Tag Archives: The Ideating Knell

11/11 | BC Grimm (prepared guzheng) , Def Sonic, & Hunter Nicholson @ Common Sage! (Madison, WI)

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Check out this incredible poster art by @assortedpsychedelia Andrieu Todd!!! 😍😍😍

Saturday, 11/11/2023
Common Sage
934 Drake Street

BC Grimm
Def Sonic
Hunter Nicholson

Potluck @ 7pm
Music @ 8pm
$10 suggested donation

I’ll be performing the title track from my 2014 album of experimental zither music called, “The Ideating Knell”. It’s a long-form piece for a ‘prepared guzheng’ Chinese zither, exploring all of the non-traditional sounds you can make on the instrument. In the spirit of John Cage’s groundbreaking solo prepared piano works, this music prepares the guzheng with shell necklaces, clay pottery tools, mixing bowls, small gongs, bows, dulcimer hammers, clay teapot shards, and more! I would describe the 21-string guzheng with its spine of bridges and large coffin-like resonating chamber as a “cathedral of sounds”.

I’m very excited for this opportunity to perform at Common Sage, hosted by Tim Russell and Liz Sexe! An experimental musician and dancer couple who I’ve known nearly the entire time I’ve been in Madison! What they are cultivating with these monthly experimental house shows and potlucks is in kindred spirit to what Ka Baird used to do in Madison before she moved to NYC. It is helping to rekindle a sense of community for the experimental and improvised community here in Madison. It’s something that’s been missing in our scene for years now, and I’m so glad it’s back!! It’s been really hard for Tim and me to schedule a month where I’d be around and available to perform, and we finally got one! Hope to see some of you tomorrow night!

I’ll be taking the new sounds that I’ve been creating for this updated version of the piece and working on a new album of prepared guzheng music for another label soon! More details to come in the coming months, but I’m very excited to release a new album of prepared guzheng sounds on the 10th anniversary of the original release of this concept!

From a performance of the piece at an outdoor festival back in 2014, photo by Audre Rae Photography
Picture of the setup from a recent performance of The Ideating Knell in Cleveland, OH at the Cleveland Institute of Art

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“The Ideating Knell” composition for “prepared guzheng zither” ↘︎

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“The Ideating Knell” (2014) full album on Signal Dreams label ↘︎

8/11, 8/12 | BC Grimm “Orbis Obscura” CD Release Show!

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J100

Album Artwork by John Praw Kruse

Thr 8/11 | 8pm $5 @ West End Conservatory

5500 W Vliet St, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53208

“Orbis Obscura” CD Release Show feat.

HENRY/DROBKA/WELLER/MCEVOY/MILLER QUINTET

BC GRIMM

Fri 8/12 | 8pm $5 @ ArtIn Gallery

1444 E Washington Ave, Madison, Wisconsin 53703

“Orbis Obscura” CD Release Show feat.

HENRY (NYC) / WELLER (CHI) QUARTET

BC GRIMM

New BC Grimm “Orbis Obscura” (2016) CD $10
2nd ed. “The Ideating Knell” (2014) CD $10
Both CDs for $15
at the show

“Orbis Obscura” is a 35 minute “sci-fi tone poem” for Pipa (Chinese lute) with delay & fuzz pedals by BC Grimm. Available Friday, 8/12 on CD & Digital from Other Obscura Records! Other Obscura is a label promoting the compositions and improvisations of artists in Milwaukee, Madison and the surrounding areas. Est. 2016.

GrimmusiK Records is running a limited edition second printing of BC Grimm’s “The Ideating Knell”, originally released in 2014 by Signal Dreams. This seminal 70min work by BC Grimm features 16 experimental compositions performed on prepared Guzheng and phased Guqin Chinese zithers.  Available at the show!

BC Grimm

Cellist & composer Brian Grimm grew up surrounded by Chinese string instruments of every sort. After initial lessons in Chinese music with Yang Wei (pipa) & Daxun Zhang (bass) of the Silkroad Enesemble, he was lucky to then study guqin (zither), pipa (lute), gaohu (fiddle) & daruan (bass lute) in Hong Kong with members of the 香港中樂團 Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra & Wuji Ensemble 無極樂團. Over the last 15 years Grimm has developed a deep language of Free Improvisation & Composition with groups such as The Brothers Grimm, Lovely Socialite, and Brennan Connors & Stray Passage. In conjunction with performing & teaching, Brian runs GrimmusiK Records – a label for all projects involving him & his brother AJ (classical & flamenco guitar).

BCG on cello + pipa by John Hiller Brumbaugh

BCG on cello + pipa by John Hiller Brumbaugh

 

6/17 | New Album THE IDEATING KNELL for sale on Signal Dreams

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‘The Ideating Knell’ by BC Grimm is now available on Signal Dreams!

Limited Edition CD
16 tracks 70 mins $7
Order your copy today!

