Hands in light

My new Body Percussion production ‘Up the Body and Down the Page’ is complete! Experience the combination of body percussion with visual effects in this synaesthetic experience. It is with great pleasure that I present to you ‘Up the Body and Down the Page’, another synaesthetic performance combining original music and percussion with visual effects. This is a follow up of my previous production ‘Volcano Rising’ so be sure to check it out once you’ve seen this!

A bit of background on the piece:

About 2 years ago I started looking at the whole world of novelty percussion and body percussion and spent a lot of time writing and composing pieces that took advantage of the body as an instrument. As it turns out I have about six body percussion compositions now and spend a lot of time writing music for and teaching kids body percussion and novelty percussion. ‘Up the Body and Down the Page’ has been a great opportunity for me to share my love for novelty and body percussion with a vision to entertain audiences through a synaesthetic experience.

SoundStruck recording Up the Body and Down the Page

My aim for this piece was to emulate the concept of ‘seeing sounds’ by only creating sound in the light. It was a challenge to get the lighting effect that provided us with a sharp difference between light and dark. I’m glad to say that Jonathan Brazil responded to the challenge and gave a quick and elegant solution that was easy to set up and got a great effect happening.

ThunderclapThis couldn’t have happened without a fantastic crew and wonderful support so I’d like to thank everyone involved.

It was a pleasure working with a great group of talented musicians. Thank you Lachlan Hawkins, Thomas Sweeper and Andrew Doo for bringing your dedication and skills to this production. Thank you for asking questions and making great suggestions. I had great fun rehearsing, recording and filming this with you and I know there will be more to come….

Thank you once again to the excellent sound engineer KC Chen. I deeply appreciate having someone who shares my vision to entertain an audience and provide an experience. Your work is always fantastic!

Special thanks to Jonathan Brazil for coming on board as cameraman and editor. Jonathan is actually a friend of mine from a while back  who mentioned that he was keen to work on a project with me. I thought this would be a fantastic opportunity and I’m more than happy to say that his talent was invaluable. I appreciate your ingenuity, your suggestions, your patience and your talents. Thank you for bearing with me during editing and most of all thank you for bringing your gear and skills to the production.

Thank you to Maya Luski, Ben Lamberton and my sisters Eden and Noff for filming backstage footage and taking photos.

Tsoof enjoying the end of a rehearsalI want to thank the Queensland Conservatorium for letting us use their venue and lastly, thank you to my parents and my family for supporting me through the whole process with ideas and a listening ear.

Thank you all for helping to bring my piece to light (pun intended)!

This is the second part in a series of videos combining music and percussion with visual effects. With the help of social media and crowd funding, my aim is to develop the pieces into a theatrical show. To see more productions like this please like, comment, share and subscribe. There is more to come…

Thank you for watching! Enjoy!

Tsoof