Graeme Leak
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Spirit Rising - preparing the Gala for Gargarro in Girgarre

3/20/2018

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talking through the structure of Spirit Rising, a major new work now being composed for the Gala on April 14
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drumming practice
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more drumming practice
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Strings rehearsal
Spirit Rising
The following article, written for the upcoming Girgarre Gazette to be published locally after Easter, is reproduced here as an update on my activities in Girgarre since mid February.
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I am having a wonderful time preparing for the Gala Opening of the Soundshell. We are now in WEEK FIVE, with the performance taking place in WEEK EIGHT (Saturday 14 April). There are 35 players in the orchestra, and I have been running seven rehearsals a week, although we are cutting down to four to capture more people at once.

Instrument creation has moved at a pace, driven by Wallace Williams, Pete Gibson and myself. After much experimentation and fabrication we now have an ‘orchestra’ of drums, strings and percussion, mostly from up-cycled materials, which works brilliantly when joined by ‘proper’ instruments. There is a part to play for everyone who wants to be involved, although if you are considering joining but have not been along to a rehearsal yet I suggest you do so ASAP as we are well under way with quite a lot of learned pieces. But you have plenty of time to catch up so do come along and check it out.

The main sections of the piece, called Spirit Rising, are now written and most of them have been tried out in rehearsal. By WEEK SIX we will be running the show in rehearsals, and by WEEK SEVEN we will move as many rehearsals to the Soundshell as possible to get used to the stage. The score will be fully notated and documented however we won’t be using music on the night. We are memorising as we go with lots of drilling and repetition in rehearsals.

Our producer Patrick Cronin was in Girgarre last week and attended all rehearsals. He and I worked on shaping the show into a draft running order with a production schedule. He will be here for a day of rehearsals on 4 April and will then be in Girgarre from Wed 11 Apr until the performance. Patrick and I have worked on many projects together before, notably Raising the Roof for Arts Centre Melbourne in 2012 and a decade together on stage in the Spaghetti Western Orchestra. Patrick plays trumpet, uke, percussion, sings and is an excellent whistler. He’s also a terrific events organiser and it is great to have him on board.

The show, featuring all local talent, has a wide variety of elements with a few surprises. The gates open at 6.00pm for a 7.30 show. There are food vans and pre-show entertainment, and afterwards the stage gives over to a traditional ‘Jigarre Jam’ where everyone can join in and learn a couple of songs.

So if you hear the call of the drums, follow your ears to the rehearsal room. Everyone is welcome to sit and listen to any rehearsal, and you may feel moved to take up some beaters and a plectrum and join the thriving Junkestra.
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Girgarre - round two begins

2/22/2018

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Townsfolk gather at a 'welcome back' BBQ in the park. Photo: Irene Labbett
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Pam and Ken Rogers
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Yamaha Organ and excellent Lagerphone - made by Ken - donated to the Junkestra
It's so good to be back in Girgarre.
We are off to a flying start, with rehearsals already underway for the JUNKESTRA - see info about it here. The Music Supermarket is also re-activated. All of the tools and materials collected last year are back and ready to go. It will be open Wed to Sun for the next ten weeks, with times advertised on the door and here at the website. 
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Last year Pam and Ken Rogers offered some instruments but I was unable to collect them - so it was the first thing I did on arrival. Thank you Pam and Ken for the donation. We have collected enough to get on with but donations of interesting objects that might make a good JUNKSTREMENT are still welcome.

