Paperflocks

percussion and live electronics

2025

duration: 6'

commissioned by Sophie Stevenson

This piece was first premiered on the 31st of March 2025 at the Royal College of Music, London by Sophie Stevenson.

Paperflocks has quite a simple concept that is essentially described in the title. As a child I thoroughly enjoyed making origami animals as I found it a calming and meditative experience. After finding my box of origami paper and some of the old paper birds and dragons I made, I found myself wondering what it would sound like if suddenly they all took off in a flurry of paper wings: hence Paperflocks.

Along the way of writing this piece my mind also wondered to the sound of old wind-up toys and so throughout the piece you will hear not only paper wings but also slightly wonky wind-up sounds.

The electronics I use are entirely reactive to the audio input of the percussionist, taking the amplitude and sonic characteristics and using them to effect various effect parameters that constantly move.

In the more set electronics, I overly both percussive birdwing sounds and paper tearing sounds, as I found that oddly they both have similar sonic characteristics.