Tra$h Ma$h

From the composer, Gordon Hamilton:

During my piano studies I was fortunate to play several great modernist works including Michael Tippett's Second Piano Sonata, which uses his disjunct mosaic form: instead of music flowing through a logical journey of harmony, melody and tempo, he (and other composers, including Stravinsky, Messiaen and my own teacher Butterley) created tiny fragments of music – totally contrasting in character – which cascade into each other: an aural mosaic.

Tra$h Ma$h is a composition constructed entirely from musical quotations lifted directly from modern pop songs and mashed together using a version of the Tippet technique (perfect for our 21st century attention-spans!) 

Deep down, I love trashy pop, and the singers in The Australian Voices are mostly under 21. We organised some parties to find the best (and worst) songs of 2011 to mash together in an ironic, fragmented treatment of pop, chopping it up and sticking it back together in a way that was never intended. By recycling elements of the mundane world, art can simultaneously be ridiculous, beautiful, humorous and transcendent. I've included a fragment of Eric Whitacre's beautiful work Sleep, which everyone knows as the composition from his "Virtual Choir 2.0" online performance (borrowed with affection, Eric!) 

Of course I didn't actually compose a single note of this piece. But what if we can temporarily think of composing not as "organising sounds" but as "organising memes"? An aural meme has cultural baggage wrapped up inside that might not have anything to do with its musical information.

Tra$h Ma$h draws into question what words like "pop", "classical", "composer" and "choral" mean. It's a both a tribute to, and a parody of the current state of pop-culture.

You can view The Australian Voices performance on YouTube. The score is available for free download HERE.

FOR THOSE WHO NEED A LITTLE HELP UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT, FOLLOW THIS LINK!

Thanks for the following people who helped put all of this together...

Director: Elena Schak
Conductor/Composer: Gordon Hamilton
Director of Photography: Miki Clarke
Sound Engineers: Matt Hitchcock & Adam Friend
Word Consultants: Gordon Hamilton, Scott Griffin, Katie Valenta, Elena Schak, Martin Cardell, Laura Williams, Loclan Mackenzie-Spencer, Andrew Firth
Singers: The Australian Voices

Recorded at the IMERSD Studio, Griffith University Queensland Conservatorium.

With generous support from Arts Queensland, Griffith University Queensland Conservatorium & Scott Griffin.