The STRING CANS project is about to re-commence out of the Music Supermarket workshop and I will be joined by local makers Wallace Williams and Pete Gibson. Already Wallace and I are working on adding frets to a cello and reducing it to one string. Residents are encouraged to call in at any time and possibly make an instrument for themselves. The JUNKESTRA will be populated with home-mades and DIYs of all kinds. I am looking forward to catching up with the most recent crop of JUNKSTREMENT that were created for the Moosic Muster last month. 
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The Music Supermarket has re-opened
I have been warmly welcomed by the community and am really looking forward to seeing how the JUNKESTRA evolves over the coming weeks. Save the 14 April if you can and come and hear what promises to be a unique band!
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'Polaris' preview success

1/25/2018

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​POLARIS - Holly and Ted's new show premiered with success
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Photo - Alex Harvey-Brown
I have designed sound and built instruments for Holly and Ted's new show POLARIS that previewed last week with shows at Cornerstone Arts Centre, Didcot and Playbox Theatre, Warwick, to great success. It is a beautifully told story about violence in language featuring dinosaurs, schoolgirls and space captains. Two shows at Theatre Royal, Stratford East Feb 6 and 14. More info about the sound design on this page
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Amplified table - music box and springs detail. Photo Alex Harvey-Brown
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Bespoke amplified sound effects and music tables designed and built by GL
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Photo Alex Harvey-Brown
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String-Can project: design inspiration and research

12/24/2017

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One-string Cigar Box Violin by W. J. Sutherland – 1948 Science & Mechanics Magazine
Cigar Box Ukulele by Shelley Rickey
I've been researching design ideas and building tips, trying hard to avoid Google rabbit holes.  Here's a few that I've found.

CIGAR BOX NATION
This community is very active and the site has great information. I'm keen to adapt some of the structural ideas found here.

I like the plans archive and I particularly like this 1948 one-string fiddle and Shelley Rickey's design uses cable-ties for frets

FRETS
I'm nowhere near ready to instal frets but in preparation I've bought a fine-tooth saw. Apparently you can get by using a hacksaw, or you can pay a lot for the proper job from a luthier supply. I opted for the middle ground with the IRWIN MINI DOVETAIL PULL SAW. It has a flexible blade so will need a brace added to it - more when we get to that stage.

TUNING MECHANISMS
The easiest is to use bought machine heads, but in case you want to make your own here are some good ideas. I found these all over the place but did not keep track of their source pages so this is a collage of images.
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BLOG COMMENTS
I really want to hear from you! but...
I'm having trouble with the comments box. When you click to comment the box appears black and so does the text so it's invisible. I'm working to sort this out. In the meantime perhaps write your comment in a temporary note or doc and paste it into the reply box. Once posted they seem to appear OK.

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year, 

​Graeme
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One-String Tin Can Instrument Project

12/20/2017

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Outline of plans to develop one-string fretted instruments and publish as I go during January 2018
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I have been building 'String Cans' since the mid nineties. My early designs featured a stretchy string across a high bridge and pitch was found using tension, not length. They are quite difficult to play in tune. The Graeme Leak String Quartet featured a range of sizes from bass to soprano. I made a particularly nice one for Patrick Cronin's 40th and immediately borrowed it back. He's never seen it since, except when we toured with the Spaghetti Western Orchestra. It even appeared on stage at the Royal Albert Hall. To see the video look here at the 11min mark. 

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I recently made a string can with a fret board  for my daughter Alex's 30th. The 'Imperial' uses a ruler and has two strings but remains fretless. I have borrowed it a few times... 

In Girgarre I found folks were way ahead of me. Their 'Junstrements' project was well underway, with some fantastic models using oil cans, biscuit tins, tennis rackets and milo cans. The standout is Wallace Williams' violin. This extraordinary piece is hand hammered from galvanised sheet metal and is a fully working, well trimmed and tuned fiddle. Wallace is a retired cow farmer in his eighties and is a fine musician and singer also.

JUNKESTRA
I have done a lot of work with junk and found percussion, and developed some ways of getting mixed skill level groups playing rhythms pretty quickly. See what happened after one rehearsal, also in Girgarre, earlier this year here. 

When I return to Girgarre next February we are going to put together a town 'Junkestra'. I want to add notes, melody and harmony to the junk rhythms and I've been wrestling with ideas for an instrument that can be easily made and played by non-musicians to do the job.

