‘SHAKESPEARE AND HEDGESHEAR’ IS PART OF JOBINA’S SURREALIST COLLECTION OF COMPOSITIONS EXTENDING ON THE IDEA OF MUSICAL TIMING. NON-MUSICIANS AND MUSIQUE CONCRÈTE INSTRUMENTS PERFORM PARTS WHERE THE SOUND AND RHYTHMS THESE ACTIVITIES CAUSE IS A INDIRECT, SECONDARY, RESULT OF THEIR MAIN ACTION.

TINNEMANS’ WILD AND WONDERFUL EXPLORATIONS IN COMPOSING FOR STOCHASTIC MUSICAL TIMING HAS BROUGHT HER TO WORK WITH TABLE TENNIS AND PERFORMERS TRIMMING HEDGES.

‘Shakespeare And Hedgeshear’, a musique concrète composition for strings, electronics, 2 table tennis games, 3 untrimmed hedges and 5 Shakespearean scenes featuring Conspiracy, Betrayal, Lightheartedness, Battle and Victory was commissioned by DEGEM, the German Society for Electroacoustic Music, for a series of concerts in the sonically spectacular industrial heritage monument Gasometer Oberhausen and premièred in 2007.

A gasometer is a gigantic industrial metal structure to store gas in. When the stored gas quantity lowers its walls slowly sink to keep the pressure level steady. Since the structure is converted to a public heritage building, Gasometer Oberhausen is set to its full height. The reverberation and echoes in this large metal container are out of this world. Inside, it sounds as if you’re in a cathedral so large in dimensions it would reach to the stratosphere. DEGEM commissioned Jobina Tinnemans to compose a work specifically making use of the extreme sonic qualities of this gasometer.

Shakespeare And Hedgeshear (filmed in 2007) from Jobina Tinnemans on Vimeo.

Premiere of ‘Shakespeare And Hedgeshear’ performed by table tennis players Dieter Kürden, Friedhelm Zagabe, Frank Schneider, Daniel Spiegelhoff and on hedge shears Sarah Washington, Knut Aufermann, Florian Zwißler. Jobina Tinnemans on semi-analog sound processing. Produced by Frank Niehusmann and DEGEM.

Recordings of this concert only managed to capture a fraction of the actual performance, as it was a total immersive experience, with sound reflecting back to the audience from all angles, a full 360º on X and Y axes.

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World Music Days 2014 Edition

Sound And Music, a British new music organisation, selected ‘Shakespeare And Hedgeshear‘ to represent the UK at the ISCM, International Society for Contemporary Music, World Music Days ’14 held in Wroclaw, Poland – read on

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posted November 19, 2014

‘Shakespeare Und Heckenschere’ (2007)

for two table tennis teams, three performers clipping hedges, sound processing and five manipulated Shakespeare acts …slighty SciFi of course.

Commissioned by DEGEM for the Mono@Gasometer Oberhausen, Germany, concert series curated by Frank Niehusmann. The original piece premièred in September 2007 and featured semi-analog sound processing. ‘Shakespeare Und Heckenschere’ (2014) features digital effects processing.

A work in 5 acts of abstract tonal cuts of Shakespeare’s Henry VII, Much Ado About Nothing and The Merchant Of Venice. By the extreme reverberation of the Gasometer architecture the spoken word gets lost and only the intonation remains. Moods of conspiracy, lightheartedness and a raging battlefield pass. The table tennis sounds generate a stochastic flow of beats, reflected back from all sides within the tubular building. The hedgeshears cutting the untrimmed hedges at first generate sparkling light accents, but turn to the sound of swords in the battle scene. All lifted in space and time by an analogue synth SciFi soundtrack.

Shakespeare and Hedgeshear - Gasometer Oberhausen

This 20 minutes sound composition was especially written for the magnificent Gasometer Oberhausen in Germany, pictured above, an industrial heritage site, and performed in a series of 4 concerts in September 2007. Frank Niehusmann, DEGEM, originator and organiser of the event MONO@Gasometer, curated 6 composers to create a piece for the exceptional reverberation in this gigantic metal hollow tube which is the Gasometer. The architectural shape determines there’s a focal point, or sweet spot, where the sound effect is biggest. The Mono@Gasometer concerts extended on this concept by situating a mono speaker on the sweet spot was the way of making the generated sounds and the building’s response merge together into a fantastic sonic experience.