Hectic Jacaranda is the original work in the series “Hectic Resonance” by Damien Ricketson. This version features duelling Pipa and Classical Guitar, which has since had many new versions arranged for pairs of various instruments. Damien’s original purpose in the project was motivated by ideas of “connection and distance” (1), using the textural and sonic effects of musicians performing on opposite sides of an audience as a primary “response” to this.
Despite the initial aim of having the music performed live, which was achieved in China according to the program notes, the entire project was first interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, yet quickly took on new meaning as Damien managed to shift his response to the original themes of connection and distance. According to Damien, these works which are largely built from a music “spatialised hocketing game” would have possibly been short-lived, until the pandemic allowed the work to find “new and unexpected resonances” (2). This was achieved by embracing the online and digital forms of music making away from stages, communal music spaces and touring schedules. Inspired by musicians who were “inventive, resourceful and anything but silent” (2), Damien embraced the fact that the works were “peculiarly compatible with social-distancing orders and well suited for stitching together from home recordings made by musicians in lockdown” (2). The original themes of having musicians communicate via a metronome/click track also made perfect sense, as this was an original theme of the work… “Just as our everyday social interactions went online, the musicians in these works are on their own but their sense of connectedness is mediated via technology” (2).
To further contextualise the Hectic Resonance series of works, several of Damien’s moderately recent and prior works to the series serve as examples of music which would have suffered greatly, compared to the new life which the Hectic series managed to find. “Aeolian playgrounds” is a live installation work designed for public interaction, achieved through pipes which are arranged physically and act as “leaf blowers” to be played as instruments (3). Not only for the fact that all non essential venues closed due to the pandemic, but also the sharing of these pipe instruments requiring breath/saliva and so on by the public would have been an immediate halt to this work. A prime example of this series is “Pipe dreams green”, set up at Casula Powerhouse and unveiled in 2015 (4). With approximately 10,000 plus visitors and interactions to the work, it is clear that this work would have suffered in the pandemic. A final example is Damien’s Opera “The Howling Girls” from 2018 (5), intended for live performances. A work which involves live performance of numerous musicians and performers, in front of an audience would have not survived in the pandemic times.
Sources
Mitchell Davis Music Education Study Blog 2019-22 