#performanceart - Duet for Piano and Tidemill

Lovely to see this video on Facebook capturing the workings of the Tidemill at the Son et Lumiere, Dec 22nd 2021.
The featured music is ‘Duet for Piano and Tidemill’ - a tone poem which came from a conversation I had with Dan the Miller when I was working on the music and projections for the Beowulf Festival in 2018.
Dan told me he milled using the vibrations of the Tidemill - I was intrigued and so went with a spectrum analyser to see if I could measure what the vibrations were! Once there I became fascinated with the sounds of the 800 year old building. You can hear and feel the history of the iconic place in every squeak and nook and cranny. It comes alive with the sound of the mill wheel turning.
I recorded video of a couple of early October morning 7am milling sessions, feeding and editing the sounds into my computer. Running it through some ambient FX I found the key of the Tidemill and started playing the piano as a duet to the sounds and rhythm. Capturing the notes into the computer (the modern day version of scoring) I added strings to accompany the piece which starts with the sound of the miller getting the mill ready. I also incorporated snippets from ’Jupiter over the River’ and the ‘Last Train Home’ - inspired by my late night meanders along the Deben and a modern electronic heartbeat from girl in a gale called ’Beaut Dub’
Music will be released later this year along with a hi Rez video. The stunning graphics are by Christian Nicholls - Enjoy and thanks to Christina for posting!