunders

    Tim and I are playing in Basel on Saturday 14 May at Christoph Schiller’s atelier concert series. Very excited to be doing Tim’s Opus 1 from Time with People again, as well as the pieces John White and Matteo Fargion wrote for use a couple of years ago. Alongside these pieces we’re doing Louis d’Heudieres’ excellent […]

    Basel Parkinson Saunders
  • reassigned #1 performed at ddmmyy

    Last week my new piece reassigned #1 was performed at the first ddmmyy series event in London, 210416|JS#r1|Ltpor/bot|TPsfm|JW/ajftggb|JSripcm2016|JFcm2 (and that seems to have messed up WordPress formatting). I was extremely disappointed not to be able to make it but logistics my end made it impossible. The performance sounds great though, and everyone did a very good job, […]

    reassigned #1 performed at ddmmyy
  • giving better instructions

    I’ve just been reading Jack Sheen’s interview with Jenny Walshe for ddmmyy and, amongst the many essential observations, I was struck by Jenny’s thoughts on text scores. Near the beginning of the interview she says I do think that a great deal of text scores don’t take advantage of the fact that they’re made out […]

    giving better instructions
  • they are always different, they are always the same

    On Friday my new piece they are always different, they are always the same was performed in Bagnolet, Paris, by children from Ecole Paul-Langevin directed by Thierry Madiot. The piece was commissioned by Lutherie Urbaine  and Conservatoire de Musique Erik Satie as part of their ongoing work with local schools. It’s an amazing initiative: they work with […]

    they are always different, they are always the same
  • interview in Tempo

    Tempo have just published the extended remix of the interview I did with Dominic Lash recently. The original interview took place at Dom’s house in Bristol in May 2015 and was published on the another timbre website to coincide with the release of the recording of assigned #15. We picked up where we left off a […]

    interview in Tempo
  • people making sounds in California

    Charlie Sdraulig has just sent me the video of his duo with Weston Olencki, people making sounds, performing lots and lots for us to do a couple of times in February. The performances were at CCRMA at Stanford and Center for New Music in San Francisco. This is the second time the piece has been performed, […]

    people making sounds in California
  • #080401 / #300501 / #310501

    #[unassigned] (#180700–#201201) by James Saunders One of the most satisfying aspects of working on #[unassigned] was the opportunity it gave me to work on new pieces for friends on a regular basis. The first of these was #080401 for Steve Altoft in his duo with Lee Ferguson, duo Contour. Steve and I studied together as undergrads in […]

    #080401 / #300501 / #310501
  • #010401

    #[unassigned] (#180700–#201201) by James Saunders #010401 was written for Andrew Sparling, Darragh Morgan and Anton Lukoszevieze for a performance organised by Tim Parkinson at Jackson’s Lane Community Theatre near Archway, just down the road from Mark Wastell’s shop Sound 323. I was commuting to London on weekends during the 2000-2001 academic year as my wife Becky […]

    #010401
  • thinking about pitch again

    I’ve kind of relegated pitch as a principal focus in my music for nearly 15 years. That’s not to say it is unimportant or irrelevant, just that I’ve had other things to concentrate on, whether that was timbre and texture in #[unassigned] or the relationship between people in my more recent pieces. Pitch was often a […]

    thinking about pitch again
  • #180700 / #091200

    #[unassigned] (#180700–#201201) by James Saunders #180700 was the first performed version of #[unassigned], although it was not given that title when it was played by Suono Mobile in Darmstadt on 18 July 2000. It emerged out of an approach to writing very short pieces which I had been exploring from 1996-2000, and was the last […]

    #180700 / #091200
  • #160301

    #[unassigned] (#180700–#201201) by James Saunders / Mathew Adkins This is one of two collaborative versions of #[unassigned] I made with Monty Adkins, combining his work as an electronic composer with my acoustic material. We made this version for Huddersfield’s annual Electric Spring festival for cellist Anton Lukoszevieze and tuba player Melvyn Poore. The piece uses processed […]

