Uploaded July 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Heather Wallington - viola
Mark Thomas - Director of Photography
Rob Kelledy - Sound recording and Mastering
Tim Williams - Editor and Producer
This is a piece about viola jokes. It aims to question how much of a resistance we tend to have against those stereotype-informed opinions on who we are and what we do; and how this resistance manifests itself.
Threaded together by a distorted version of Bach’s G Major Prelude, most of the materials in this piece are arranged from a MIDI transcription of a recording of myself telling viola jokes. They are to musically uncover, as well as articulate the multiple layers of sarcasm entrenched within the intersection between cheap punchlines and incredible versatility. And by drawing associations between sound and words, in as implicit a way as it is, I hope for the resistance and an emergent theatre to naturally surface. Hence, this solo viola piece essentially embodies a network of dialogues between a violist who tries hard, a distant joke-telling voice, a superimposed narrative in which the jokes are greatly appreciated, the active resistance towards and against this narrative, and a viola virtuoso who subverts all existing prejudices.
All of the original text can be found at this link below: http://www.mit.edu/~jcb/jokes/viola.html
Learn more about Bofan: mabofan.com
------
LEARN MORE AND FOLLOW PSAPPHA
Website: psappha.com
Subscribe to Psappha's Enewsletter: shorturl.at/ryFGO
Twitter: twitter.com/PsapphaEnsemble
Facebook: facebook.com/psappha.ensemble
Instagram: instagram.com/psapphaensemble
-----
Psappha is grateful for the support its ‘Composing for…’ programme receives from: Arts Council England; PRS Foundation Talent Development Partner scheme; Fenton Arts Trust; The Garrick Charitable Trust; Idelewild Trust; The Radcliffe Trust; and The Michael Tippett Musical Foundation.
Please support Psappha's work: psappha.com/support-us
Heather Wallington - viola
Mark Thomas - Director of Photography
Rob Kelledy - Sound recording and Mastering
Tim Williams - Editor and Producer
This is a piece about viola jokes. It aims to question how much of a resistance we tend to have against those stereotype-informed opinions on who we are and what we do; and how this resistance manifests itself.
Threaded together by a distorted version of Bach’s G Major Prelude, most of the materials in this piece are arranged from a MIDI transcription of a recording of myself telling viola jokes. They are to musically uncover, as well as articulate the multiple layers of sarcasm entrenched within the intersection between cheap punchlines and incredible versatility. And by drawing associations between sound and words, in as implicit a way as it is, I hope for the resistance and an emergent theatre to naturally surface. Hence, this solo viola piece essentially embodies a network of dialogues between a violist who tries hard, a distant joke-telling voice, a superimposed narrative in which the jokes are greatly appreciated, the active resistance towards and against this narrative, and a viola virtuoso who subverts all existing prejudices.
All of the original text can be found at this link below: http://www.mit.edu/~jcb/jokes/viola.html
Learn more about Bofan: mabofan.com
------
LEARN MORE AND FOLLOW PSAPPHA
Website: psappha.com
Subscribe to Psappha's Enewsletter: shorturl.at/ryFGO
Twitter: twitter.com/PsapphaEnsemble
Facebook: facebook.com/psappha.ensemble
Instagram: instagram.com/psapphaensemble
-----
Psappha is grateful for the support its ‘Composing for…’ programme receives from: Arts Council England; PRS Foundation Talent Development Partner scheme; Fenton Arts Trust; The Garrick Charitable Trust; Idelewild Trust; The Radcliffe Trust; and The Michael Tippett Musical Foundation.
Please support Psappha's work: psappha.com/support-us
