Channelling Dulcie's Piano - How the River taught the piano to sing
Vanessa Tomlinson, Jesse Budel and Greg Harm
Driving the piano from The Piano Sanctuary (Murray Bridge) to Willson’s Downfall (The Piano Mill) in an 8-day series of performances, Channelling Dulcie's Piano draws on the normally inaudible underwater sounds of the river system that traverses these locations - The Murray, the Darling/Barka, the Baron, the Gwydir, Boonooboonoo Creek and all the tributaries, lagoons and billabongs in between.
The piano is a 1920’s Milton pianola, originally in the house of Vanessa’s Nana in Fullarton, Adelaide. Originally gifted to Jesse to become part of the Murray Bridge Piano Sactory, it was later decided to drive the piano to the Piano Mill site where Clocked Out (Vanessa and Erik Griswold) are artists in residence.
Drawing on Vanessa and Jesse’s interest in acoustic ecology and freshwater acoustic monitoring, the multi-day composition consists of recording the water-source using hydrophones; playback of the recording verbatim in the performance with Vanessa and Jesse performing live with the underwater sounds, "channelling" the fish sounds through Dulcie’s piano - teaching the piano to play. All photos and videos are by Greg Harm.
Following the 8-day tour in May 2023, various iterations of the work have been realised including;
Big City Lights - Southport, Gold Coast June 21 -July 7, 2024
Three-channel video, four-channel audio installation
ISEA (International Society for Electronic Arts) - Brisbane, QLD June 2024
Widescreen presentation of Wilcannia performance
ISEA (International Society for Electronic Arts) - Brisbane, QLD June 2024
Short paper about the project
ISEA (International Society for Electronic Arts) - Brisbane, QLD June 2024
Performance of Channelling Dulcie's Piano at KEPK
Murray Bridge – the Murray River flood plains at Mobilong (haven for birds).
Renmark – Murtho Forrest Landing Campsite, Murray River.
Wentworth – Private property on the Darling River, near the confluence of the Murray River.
Wilcannia – Wirrawong Bush Camping, Billabong off the Barka (Darling) River
Cobar – day off, with informal performance at the Sound Chapel
Brewarrina – Beds on the Barwon, Barwon River near the Fish Traps.
Moree – Pringy’s Farmstay, Mehi River
Willson’s Downfall – The Piano Mill overlooking Boonoo Boonoo Creek
Performance Sites