    #160301
  • documenting #[unassigned]

    I made a post over Christmas that begins to think think through the #[unassigned] project that I worked on from 2000-2009. I wanted to go back over my notebooks, sketches, scores and recordings to piece together how I made the different versions. So I started with #051000, which is the first proper version of #[unassigned] and […]

    documenting #[unassigned]
  • #010201

    #[unassigned] (#180700–#201201) by James Saunders One of the principles of #[unassigned] was that each performed version was somehow different. I wanted each configuration of modules to be unique, such that they all presented a different view of the system. I was interested in the relationship between individual versions and the unattainable metapiece which framed them and […]

    #010201
  • #280101

    After making the first two versions of #[unassigned] – #180700 (repeated as #091200) for Suono Mobile and #051000 for Apartment House – I began working on new versions that were requested for early 2001. The first of these was a solo piece for violinist Darragh Morgan. The previous two versions had been for small ensemble and duo […]

    #280101
  • #34: Michelle Lou – untitled three part construction

    (2015) www.michellelou.com

    #34: Michelle Lou – untitled three part construction
  • interview for ddmmyy

    Jack Sheen interviewed me on Monday in advance of the ddmmyy performance of a new piece, reassigned #1, in his series on 21 April. I was a little groggy with a cold, but it doesn’t [sniffs] come across in the text [splutters]. You can read the interview here

    interview for ddmmyy
  • we gradually have more things to do and fewer things to say

    Here is the final piece from Decontamination 6 at RNCM last week. Distractfold are joined by The House of Bedlam and RNCM Electric Experimental Ensemble for the first performance of we gradually have more things to do and fewer things to say. As Larry Goves noted, it’s a bit like bingo. Thanks to Larry and Mauricio […]

    we gradually have more things to do and fewer things to say
  • all voices are heard (with pitches)

    This is the video of the first performance of all voices are heard using pitches. I’ve copied the video of the original performance with word lists as a comparison. There are some striking differences in the way that the phrases coalesce.

    all voices are heard (with pitches)
  • in which one thing depends on another again

    And here’s the performance by Rocío Bolaños and Linda Jankowska from Distractfold at Decontamination 6 at the RNCM on 8 March. More information in this post.

    in which one thing depends on another again
  • in which one thing depends on another

    Here’s the video of Nicholas Peters and Ruben Zilberstein performing my new piece in which one thing depends on another for the first time at 840 in London last week. I’ve written about this and Distractfold’s version a couple of days later in this post.

    in which one thing depends on another
  • bingo

    This week I’ve had pieces played in a couple of concerts, firstly at 840 in London on Saturday, and then at RNCM on Tuesday. The performances gave me a chance to think about some of the variables in the work I’m making at the moment, especially in relation to their status as games and the […]

    bingo
  • pointing at things and naming them

    I was talking to Paul Whitty on Monday and he commented that if people look back on some of the work being made at the moment they will think we have an obsession with isolating things, pointing at and naming them. He’s right: there are lots of pieces that do this very literally (see my playlist!), but more […]

    pointing at things and naming them
  • unassigned > assigned > reassigned

    This feels a bit like mining the back catalogue, but I’ve just made the first piece in a new series that uses the old modules from #[unassigned]. In the original series the particular configurations were only performed once, like bespoke compositions, and then after concluding that project I made some of those versions available as assigned, and […]

    unassigned > assigned > reassigned
  • word sound

    Raphael Smarzoch has just made a programme for SWR2 Now Music on verbal notation to which I contributed. It includes lots of scores – interesting to hear them read out loud – and excerpts from realisations. I’m one of the commentators, along with Joseph Kudirka, Nomi Epstein, Pauline Oliveros and Ross Parfitt, and there’s a […]

    word sound
  • some new pieces you can go and listen to

    I’ve got a few performances coming up over the next few weeks, including some new pieces. Last week Weston Olencki and Charlie Sdraulig’s new duo people making sounds played lots and lots for us to do a couple of times in California. In March in which one thing depends on another is being played by Ruben Zilberstein and Alex […]

