Between Zero and One (percussion sextet, audio track - from Between Zero and One)

One of the pieces/works from the concert-length show "Between Zero and One" created in collaboration with New Zealand's Strike Percussion.

Key Details:

Difficulty: Advanced

Premiered: 2013

Duration: 1:10:00

Commissioner: Strike Percussion

Video editing: Tim Gruchy

Performers: Strike Percussion

Set and Lighting: Glen Ashworth

Video and Interactives: Tim Gruchy

Director: Philippa Campbell

Instrumentation: Percussion Sextet: Mixed Percussion

Premiered by Strike Percussion on September 6, 2013 at the Christchurch Arts Festival, Christchurch, New Zealand

The centre-piece from this show, in fact the title-track, also called "Between Zero and One", involved me reaching out to friends around the world and asking them to record and film themselves playing a layer of the music. Amazingly, this no-budget compilation of self-recorded performances hung together really well and the piece became a feature of the show.

It was a fascinating, precarious, and inspiring process; particularly towards the end of it when all of the videos came together. It's one thing to know this is possible and to see it in the work of others, and it's another thing entirely to do it oneself. It's as much an expression of one's credibility, and the trust others have for you and your work, their kindness and generosity, and in many cases, their love. To witness this coalescing into a tangible audio-video outcome, with so many personalities and spirits (often, in this case, people who had never met - and probably will never meet), took me by surprise in its powerful emotional effect. And the second lesson was that it also impacted on audiences in a special way that I hadn't anticipated. I was so moved by this outcome that the process became the underpinning concept driving the No Man's Land project.

The musicians involved are listed below. They delivered a range of performances ranging from totally improvised to fully composed by me in advance. When I write improvised, of course I'm really saying 'composed (spontaneously)' by each of them.

Leila Adu (NZ) Voice - improvised

Adam Page (Australia) Wooden Flute and Saxophone - improvised

Serj Tankian (USA/Armenia) Piano - composed

Matt Penman (USA) Bass - composed (and developed further by Matt)

Petros Kourtis (Greece) Percussion - improvised

Warren Maxwell (NZ) Acoustic Guitar - composed (incredible the fast strumming toward the end!)

Lara St. John, with Iggy Cain balancing on her head (USA) Violin - composed

Pedro Carneiro (Portugal) Vibraphone - composed

Michael Gavriel (NZ) Oud - composed

Pei-Ching Wu (Taiwan) Glockenspiel and Marimba - composed

Kostas Theodorakos (Greece) Marimba (supersonic) - composed

Julia Coolikova (Russia) Piano - composed

Louis van der Mespel, Anna-Marie Alloway, John Roxburgh, Salina Fisher, Annabel Drummond (NZ) Strings - composed

Sophia Labropoulou (Greece) Kanun - improvised

Alex Ware (NZ) Voice - improvised

Jack Hooker (NZ) Synths - his own composed material

This one piece led directly to No Man's Land.

Putting it all together on screen was a nightmare Tim Gruchy had to deal with. My directions to the players were 'record with good microphones and grab whatever video you can - even a phone will do'. Great for me, but hell for Tim. I remember we received some video files in a format no-one had ever come across before and no information about them was available anywhere. I think they were from a Russian cellphone. But Tim found a way.

This video was the main point of contention between me and the rest of the production team. I insisted that the artist names and locations be put on screen. Everyone else refused, citing it as being in poor taste. I never understood it and still don't. There's the matter of honouring the players and their generosity and my belief that the audience would be fascinated and moved to know where all these people were when performing their part. I was outnumbered and forced to let it go, something I've always regretted.

My friend Sotiris Bekas very kindly offered to make a version of the video adding names and locations. Here it is:

And here's a rough capture of one of the performances of the piece, with Strike in shot playing the live parts.