Tubes - Paul Craenen

Feedback is generated between two microphones and loudspeakers standing opposite each other. Two performers use their bodies, PVC pipes and joints to manipulate the sound. The feedback signal is digitally processed according to its amplitude. The processing is static: no virtual sound sources are used and there is no automation of musical time. us, all sound changes can be traced back to the actions of the performers. 

The performance is composed of seven consecutive parts. In every part a specific sound potential or playing technique is explored. In the first movement a high-pitched feedback signal is generated or interrupted by mere body positioning between the microphones and loudspeakers. In the second movement, the PVC pipes are used to generate inner resonances and to influence the amplitude of the feedback signal. The pipes become instruments for musical improvisation in the fourth movement. In the next movement each performer telescopes two pipes of different sizes in a kind of trombone playing. When stretched to the full, the length of the “instrument” is exactly that of the distance between the loudspeaker and the microphone, which creates new feedback possibilities: they are fully explored in the last two movements when all pipes get connected by joints to become one installation with very low inner resonances. 

During the joining of the tubes, special attention is paid to the status of the performing bodies. The performers’ identity oscillates between the identity of a dancer executing choreographic movements in a disciplined way, of a musician playing the tubes in close interaction with the music he or she hears, and of a technician testing out sound possibilities and constructing a feedback instrument.