ᄼᄽᄿᄽᄿᄼᄾᄼᄽᄾᄿᄽᄿᄼᄾᄼᄽᄾᄿ
A few words on the album from Signal Dreams

“  Madison, WI-based avant-jazz explorer BC Grimm is well known locally not just for his phenomenal cello work in live collaborations with artists like Julian Lynch, Spires That In The Sunset Rise, and the mighty Db Pedersen (to name just a few), but also the mind-blowing improvisational chops he showcases with his brother A.J. Grimm in cello-guitar duo The Brothers Grimm and his worldly and detailed production work as Brain Grimmer. More recently, Grimm’s work has been shifting focus toward his intriguing work with two different Chinese zithers, Guqin and Guzheng. We’re extremely proud to present ‘The Ideating Knell,’ a staggering album that combines Grimm’s deep experimentation with the zithers with his love of detailed processing. Honestly, nothing we could say about it could match the beautiful clarity of this statement from BC Grimm himself:

“‘The Ideating Knell’ is an experimental acoustic album of compositions for two ancient Chinese zithers, Guqin 古琴 & Guzheng 古筝. This record includes 6 ‘doppler phase’ pieces for guqin, emulating tape composition techniques to create the movement of sound to/from the vanishing point on the horizon line to/from the listener’s ears. There are 6 pieces for prepared guzheng using: dulcimer hammers, cajon brushes, chopsticks, mate straw, metal bowls, broken teaware, clay sculpting tools, snare wires, & seashell strands. 3 pieces revisit the title track composition from BCG’s 2011 solo guqin album, “Flock Migrates Over The Pines”: with re-recorded, reconstructed versions in two custom tunings, and a new variation on the theme in a traditional tuning. The actual notes in the composition’s score visually depict various forms & shapes of birds taking off into flight, or in formation during flight. Also, specially devised for this project is a new ‘Pentatemperment’ tuning system on guqin, which splits the octave into 5 equal steps, instead of 12 [ low to high: C-40c D0c E+40c G-20c A+20c C-40c D0c ]. Guzheng 古筝, a 21 string bridged zither spanning 4 octaves, and Guqin 古琴, a 7 string fretless zither spanning 1 octave, tune to pentatonic scales. Both instruments share a culturally important performance history stretching back about 2,500 years to the Warring States period.”

Artwork by Nathaniel Ritter. Price is postage paid in the US. Please see shipping rates for Canada/World.  “

This Signal Dreams batch also includes: Troy Schafer ‘Untitled No. 1‘ & Derek Rogers ‘Prevais‘.

∴ ∵∴ ∵∴ ∵∴ ∵∴ ∵∴ ∵∴ ∵∴ ∵∴ ∵∴ ∵∴ ∵∴ ∵∴ ∵∴ ∵∴ ∵∴ ∵∴ ∵∴ ∵∴ ∵∴ 

Solo Guqin Album F.M.O.P. Remastered + Upcoming Release “The Ideating Knell” on Signal Dreams

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FLOCK MIGRATES OVER THE PINES [2011] by BC Grimm
a solo GUQIN album for meditation, yoga, & relaxation

June, 2014 – remastered & availalbe digitally for $8 on GrimmusiK.bandcamp

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FMOP has been remastered in anticipation of a new solo zither album, The Ideating Knell by BC Grimm coming out next Tuesday, 6/17 on Signal Dreams records.  Stay tuned for more details, follow Signal Dreams on bandcamp & soundcloud!

GD07  “The Ideating Knell”  available 06/17/2014 on Signal Dreams 
An experimental acoustic album of compositions for two ancient Chinese zithers, Guqin 古琴 & Guzheng 古筝. This record includes 6 ‘doppler phase’ pieces for guqin, emulating tape composition techniques to create the movement of sound to/from the vanishing point on the horizon line to/from the listener’s ears. There are 6 pieces for prepared guzheng using: dulcimer hammers, cajon brushes, metal chopsticks, mate straw, metal bowls, broken teaware, clay sculpting tools, snare wires, & seashell strands. 3 pieces revisit the title track composition from BCG’s 2011 solo guqin album, “Flock Migrates Over The Pines”: with re-recorded, reconstructed versions in two custom tunings, and a new variation on the theme in a traditional tuning.  The actual notation in the composition’s score visually depicts various forms & shapes of birds taking off and in formation during flight.  A new ‘Pentatemperment’ tuning system on guqin has been specially devised for this project – splitting the octave into 5 equal steps, instead of 12 [low to high: C-40c D0c E+40c G-20c A+20c C-40c D0c].  Guzheng 古筝, a 21 string bridged zither spanning 4 octaves, and Guqin 古琴, a 7 string fretless zither spanning 1 octave, both tune to pentatonic scales.  These instruments share a culturally important performance history stretching back about 2,500 years to the Warring States period.

Brothers Grimm farewell show at Color Field Ensemble Festival For Contemporary Music | 2013 KARJAKA Studios | http://karjaka.com/

Brothers Grimm farewell show at Color Field Ensemble Festival For Contemporary Music | 2013 KARJAKA Studios | http://karjaka.com/