Raisonnance joins raison and résonner: reasoning that unfolds the way a resonance does, slowly and without turning back. For solo percussion, electronics and Sirène, a sensor glove worn by the performer, it moves like a train of thought through six tableaux, each a different resonance, reached through gradual transformation or sudden breakthrough.
It opens in silence, with cymbal-like stick gestures repeated back and forth. Next, a bell plate played by friction, wood block, cymbal and terracotta plate weave a single texture, the hands offset against each other. Only the opening gestures ever return. On a real cymbal, Sirène makes them audible, the hand’s motion swelling sine tones. Later, the snare alternates strictly between rim and head in sixteenths, over three one-minute passes with and without chains: an obsession sustained until it transforms.
The final tableau is autobiographical. As a child, I had periodic MRI scans to monitor residual cells from the tumour that left me blind in one eye. Fifteen short snare cells, each repeated 25 to 40 times like a scan sequence, unfold between silences over a six-minute electronic glissando, abstractly scanning my brain for traces of reasoning. A single resonance of the bell plate ends the piece.
Instrumentation
bell plate (C4) · snare drum with chains · small cymbal · wood block · terracotta plate · Sirène · electronics
credits:
Music – Sébastien Vaillancourt
Performance – Jeanne Larrouturou
Sound – Denim Szram
links:
https://jeannelarrouturou.com
https://www.garedunord.ch/de/programm/2800/friendly-takeover-jeanne-larrouturou