Composing and Performing 'An Endless Sea'

On 7th December 2021, myself and my collaborator on this project, Sanyukta Srivatsa (https://www.instagram.com/sanyukta_srivatsa/?utm_medium=copy_link) performed ‘An Endless Sea’ at DINA in Sheffield. This was part of an academic module for me in which I originally wanted to work with a writer, so that we could both create separate pieces which could be conceived around the same aesthetics and themes to be performed at the same time. When I sent an email out to the MA Creative Writing students at the University of Sheffield, Sanyukta immediately responded with the idea of writing a song, since that was her area of expertise, and since she could sing and I could play cello, that meant that we had a good blueprint for a project which we would both create and perform.

Sanyukta already had the outline of a song in her head that I thought was full of beautiful, rich metaphors, and fitted perfectly within the context of what we were doing as it explored the ramifications of the interaction of two voices. She gave me the first verse or so of what she had worked on, and I started to write the cello part to go with it - slightly playing about with the structure to see how the two performers could interact. In doing so, I came up with some ‘themes’ (largely relating to metaphor or emotion in her lyrics and often mirroring some of her original melodic shapes) which could resonate and develop throughout the piece. As I shared these ideas with Sanyukta, she took the feel of what was being created into the final verses of the piece, and as I received more lyrics I was able to shape my cello part in different ways. I also developed a cello solo in the middle which I hope continues and develops the themes in the piece without too much mimicking of the vocal lines.

The end result is something similar to a musical conversation with some ‘nice’ harmonies and some harmonies and rhythms which are actively working against each other and a level of repetition and reiteration which both re-contextualises the other performer’s part and becomes re-contextualised itself. It was also important throughout that the piece wasn’t bound by any strict rules of notation, as both of us were coming from very different musical backgrounds. While Sanyukta learned the music entirely by ear and practice, I needed to have some music to follow (and submit), so the score is full of moments where the performers can be free and simply interact in the moment.

The next, and probably most important step, was rehearsal. We’d meet pretty much weekly and play through the piece, making adjustments to the score as we went. This felt like a very easy and natural thing to do as we were both writing for ourselves, and so could make the music reflect what felt natural to play and worked well together. As easy as it felt though, it was hugely beneficial to the process as it meant that the final project and score were fully idiomatic, and perfect for us to use in performance (and hopefully for others to use in future). As an example, I wrote some accidentals (flats/sharps etc) not necessarily in the key they should correctly be in to suit harmonic rules, but in the key that would be easiest for a cellist to perceive and play at any particular moment.

The innate freedoms afforded by our approach to composition and notation meant that there was a good amount of flexibility when it came to the concert. On the day, we decided that we needed to amplify Sanyukta’s vocal part in the venue, and so I was able to adjust the volume of my playing without feeling like I was compromising the piece. I felt as though these sorts of freedoms and the level of expression they allowed helped the performance to be a real success, of which we were both really proud. I would definitely say that I am very pleased with this project in almost all respects (even though I look fairly bored in the photos on here, I can assure you that’s not the case!) - we both seemed to enjoy working on it, were interested by it, and were pleased with the end results - you can’t really ask for more than that!

On reflection, working collaboratively can facilitate confidence in a very helpful way - we were both able to reassure the other that the piece was in fact good throughout the process, rather than experiencing the sort of self-doubt that can happen during a project when working alone. I feel very lucky to have had this opportunity, and I hope you enjoy the piece!