Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Work Overview

This is a piece for solo instrument and tape, composed for cellist Freya Schack-Arnott to perform at 100clicks West Fireside concert season in 2021. In 2022 it was selected by Backstage Music for performance by violinist Veronique Serret in 'Earthbound' - which the video below documents.

Wilcox generated an index of symbols while listening to the currawongs in her Blue Mountains backyard, assembling these into a graphic score. The symbols each represent a variation in the rich lexicon of currawong calls, which the performer is asked to interpret while responding to a recording of currawongs Wilcox made from her garden. The video is a slowed-down loop of a live photo she took at her fire-pit, where the score was also created.

This piece is not so much about 'doing' as listening. It asks us to come off our elevated human perches down to tree-level, and become one with the birds.

Work Details

Year: 2021

Instrumentation: Any solo instrument.

Duration: 6 min.

Commission note: Composed for Freya Schack-Arnott (cellist) for the 100clicksWest Fireside concert series, 16th October 2021.