Intersections Commission #3: Emma Smith | April 2015–February 2016
Emma Smith's Intersections commission in Nottingham responded to stories about working songs and whistles from local factories that have permeated the streets – looking at whistling, humming and song in relation to labour, agency and expression. Nottingham has a particular history of communal whistling, a democratic form of music making adopted by Nottingham miners. Historically whistling has been adopted as a form of agency, a tool in protest and resistance, as a mode of self-expression and communication and as the vocalisation of collective labour and memory.
Through this project, Emma invited local residents to share experiences and practices of music making at work and in protest, working together to research the history of whistling, humming, clicking, singing and ditties from the local neighbourhood. The project resulted in the composition of a communal score that was performed by a whistling orchestra.
The Whistling Orchestra was developed by Emma as an orchestral score and performance for human whistlers based on the history of music at work and was performed by an orchestra of local whistlers, Nottingham People’s Choir and Mellers Primary School, and headlined by Nottinghamshire’s world champion whistler Sheila Harrod.
Performances to date:
Primary, Nottingham, February 2016
Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, April 2016
Polyphonic Music Festival, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge, July 2016
Intersections was a strand of commissions running from 2014-2016 that expanded Primary’s activity beyond the boundaries of the building, engaging with people and places in the local area. Each project extended an invitation to individuals and communities to share and explore specific sets of knowledge, in connection to artists’ research and production processes. The Intersections programme was kindly supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.