WHAT ABOUT..
How about we create six single-stringed, fretted instruments, each with one string that matches a guitar string? If six people pluck a note together it will sound (a bit) like an open chord on one guitar. I believe it will be possible for folks to learn to press a certain fret at a given moment to achieve some group chord changes and harmonies. Guitar, uke, banjo and mandolin players can join in reading a traditional chord chart. The Girgarre Junkestra will be on song!
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Bridge Building

5/13/2017

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Today the joined timber blank was cut into two giant bridges. They now need to be shaped, sanded and fitted. Ian Cassidy ("Hoppy") is waiting patiently in the wings with the marine varnish. Will be ready for the concert on Wednesday!
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Sound Fence Update and some pages from the May Girgarre Gazette (below) with details of the concert on 17 May at 6pm.

5/5/2017

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PicturePeter, James, Andrew and Rod Dickman working on the Girgare Sound Fence
It's been an action packed couple of weeks. I've not updated because I'm too busy keeping up with the Dickmans! On 19 April I showed the designs and a model of the Girgarre Sound Fence to a group of townsfolk, and the Dickmans (Rod, Peter, Andrew and James) offered to do the main post-and-wires-and-paths work. 'When do you think we can do it?' I asked. Pause. 'Next Wednesday?' said Rod. And so it was that on Wednesday 26 April some old posts were removed, the old fence tied off, new posts were put in place and the special tuning system was wired up with 8 turnbuckles. More work has happened since, to be detailed in the next posts.

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1. Second School Holiday Session slideshow

4/17/2017

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2. Junk Drum Kit is well on the way

We used bits from the found Yamaha kit to make a Junk Drum Kit. Kirwan was there with her grandmother Gillian, who took a lot of the photos above. A few days later they visited again with Kirwan's mum Carmen, a wonderful drummer and percussionist. Together they improvised this piece which also served to initiate the almost-complete junk drum kit (with apologies to David Murphy).
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School Holidays at the Music Supermarket

4/5/2017

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​Kids ruled at the Music Supermarket today as the first of two days of School Holiday sessions took place. We hosted little kids in the morning and bigger kids in the afternoon - they were all very interested in the contents of the shelves. Wallace Labbett's sheet metal violin proved a big hit, as did the other Jigarre Junkstrements kindly on loan. The sessions run again next Wednesday 12 April and are open to ANY AND ALL children - all details at here

Music Supermarket 5 Apr Holiday Sessions from Graeme Leak on Vimeo.

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Girgarre Primary School kids visit Music Supermarket in their pyjamas

3/31/2017

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On their last day before the holidays the Girgarre Primary School kids visited the Music Supermarket - in their pyjamas..! It was fantastic to see how interested they were in the collection and I was able to bring them up to speed on progress with the design of their playground installation. Before they came through the door I asked them 'whose place is this?' and they said 'your place' and I said 'no..' and they thought about it and someone said 'it's ours!'. Correct answer! The Music Supermarket is a community space, available to all residents of Girgarre and neighbouring towns. 
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<<Previous
    MARCH 2018:
    PREPARING THE GARGARRO GALA

    An article written for the local Girgarre Gazette (to be published after Easter and previewed here) describes the process of creating an orchestra of locals with DIY instruments, then writing a major work for them.

    FEBRUARY 2018:
    BACK IN GIRGARRE

    Both the
    Music Supermarket and
    ​this Girgarre Blog now reactivated.

    JANUARY 2018:
    THE STRING CANS PROJECT
     is about splitting a guitar into six single-string tin-can instruments for use in community orchestras. 
    This blog documents it as it evolves. The blueprints will be published and available for free to anyone who would like to build one.
    STRING CANS
    Change the music world,
    one string at a time.
    INTRO 20 Dec 2017
    INSPIRATION 24 Dec 2017

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