Nov 19, 2022

Wandering through the singing gates...

Here's a video musical idea I had… some years ago...made from a collection of gates I've come across on walks that I opened and closed and listened to...

I filmed with my phone camera...image and sound, then I playfully edited footage together to create/orchestrate melodic phrases, rhythmic patterns with the real untreated sound of squeaking gates opening...and also celebrating those particular locations.

A playful experiment. All sounds are real, they are untreated as videos recorded onto my phone. I combined the sounds looking for musical phrases, I spliced/edited the images and sounds into tune variations, different melodic sequences, some repeated wordless choruses, in between an extended flow of verses. I sometimes imagined screaling piping bird sounds, then heard a solo voice, a violin, cello, a whistling flute. I've tried to concentrate and distill the tune variations more and more.

Shot in The Scottish Borders, Dumfriesshire, Ness Point-Orkney, Hobart-Tasmania

I've had various ideas for titles. 'Walking through the singing gates...Whistling.' 'please open the singing gates -to let in whistling Winds' I sadly lost much footage of singing gate's songs I'd taken on previous phones/cameras. I will continue taking videos, and will perhaps add more to give more variety to the tunes.

I had a foolish idea of singing with it, harmonies phrases or words at a live screening one day.

Below I’ve composed or tried to place words into phrases that phonetically imitate, resemble, and suggest some of the sounds that they describe in a lyrical way… that are created in my experimental video:

A long winded Squealing symphony of lisping latches snitch hasp clicker unsnitched slattering tinkling clicks clatter snippeting latch key clink Sneck.

The various gates have a conversations with their rusting hinges- complaining, pining dry throated whistling nose snoring sleep weeples.

Vibrating clatter weeping a weep keening Pleepling fluting sea birds, Circling piping tweals screechy screals tweetling Complaining Lamenting whines wimpling rusting voices singing, squeezing rusty songs Crying whingeing girning on sweeping dry hinges scraping with long metallic screels tunefully accidental. Oil dry wheelping rusting squealing mournfully Squealing brakes, gossiping gates grieving... whimpering groans of humming... hemidemisemiquavers...rejoicing ululating delightfully squealing celebrational pleeping fruitfully with delight gleefully chanting on unsympathetic strings.

Bewailing beweeping harsh -tell-tale howling bursting into harsh versification incidental songs bursting with grievances from rain-wind worn tarnishing metal hinges- suffering argumentally -reticent bewailing squeals bleating yodelling - -whining hoots pleeping yelping teeth teetering on edge -haranguing spiel clanging shpeelings - protesting tweals.

Extracting shrill squeals accelerating wrenched tearing glissandos impatiently flowering... screeching crescendos... of flowing brakes... yodel sheetle warbling chirps- chirruping squeatles Whispering scream screaming whispers.

'Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we beat our tunes for bears to dance to, when all the time we are longing to move the stars to pity.' Flaubert

Repetitive cries of ill fortune Song phrases bleating rusted pulled Pushed heaved plucked uprooted tweet nagging griping squeaker accented bow pulled howling grinding utterance high pitched whistling soprano kettle pleeping monologue peeps pealing tinkling parlance sawing rub of metal hardanger’s...