Crow Stone Tone Poem
2015-22, interspecies score
based on a dialogue with a crow, using stones
video above is a 2022 performance for Vancouver New Music with Adrian Avendaño, Giorgio Magnanensi, Martin Reisle, Anju Singh, and Stefan Smulovitz.
The score is based on an experience I had with a free-living crow who lives in the territory that includes my home. I consider it a creative play as a form of interspecies communication. The crow initiated the project by gifting me a pebble from a water dish I left for his family. That instance started a dialogue with him, using stones from the water dish, that took place over the course of a week: I replied to his single stone with an stack of 2 stones; he responded by moving the top stone off the stack; I created with a more substantial stone arrangement consisting of 6 pebbles, in stacks of 2; he rearranged the stacks into a more horizontal arrangement, etc. (see image below). The ten stone arrangements were adapted into a score for music performance. The score contains performers notes that orient musicians to consider what it means to engage in interspecies communication.
An earlier version of the project is a (2020) soundscape, created in collaboration with Simon Lysander Overstall
If you are interested in the score for performance, please contact me at jandreyev @ ecuad.ca
Stone arrangements created for the score:
Associated Publications:
Andreyev, Julie. “Bird Park Survival Station”. Gillieson, Katherine and Jon Hannan, editors. Occasional Papers: Creative Research at Emily Carr. Vancouver: Occasional Press, 2022.
Andreyev, Julie. “Crows and Stones” (chapter). Lessons from a Multispecies Art Studio: Uncovering Ecological Understanding & Biophilia Through Creative Reciprocity. Intellect Books, 2021
Smith, Janet. “Beyond notation: Emily Carr Univeristy students’ creations inspire a world of sound.” Stir: Arts + Culture. December 7, 2020
exhibitions
2024 group exhibition “Near Dwellers as Creative Collaborators”, Street Road Artist Space, curated by Daphne Plessner