    some new pieces you can go and listen to
  • assigning old material

    I’m just thinking through some new possibilities for the old modules I made for #[unassigned] at the moment. I’ve got this whole archive of material which I still rather like, and have also been thinking about finding material to use in more recent pieces that focus on processes. So on reflection there does seem to be a […]

    assigning old material
  • #33: Zimoun

      www.zimoun.net

    #33: Zimoun
  • they are always different, they are always the same

    The new piece for Lutherie Urbaine is beginning to take shape finally. Despite my previous post about modular rules structures, that idea has not really materialised at this point. What it did do though was get me thinking about card games again, which has been an endless source of fun, but less directly focused on […]

    they are always different, they are always the same
  • #32: Robin Hoffmann – An Sprache

    (2000) www.robinhoffmann.de

    #32: Robin Hoffmann – An Sprache
  • #31: Jürg Frey – Streichquartett II

    (1998-2000) www.wandelweiser.de

    #31: Jürg Frey – Streichquartett II
  • #30: David Pocknee – New Fordist Speech Reconstruction (3 Sketches)

    (2015) www.davidpocknee.com / The New Fordist Organization

    #30: David Pocknee – New Fordist Speech Reconstruction (3 Sketches)
  • material or no material?

    Most of the pieces I’ve made over the past four years have offered performers a relatively high degree of choice as to the material they can use. The reason for this is that the pieces present processes that tend to transform basic elements, or deal with relationships between categories of sound (or action). Presenting fixed […]

    material or no material?
  • #29: Michael Baldwin – a kind of nostalgia

    (2014) michaelbaldwincomposer.wordpress.com

    #29: Michael Baldwin – a kind of nostalgia
  • #28: Charlie Sdraulig – between

    Charlie Sdraulig, between (2012-13) performed by Ilze Ikse and Elo Masing [realisation 2/2] from Charlie Sdraulig on Vimeo. (2012-13) charliesdraulig.com

    #28: Charlie Sdraulig – between
  • modular rules

    Just before Christmas I met with some colleagues at Bath Spa who have an interest in games. We’re beginning to do some work together, bringing together disciplinary interests in psychology, education, gaming cultures and creative computing. At the end of our last meeting I asked if anyone had some recommendations for good family games as […]

    modular rules
  • #051000

    #[unassigned] (#180700–#201201) by James Saunders This was the first proper version of #[unassigned] I made, following the Twelve Pieces written for Suono Mobile that were performed at Darmstadt in the preceding July. The earlier piece was performed under the original title, but the process was essentially very similar to what I began using in #[unassigned] so I subsequently […]

    #051000
  • new books

    I’m very pleased with my Christmas and birthday present books. I’ve made a start on Sebastian Deterding and Steffen Walz’s The Gameful World and Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman’s The Game Design Reader. Although I’ve already had a dip into both via our library copies, it’s good to be able to spend more time with them. Both […]

    new books
  • time to tidy up: work to do

    My room is now a bit of a mess after Christmas. It’s mostly because we’ve just dumped everything there every night and left it. Although I cleared a load of things out today, it’s still not conducive to doing any work so tomorrow is going to be tidy up day. I’ve got a big desk […]

    time to tidy up: work to do
  • PLAYLIST

    Some music that I like. Mostly fairly recent. Personal selections. Things that are beautiful, funny, wondrous, breathtaking, surprising and other things. Some are well known, others less so. All these people are making interesting work. Please have a look at what they are doing. #1: Matthew Shlomowitz – Popular Contexts, Volume 5: Language command (Training) […]

  • overlay (with transience) available for download

    Luke Nickel has spent the past couple of months making a realisation of my piece overlay (with transience). The piece asks the performer to make a specified number of sounds throughout a 15-minute duration. The performer makes many additional recordings over a period of months, each time attempting to match what was played the first time, but without […]

    overlay (with transience) available for download
  • assigned #9 performed in Helsinki

