Chancing awareness: an artist explores experience

Digit event invites us to explore sound around town

By SANDY LONG

NARROWSBURG, NY — In a nod to American composers John Cage and Charles Ives, both of whom favored the element of chance in their work, composer and artist Tom Holmes of Greeley, PA will conduct an experiment in interactive sound during Digit, a digital media exposition occurring June 13 through 15 in Narrowsburg.

As for what might happen when people assemble along Main Street to participate in “Time Travel Back to the 20th Century,” it’s a matter of chance and circumstance. The public is invited to bring instruments along, and Holmes will have a variety of percussion instruments that he has created, portable CD players, large bells, a piano and more available. Hand percussion and found sound objects will figure into the mix.

Two opera singers have been asked to improvise on their favorite arias, while singing in different keys. Holmes has created Haiku cards containing minimal directions for participants, “to inspire people and give them a place to go, something to do.”

“I’m trying not to impose limits or judgments on what’s going to happen,” said Holmes. “Let it arise out of the people and the instruments that show up.” The piece is expected to last between 16 to 20 minutes. “I’ll provide some framework while not trying to impose my will,” he added.

Part of the point is to allow for the unknown element of chance to play its spontaneous part in the experience. “Chance improvisations are the most interesting that exist,” said Holmes. “Chaos and chance mimic the universe more closely than the idea of control. How we get from A to B, where we end up living, is based on what we bump into, how it affects us and what we choose to do about it.”

It was just such a chance encounter that brought Holmes and his wife Carol Ringanese together 20 years ago when he was serving as a sailor on the famous Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, and Ringanese volunteered for the watercraft launched by Pete Seeger to bring attention to the many environmental threats to the Hudson River. Holmes credits Ringanese’s calm and solid presence as the steadying force in his life and influence on his work.

Holmes counts Cage and Ives and their approach to the creation of music among his influences. He was exposed to both composers by high school teacher Tom Gordon, and the experience would continue to affect him decades later. Holmes describes Cage’s performance of his 1952 composition 4’33”, where Cage sat down at his piano, started a stopwatch, then sat in silence for that duration of time, as a seminal moment in the history of music. “What was happening in time and space was the issue, not what he [Cage] imposed on it. He was interested in framing time and space in order to perceive it as art,” said Holmes.

Ives, whom Holmes labels “another titan of the 20th century,” explored what happens to sound in terms of its spatial dimension, according to Holmes. But whereas Cage condensed things to their essential elements, Ives did the opposite, and Holmes finds both approaches compelling.

“This year’s improvisation will have a very minimalist texture in contrast to the events of previous years,” said Holmes. The musician has created a variety of inventive instruments, such as the metal tree, a collection of reused metal objects that are played percussively, and a spike fiddle made from antique walnut chair legs. He’s made flutes, whistles, stringed instruments and things that defy description, like large stretched springs that deliver resounding bongs.

Holmes studied for roughly a decade with master instrument builder Ben Hume, who taught that understanding the self is critical to successfully constructing an instrument. “You can’t use tools well without awareness,” said Holmes. “You must know the self to make the right decisions for the right reasons. It’s about being aware of why you’re choosing to make something black or red; it’s about being in charge of your decisions and being able to let go at the same time.”

And although Holmes holds a degree in music, he is also an accomplished artist and sculptor whose exploration of materials knows no limit. Displaying a clear disregard for the strictures of form, genre or materials, Holmes experiments with stone, wood, metal, recycled materials and objects, water and ice. If the exploration proves unsuccessful, it still holds value for Holmes. “All the information’s in your mistakes,” he said. “You learn nothing from your successes.”

Holmes hopes participants will be open to what’s possible during the “Time Travel” event, and not concerned over mistakes or inhibited by fear. “My main responsibility as conductor is to get them to feel open instead of self-conscious or silly. It’s not easy to insert yourself into an unknown situation, not knowing where the lines are. It takes more energy to go about things this way. But the life force is in not knowing, in that place of uncertainty. The beauty of the world is in the space of non-determination.”

Visit TomHolmes.com to see a wide-ranging sampling of Holmes’s highly variable work.

Digit will include a competitive video slam, workshops, panel discussions, interactive games, digital art, audio and visual installations and continuous screenings. For details, see page 8C in this issue.