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Catherine Lamb

December 18, 2019

Catherine Lamb

The most intriguing concert I saw this year was one by 37 year old American composer Catherine Lamb.


“The listener is also the musician”

Your concert at De Nor in Antwerp was a strange one. I did not really know what to think about it, which is why I still think about it, almost half a year later, which could be my definition of a good concert. But I would like to hear it from yourself. So can you tell me: what were you trying to do that evening in Antwerp? Was it: recording your surroundings and then playing it back? And did this go wrong (because the speakers and the microphones were standing too close to each other, which created unexpected feedback), or am I wrong here?

Catherine Lamb: I agree with that statement. Usually the most impressionable experiences I’ve had listening to music have been ones that I could not define as ‘good’ but rather lingered with me in some way. ‘Good’ is usually in reference to what we already know and so is not such a useful judge. I’d say responding to something as ‘good’ has more to do with our own aesthetics and references than it has to do with anything else.

With that said, I wouldn’t say it was necessarily a ‘good’ concert on my side (ha!). It was an experiment: the instrument I was playing was using the surrounding environment as source material live (as in filtering it with resonant bandpass filters to particular frequencies in an extended overtone series set). It was the first time I tried this also situated outdoors (usually it is the microphones that are outdoors and the listening experience inside). There was a limit to how far we could place the microphones (the park closes after a certain hour and someone could snatch the microphones if we placed them on the street), so there were definitely some technical feedback issues that were never solved, particularly in relation to the strange acoustics of the concrete amphitheater where the audience sat. So the piece shortened as a result (tones became chaotic, and people were chaotic as well!).

Catherine Lamb by G. G.

 

The music I knew from you was mainly about ‘digging into the sound’, this concert was about ‘getting outside’, looking for the sounds around you, so why did you want to get from ‘inside’ to ‘outside’?

Well, ‘getting outside’ as in being outside, was really a choice of the organizers! I can’t say that was my idea. However, the filtering of the outside I have used now in about 11 different pieces including that one. I’ve been curious to find the edges of tone to noise through filtering, as well as through our own perceptions of what is harmony and what is chaos. I suppose this example truly explored that! Beyond this I would say I am usually interested in the between points of inner and outer experiences and perceptions.

“I don’t believe in virtuosity.”

Do you see being a musician as ‘learning to master an instrument’? Or is it about ‘discovering what one can do with sound’? Or would you have another definition about what a musician is or can be?

I don’t believe in virtuosity. I believe in working over a long period of time, consistently and with love and attention. But I don’t believe that someone can ever master an instrument because there is always a different approach than the one someone has spent their whole life working on. I always think about John Coltrane’s answer to the question, “how do I be a better musician?” and he replied, “focus on being a better human being.” I think it’s really mostly about that, John was right. When I’m more attentive in a general sense, which is a kind of attitude and mental state, the deeper the music is. Things certainly get more interesting over time (I wouldn’t say better, just more interesting and deeper). Being a musician is situating oneself with the world and really experiencing things to a deeper and deeper level. The listener is also the musician in this respect!

Eddy Prévost said about Keith Rowe: “he plays, but he doesn’t listen”. Do you think that one can be a good musician without being a good listener?

No. One can have interesting ideas without, one can still be an artist, but listening is one of the most particular aspects to being a musician, and is a big part of why I love music.

– Joeri Bruyninckx

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