Gardening Tips

for string quartet and electronics. 6'
2024

first performed by the Komuna Collective on 27 February 2024 at the Tap Social Taproom, Botley

The piece takes off from an interview the composer Steve Martland did in 2011 with the composer and academic Mike Searby at Kingston University. On brand as ever, Martland was funny, and political, looked to challenge accepted cultural practices, and even managed to advise on how to be a better gardener! I transcribed a few of his key phrases such as when he talks about 'Western classical music' and where he says that 'it's impossible to say that the note 'C' has any political meaning' (see below for the tidied transcription of the latter). This musical material provides what the quartet plays but the original audio is threaded throughout.



This isn't the only music material, however, as in the passages where Searby asks questions I've been more free in my transcribing. At these points, I employ just the most prominent pitch content along with the rough phrase structure and very little attention to exact rhythms. The other material that permeates the piece derives from the first page of Martland's only string quartet Patrol.



For most of the piece, the interview samples remain intact but throughout its course, the voice is manipulated in such a way as to both exaggerate and critique Martland's thoughts and positions.