Mauro Hertig Archives

model maypoles and braids, Tim Simonds, Da — Photo credit: Dario Lasagni

press release, model maypoles at Da, 2020

Two or more people have a conversation in a room and then leave it. They leave the room and leave the conversation. The conversation is left in the room. But it has no story. It hasn’t been left with a story. There is no “about.” It is a pattern. Or a patterning. Just the relations. A bunch of prepositions lingering there. Some negotiation. Some coordination. All the social words with which we describe music: harmony, dissonance, chord, discord, resolution, fugue, counterpoint. It is left there. But it is not residue. More like a puppet. It moves. And might be dressed up. A puppet that is a teacher. A puppet that is a teacher with only limbs. And someone else, some other people, might come in and use it; pick it up and dance with it.

Here are a set of maypoles. They are like the midsommarstång danced around in Sweden, like liberty poles and arbres de la liberté that rally a gathering for someone to speak out in a small village in 18^th century France or North America, like the poles plaited in Waldorf schools as a part of elementary education, like the Maibäume birch tree tied to the corner of the houses of lovers in the Rhineland. They are model size. Smaller rituals. Some move. Some are obstructed. Some are knotted from the outset. And some are too fragile to stand on their own.

Once circle,
All equally spaced around,
numbered clockwise.
The even numbers face out.

The odd numbers face in—
they do not move, but act as gateposts.

The even numbers move.

Away from the center of the circle
Turning right,
And moving back towards the center of the circle
passing between the next gate post.

Turning left,
And moving back away from the center of the circle
Passing between the next gate posts.

Turning right,
And so on and so on…

model maypoles and braids, Tim Simonds, Da, Heinrich von Kleist

One evening in the winter of 1801 as I walked in the park, I happened to meet Mr. C—who was engaged as first dance in the opera, a man very popular with the public. I told him, in passing, that I had seen him several times at an outdoor marionette theater that had been set up in the market square to entertain the common-folk with song and dances and short dramatic burlesques.

He assured me that I need not be surprised at his delight in the pantomime of these marionettes; and hinted that they could be very effective teachers of the dance. Since he did not seem to be indulging a mere whim about them, I sat down with him to discuss this strange theory in which marionettes seemed to become teachers.
— Heinrich von Kleist, On the Marionette Theater, 1810 (translator unknown)

Faculty Meeting with Rudolf Steiner: ‘There is a question about speaking in chorus’

Readings and performances by
Victoria Haynes, Mauro Hertig, and Emily Martin

Broadcast on Montez Press Radio,
March 26^th, 2020, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM (EST)

model maypoles and braids, Tim Simonds, communication, diagram

model maypoles and braids, Tim Simonds, Da, Brooklyn, New York, art, artist

Now,

There are two voices, and only two voices all the time.
Either voice might be an instrument’s sound, a guitar or a keyboard, in the room, here, now.

They speak to each other. Speak alone and hear one and other. Speak along while listening to each other. Or speak without listening to each other. No matter, hear now, these two voices, no matter what they do, are tethered to one and other.

There are two voices, and only two voices all the time.
But these too voices are not limited to our voices and the sounds of the instruments around us here and now. Either voice might be something from farther away, a record of something not now.

These conversations, are / here, now, / not many voices.
Cacophony is not multiple voices
Polyphony is not multiple voices
Cacophony is one voice
Polyphony is one voice
One of only two voices, and only two voices all the time.

One voice considers the other voice.
If the voice makes a sound, it means it has met another voice.
It has already exchanged with the other voice.
If I say eeeeeeeeeyeeeeee or say say it means Mauro has said this.

He does not control me, he has only opened his mouth and remained silent to let my air out.
He speaks with my vocal chords, and I speak with his.
Every voice speaks using the other voice’s chords.

…

Now, a singing lesson…

Leading and Circles was a radio broadcast with the musician and composer, Mauro Hertig. An exchange of exercises for reading and singing. Two voices, a guitar and a keyboard are put in a chain of influences, following and pitch-correcting each other.

Our description as it reads on the broadcaster’s (MPR’s) site:

Leading in Circles (excerpt)

The teacher’s voice teaches how to move the mouth, to move the tongue to move the air to push it past the teacher. All teaching teaches singing. The instruments – guitar, two voices, and classroom audio recordings – are placed in a chain of influence. An algorithm decides which instrument controls which. The voice is led by the guitar, or the guitar is led by audio recordings, or the audio recordings are led by the voice, or the voice is led by the other voice. By changing only the pitch of each instrument, their sound remains the same, while forced into its heights or depths.

Tim Simonds, voice, recorded voice.
Mauro Hertig, guitar, keyboard, voice.

Mauro Hertig is a composer of ensemble, chamber and site-specific works; with a focus on techniques that involve empathy, and stage environments that transform directions of observation between performers and audience.

Mauro Hertig
Montez Press Radio