    Here’s a video of UMUU performing assigned #9 in Helsinki last week (on my birthday!). This is one of the older versions of #[unassigned] I’ve made available for re-performance in my assigned series. Originally this was made for ensemble recherche and performed at their 20th birthday celebrations in Freiburg in 2005. The performance last week uses my original dictaphones, which are […]

    assigned #9 performed in Helsinki
  • portrait in Neue Zeitschrift für Musik

    Stefan Drees has written a short portrait article about my recent work in Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. The article includes views on work by me, Luke Bedford and Stephen Daverson as part of the issue’s focus on music in the UK. I’m pleased to see it focuses on my recent investigation of group behaviours, and […]

    portrait in Neue Zeitschrift für Musik
  • slightly preposterous titles

    I’ve just made a couple of new pieces in my series things to do and the semi-descriptive titles I’ve been using recently are, perhaps, getting a little cumbersome. The two new pieces are titled we cannot say the things we are allowed to do and we gradually have more things to do and fewer things to say. They […]

    slightly preposterous titles
  • #27: Simon Loeffler – b

    (2012) www.simonloeffler.dk

    #27: Simon Loeffler – b
  • like you and like you at Cut and Splice

    Now it’s been broadcast on Hear and Now, I am sharing the video of the performance of my new piece like you and like you from last week’s Cut and Splice festival at Cafe Oto. The festival was curated by Joanna Bailie and co-produced by Sound and Music and BBC Radio 3 (and there’s a great […]

    like you and like you at Cut and Splice
  • another new cd

    Ryoko Akama has just released a new cd, senu hima, on melange edition containing a new piece I wrote for her alongside work by Sarah Hughes, Jürg Frey and Antoine Beuger. My piece, overlay (with transience), is specifically for a recorded realisation. It asks the performer to make a specified number of sounds throughout a 15-minute duration. The performer […]

    another new cd
  • some new pieces at Cut and Splice

    I’ve finally finished a new piece for Plus Minus for this year’s Cut and Splice at Cafe Oto. It’s a trio for Mark Knoop, Vicky Wright and Alice Purton with sampling keyboards and many objects. The piece – like you and like you – explores imitation and decision making in a slightly different way to some of […]

    some new pieces at Cut and Splice
  • KNM Berlin know what to do

    KNM Berlin are playing a new piece in my series things to do in Cottbus next month. The rather wordily titled we do what you say and say what to do is similar to last year’s you say what to do, but the players also give each other instructions in addition to those supplied by the assistants. I’m […]

    KNM Berlin know what to do
  • #26: Christoph Nicolaus / Carlo Inderhees – garonne · für sich

    (1997) www.wandelweiser.com: Christoph Nicolaus | Carlo Inderhees

    #26: Christoph Nicolaus / Carlo Inderhees – garonne · für sich
  • #25: Ryan Ross Smith – Study no. 30

    (2013) ryanrosssmith.com

    #25: Ryan Ross Smith – Study no. 30
  • a new cd

    My new CD on Another Timbre arrived  in the post today. I have lots of them and if you would like to buy one then perhaps click the link below, or do exactly the same thing at the Another Timbre website. Now there’s a decision for you.

    a new cd
  • all voices are heard (but not necessarily seen)

    One of my new pieces, all voices are heard, was performed at Goldsmiths in London on 6 June as part of the Music and/as Process event. I was very pleased to be joined by Richard Glover, John Lely, Luke Nickel, Tim Parkinson, Mira Benjamin and Scott McLaughlin, although we didn’t quite manage to point the camera […]

    all voices are heard (but not necessarily seen)
  • Evan Parker interview

    Finally, here is the Evan Parker interview from the Ashgate book. I was really pleased he agreed to be involved as seeing him play for the first time was one of those moments where things change. He was doing a workshop in Huddersfield and it’s fair to say I was not expecting the torrent of circular […]

