This post will introduce my research agenda for an upcoming Canadian sojourn to Saskatoon in late-May early-June. Funded by a 2018 ICCC (Interdisciplinary Centre for Culture and Creativity) Linking Fellowship from the University of Saskatchewan the trifold purpose of the trip is multi-disciplinary and multi-faceted due to the co-mingling of creative, performative, and indigenous agendas.
The ICCC project, titled “Resonances of David Kaplan,” is inspired by Dr. Kaplan’s idea of creating a “living collection” of musical instruments from those he collected throughout his lifetime. As a living collection, he envisioned that the musical instruments therein could be used educationally and creatively, as inspiration for contemporary musical composition and performance.
Currently housed in the Department of Music at USASK, the Kaplan collection consists of 400+ global musical instruments, the majority of which are from traditions outside of the Western music canon. However, due to lack of maintenance and poor storage conditions, many of the instruments therein are in displayable, but not in playable, condition. Because all of the Kaplan instruments are capable of producing some sounds, this ICCC project was conceptualized around the composition of new pieces utilizing digitally-sampled sounds from a broad variety of instruments in the collection.
To that end, I will be joined by my colleague Matt Baltrucki, a recording specialist, audio-mixing engineer, producer, composer, and Assistant Professor at FAU.
Our fellow collaborator at USASK is Professor, saxophonist, and composer Glen Gillis, with whom I have enjoyed a twenty-year-long musical association. The goal of the creative team is to create living music from the now dormant instruments in the Kaplan collection.
The second goal of the research trip is the advancement of the Kaplan powwow drum project at USASK. This project, which began as a memorial to David L Kaplan (1923-2015), involves the making and “gifting” of a dance drum (similar to the one pictured below) to the students of USASK. Funded by donations to the Kaplan collection, the aim of the to-be commissioned drum is to reconcile First Nations, Inuit, Metis, Anglo-Canadian, and Franco-Canadian students as members of the university community.
The trip will include attendance at the 2018 USASK Graduation Powwow, Wednesday, May 30th, as well as continued talks with university administrators and educators about the furthering of the project.
The third phase of the trip to Saskatoon will also include participation in the 2018 STRATA New Music Festival, which will take place June 1-10 in venues throughout the city. In addition to an The Saturday evening concert on June 9th at the newly-opened Remai Modern art museum on Saskatoon’s riverside, will feature several new compositions by Duo Gillis Cunningham, who also performed at the 2016 Strata festival.
The Remai Modern venue will also offer opportunities for sonic interaction with a site-specific sound instillation by guest artist Gordon Monahan.
