Shadow of Mill

This is a music composition for cello and subtone in three movements, composed between 2017 and 2018.It is dedicated to Tristen Parr.The score should be read in the Decibel ScorePlayer application on an iPad. There are three movements, bundled together in a single score file available here. You will also need to print a copy of the White Australia Policy to use in performance, also available here.Shadow of Mill presents audiences with an open-ended reflection on the issue of settlement and racism in Australia." Eduardo Cossio, Cool Perth Nights. PROGRAM NOTEThis work is a reflection on the white Australia policy enacted in 1901. The title is taken from Phil Griffith’s paper “Towards White Australia: The Shadow of Mill and the spectre of slavery in the 1802 debates on Chinese Immigration” published in 2002. The peice explores the idea of this Policy, printed on paper of today, interacting with the cello: sensuously rubbed and grated against the body and strings of the instrument as a representative of the European Culture imported into Australia. But this instrument is not played as originally intended. It is detuned, struck and played with two bows, all the time underpinned by subtle 'undertones'.The second movement was commissioned by Gabriella Smart for the APRA|AMC Art Awards in Sydney, 2017. The first and third movements were written for the Summers Night Project in 2018. A digital PDF and hard copy of the score is available from Material Press.PERFORMANCES2nd movement premiered APRA AMC Art Music Awards, 2017, by Tristen Parr.Full three movements premiered as part of Summers Nights, Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne, July 2018 by Tristen Parr.