    Evan Parker interview
  • Bryn Harrison interview

    It’s perhaps good timing that I saw Bryn yesterday in London at the Music and/as Process conference at Goldsmiths where he was the keynote speaker. He gave a great talk on wayfaring and music, followed by some wonderful playing by Mark Knoop of his extended piano piece Vessels. So it seems apt to upload the interview […]

    Bryn Harrison interview
  • Interview for Another Timbre

    Dominic Lash interviewed me a couple of weeks ago for the Another Timbre website in advance of the release of the CD I made with Apartment House in April. It’s a new assigned piece, and Dom and I discussed how it was made  and its relationship with what I am doing at the moment. The CD […]

    Interview for Another Timbre
  • #24: Michael Beil – exit to enter

    (2013) www.michael-beil.com

    #24: Michael Beil – exit to enter
  • #23: Michael Maierhof – EXIT F

    (2012) www.stock11.de [piece starts at 9:31]

    #23: Michael Maierhof – EXIT F
  • Manfred Werder interview

    The interview with Manfred followed our first meeting in London during one of my regular trips down from Huddersfield while my wife was doing a postgrad at the RCM. Manfred was there for six months on a residency, and Tim and I met up with him in a bar in Whitechapel to discuss his work. […]

    Manfred Werder interview
  • you say what to do in Barcelona

    Mark Knoop and Serge Vuille performed you say what to do at Festival Mixtur in Barcelona last month. There are some lovely photos by Aga Miley on the website. Looks like everyone was having fun.

    you say what to do in Barcelona
  • #22: David Bird – Fields

    (2010) davidbird.tv

    #22: David Bird – Fields
  • #21: Natacha Diels – Nystagmus

    (2010-11) www.natachapop.com

    #21: Natacha Diels – Nystagmus
  • Bernhard Günter interview

    There are a few more interviews still to add, and here’s the email discussion with electroacoustic composer Bernhard Günter. At the time of the interview Bernhard’s work was moving more toward improivisation, so the interview covered both this aspect of his work and the quiet electronic music for which he was perhaps better known at […]

    Bernhard Günter interview
  • #19: John Lely – Second Symphony

    (2006) johnlely.co.uk

    #19: John Lely – Second Symphony
  • #18: Stephen Crowe – Tenvelopes

    (2011) stephencroweopera.org

    #18: Stephen Crowe – Tenvelopes
  • Christopher Fox interview

    It was perhaps quite odd to interview Christopher, as he was both a colleague and my PhD supervisor. We’d talked informally about each other’s work, so I wanted to create a record of these exchanges as part of the interview project. Some ten years later Chrsitopher still manages to display an extraordinary range in his […]

    Christopher Fox interview
  • #16: Cathy van Eck – Wings

    (2007-8) www.cathyvaneck.net

    #16: Cathy van Eck – Wings
  • #15: Johannes Kreidler – Fremdarbeit

    (2009) www.kreidler-net.de

    #15: Johannes Kreidler – Fremdarbeit
  • Parkinson Saunders sing some songs

    Tim has uploaded the recordings we made of some of his songs last year in Bath. This is the first set, songs 2011, that we have performed a few times, and there’s also a second set of five, songs 2012, that we’ve just recorded. Not sure we’ll try those live just yet, although we do get to […]

    Parkinson Saunders sing some songs
  • #14: Jennifer Walshe – ALL THE MANY PEOPLS

    (2013) www.milker.org

    #14: Jennifer Walshe – ALL THE MANY PEOPLS
  • #13: Luke Nickel – String Quartet No. 1

    (2015) soundcloud.com/lukejnickel

    #13: Luke Nickel – String Quartet No. 1
  • #12: Trond Reinholdtsen – Concert Music

    (2008) www.thenorwegianopra.no

    #12: Trond Reinholdtsen – Concert Music
  • Phill Niblock interview

    This is the interview I did with Phill in 2007. I rang him from Huddersfield using the biggest piece of conference call technology I’ve seen – completely preposterous corporate boardroom style. As with all the interviews, I wanted to know more about how Phill worked, and in his case in particular I was curious about […]

