Maagiline Koht for Vanaisa Freddy
By Kristina Behrsin
Object-inspired composing creating a habitat for an oral history

This work, titled Maagiline Koht for Vanaisa Freddy (translating as a magical place for Papa Freddy), explores how sound environments produced by novel instruments can support the rich oral history of my Estonian grandfather, Papa Freddy. Papa has shared more stories than can be relayed in one performance, so this performance tells five of my favourites.

Much of this work focuses on repurposing both stories and objects. The process of repurposing Papa’s poetic stories into compositions felt like an unravelling of my own past. His stories are the fundamental fabric, and I have embroidered my own experiences onto that, producing five long duets between us.

I have used this up-cycling approach not only with Papa’s stories but also in my method to building the instruments that feature in this performance. I developed these instruments while experimenting with materials and their sounds in the large sheds of my other grandfather, Peter, where I found metallic industrial materials and a dilapidated pianola. Through discovering the timbres, tuning, and sonic possibilities of these objects, I produced four new instruments. These instruments became the primary sonic habitats for each story in this performance.

The Instruments

The Petinaphone: This instrument is made from up-cycled industrial materials like steel and bronze and is mounted on a plank of wood taken from the pianola at Grandpa Peter’s house. It consists of eight hanging chimes of varying shapes and sizes. The petinaphone is played standing up using both a variety of mallets and features in the first and second compositions. The fundamental notes of the chimes range from 496.4 Hz to 3629 Hz, depending on how and where they are struck.

Piano Harp: The piano harp was built using the steel frame and strings from the pianola at Grandpa Peter’s house. The piano harp is played both acoustically and using electronics. Its acoustic tones reverberate vigorously, and the sympathetic strings sing a continuous hum each time the instrument is plucked or struck. Acoustically, the piano harp is played by finger picking, with a plectrum, and varying mallets. It features in stories one, two, four, and five. In composition four, the sound of the piano harp is sent through piano pickups and into a number of effect pedals, producing an out-of-this-world sound – far from anything the instrument produces acoustically.

Trasholaphone: This percussion instrument was created by cutting up pieces of old bronze cymbals to create a set of three trash stacks that vary in pitch. Each stack is mounted on its own wooden base, which fits on a cymbal stand. These are set up in a row – small, medium, large. This instrument features heavily in story two and five.

Table Percussion: This table includes both cut up metallic objects that did not make it onto the Trasholaphone, and other found and donated metal objects. These cymbals, bars and bells sit on offcuts of rubber eggshell foam, which sit on an old vinyl top trestle table. The table percussion features in story two and five.

The Compositions

Story 1: Minu Armastus Niine – My love Niine

This is the first work in the performance and tells the romantic story of Papa and his affection toward the love of his life, Niine (my grandmother), whom he was married to for 57 years until her death in 2005. The lyrics explore the beginning of their relationship after meeting in a German war camp, their life together, and then Freddy’s life without Niine and his dreams of being close to her again.

Story 2: Naples to Melbourne – Percussion quartet
This piece explores the month-long journey Papa Freddy and Niine took as migrants to escape war-torn Estonia from Naples Italy to Melbourne Australia. The core repeating rhythms heard within this piece are rhythmic transcriptions of the Morse code for the names, Naples and Melbourne. Using the acoustic sound environments of the new instruments, the quartet captures the sound of the naval ship the migrants were on, and the dynamic sea conditions that the ship might have sailed through.

Story 3: Teile Kõlagu minu laul (Let my song sound to you) – Three Choral pieces (Osa 1, Osa 2, Osa 3)

The name of this piece is the repeating line in an Estonian folk song Laul Vanal Kodule (a song for the old home). The three choral pieces begin with motifs taken from the aforementioned Estonian folk song. They then unravel away from the melodic and rhythmic elements of the original score. Each voice represents a migrant on the ship from Naples to Melbourne. The pieces explore both moments of harmony and moments of conflict between the passengers and their desires for their old homes while highlighting their shared hopes of finding new and better lives for themselves.

Within these pieces, the choir uses Estonian words: Minu Laul – My song
Teile Kõlagu – It sounds good to you
Teile Minu Laul – My song to you

Kodule - Home

Story 4: Freddy’s Escape – Electronic Duet

This piece tells the story of how Papa, a soldier in the Estonian regiment of the German forces during World War II, fled what was then Czechoslovakia to avoid capture by the Russian army, who were moving into the region. Papa chose to ditch his army uniform and pretend to be a lost Danish tourist in the hope of avoiding capture. The piano harp here plays the role of Papa. It is heavily effected, representing Papa disguised, while the modular synthesiser plays the part of both Danish citizens and Russian forces. There are a number of conversations between the effected piano harp and the synthesiser. The most tense of these conversations is between Papa and border security as he crosses over the Czechoslovakian border into Germany. The piece ends with an un-effected piano harp that plays in harmony with the synthesiser, which depicts Papa’s successful journey to the safety of a German war camp.

Story 5 : Laul Vanaisale – Song for Grandfather

This final piece is my love song to Papa. It incorporates the stories of our shared memories and highlights the important bond between grandfather and granddaughter.
In this piece you will here the choir sing repeating Estonian words:
Vana Suda, Vanaisa. This translates as Old Heart, Grandfather.

Musicians and Creative Team:
Piano harp, percussion, and lead vocals: Kristina Behrsin Percussion and tenor vocal: Timothy Pickup
Percussion and bass guitar: Declan Stewart
Percussion and water gong: Matt Bush
Soprano: Dominique Garrard and Jessica Deluca
Alto: Phoebe Laidlaw and Brooke Russell
Tenor: Peter King
Bass: Brian Campeau
Modular Synthesiser: Sean Henry

Projections: Fan Club President