    Phill Niblock interview
  • #11: Simon Steen-Andersen – Nothing Integrated

    (2007) www.simonsteenandersen.dk

    #11: Simon Steen-Andersen – Nothing Integrated
  • #10: Peter Ablinger – Deus Cantando

    (2009) ablinger.mur.at

    #10: Peter Ablinger – Deus Cantando
  • #9: Matteo Fargion / Jonathan Burrows – Both Sitting Duet

    (2002) www.jonathanburrows.info

    #9: Matteo Fargion / Jonathan Burrows – Both Sitting Duet
  • #8: Tim Parkinson – Time with People

    (2014) www.untitledwebsite.com  

    #8: Tim Parkinson – Time with People
  • #7: Alexander Schubert – Sensate Focus

    (2014) www.alexanderschubert.net

    #7: Alexander Schubert – Sensate Focus
  • #6: Rie Nakajima

    (2013) www.rienakajima.com

    #6: Rie Nakajima
  • #5: Cassandra Miller – Bel Canto

    [audio:http://cassandramiller.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/bel-canto.mp3] (2010) cassandramiller.wordpress.com

    #5: Cassandra Miller – Bel Canto
  • #4: Stefan Prins – Generation Kill

    (2012) www.stefanprins.be

    #4: Stefan Prins – Generation Kill
  • #2: Joanna Bailie – Artificial Environment #3

    [audio:http://joannabailie.com/files/8513/2558/4723/AE3_live.mp3] (2011) www.joannabailie.com

    #2: Joanna Bailie – Artificial Environment #3
  • playlist

    I decided to start this list on 17 October 2014 while driving home after hearing Rie Nakajima play at Cafe Kino in Bristol. Originally I was building it on a separate site but have decided to move it here as it makes more sense. For some time I’d been formulating a view that there has been […]

    playlist
  • different water environments

    I’ve been collaborating with chemical engineers Mirella Di Lorenzo and Jon Chouler from University of Bath for the past few months as part of a project supported by South West Crucible that brings together scientists and composers. Their work is with microbial fuel Cells (MFCs), devices that generate electricity from any sort of domestic, industrial or […]

    different water environments
  • Rhodri Davies interview

    I’ve uploaded the interview with Rhodri Davies as the next one in the series – over half of them are available now. Rhodri and I met in Huddersfield in the 1990s when he was doing his MA, and I was lucky enough to witness the Gibbon Trio with Hervie Syan and Dave Summers which I […]

    Rhodri Davies interview
  • Alvin Lucier interview

    Here is the interview I did with Alvin Lucier in 2007 at Dartington. He was over for a short residency, with the students playing and installing some of his pieces. We managed to find a very quiet corner of the cafe to chat, before heading over to hear his I Remember, a wonderful piece for voices […]

    Alvin Lucier interview
  • Tim Parkinson interview

    A couple of days ago I was watching Tim’s Time with People again. It’s an astonishing combination of mess (literally, given the detritus strewn across the stage) and organisation, revealing the character of the performers in a range of different tableaux. We performed Opus 1 last year at Kings Place, and the sense of personal openness that […]

    Tim Parkinson interview
  • ultimate notebook solution

    It’s been nearly four years since I bought a Whitebook notebook, and I’ve finally filled it up. Of course, I haven’t really as it’s a modular folder containing four separate notebooks, so I just need to replace one, but those original books are now full. In the meantime I’ve also found a really good paper/digital […]

    ultimate notebook solution
  • Jennifer Walshe interview

    This week I’ve uploaded the interview with Jenny Walshe. It’s one of the earlier interviews in the series, dating from 2004, just after she completed her Barbie opera. We discussed the provenance of sounds in her work, especially the way contexts are stripped away by reframing them. Although this continuous search for sonic materials is […]

    Jennifer Walshe interview