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There are already a variety of examples of music associated with haiku; it remains a field offering many opportunities for exploration. Colin Shaddick has produced a very original CD, ‘Synapse Junction’, of what he calls ‘Haikuelectronica’. It consists of readings of his haiku alternating with electronic ‘realisations’ of the haiku; the haiku are top class and the realisations are very subtle, varying between what could be called  ‘New Age’ and ‘Musique Concrète’ in style; sometimes you can feel yourself leaning into the realisation after hearing the words, wondering about the connections as you would when reading a renga.  The following is a slightly edited version of a paper which was read at the Ludlow Conference in April 2002; it amounts to a kind of ‘sleeve note’ in which Colin discusses his musical philosophy and methodology. The CD is available from Colin Shaddick,  price £10   4 Masefield Avenue, Pilton, Barnstaple, Devon EX31 1JQ  ph: 01271-342999 e-mail: [email protected]

There are moments during the enjoyment of a haiku moment and being totally held by an image when I am almost completely unaware of sounds, other than the beating of my heart or the rushing of blood through my body. Yet I know there has been some kind of auditory affect seeping to and from my subconscious: an atmospheric wave, a surrounding influence, a shade... These ambient sounds are an integral part of my haiku. I hear them as a sandwich of electronic and natural sounds. My words shape themselves to a mix of imaginary and natural tones.

     I always aim to create a coherent collage of sounds, and not just the surface noises of daily life, but much more; they are the sounds that form and build in the waiting room of the mind or subconscious. They are the vibrations of a parallel time. There are vast areas of our minds which we are not truly aware of and these expanses, when tapped, contain riches beyond belief. The secret is in letting go and using the material that floats to the surface. Use it as it comes; improvise with yourself! The resulting sounds can be an interesting array of snapshots; blurred at the edges and interwoven maybe, but always interesting.

     William Blake, the great artist, writer, mystic and philosopher, spoke of an ‘Inward Eye’ and I believe that he may have been referring to his experiences of an inner soundscape. This would have allowed him the double vision that he refers to in the following passage:-

What to others a trifle appears
Fills me full of smiles or tears
For double the vision my eyes do see
And a double vision is always with me
With my inward Eye ’tis an old man grey
With my outward a thistle across my way

Electronic pulses are a natural phenomenon; the essence of human existence. Without the firing of the heart and the sparks of life cracking through each and every synapse, we would not be here. I feel that I am accessing a well that is readily available to all and my haikuelectro world is, in part, how I interpret and describe my experiences. It is as if I am an ever changing tapestry of sound, and chords are added each time I experience an image that makes me stop and say: “Ah!”. In Zen terms, this would be nothing more than a return to the normal condition of body and mind.   ‘...  Poetry cannot exist unless it has music; poetry and music are the twin daughters of one of the defining activities of human kind, the dance,’ says  Basil Bunting.

     Of course, the written word always evokes imaginary sounds and images in the reader, but with my work, I am offering my complete self. When I say offering, I mean there is a choice: I always keep my spoken word separate from my soundscapes. In that way, the listener decides on the outcome: the listener’s image or mine, or both.

     I have also been lucky enough to have had some contact with David Toop: musician, author and music curator. The advice he gave me on how to listen differently and the importance of the voice, has certainly had beneficial effects on my work. In his book, Ocean Of Sound - Æther Talk, Ambient Sound And Imaginary Worlds, he teaches us to enjoy, among other things, the environmental sounds of pneumatic drills, police helicopters, and tree frogs. He also encourages us to learn to appreciate the silence between sounds. I would like to share a section from Toop’s book:-

     ‘... I am listening to summer fleas jump off my small female cat on to the polished wood floor. Outside, starlings are squabbling in the fig tree and from behind me I can hear swifts wheeling over rooftops. An ambulance siren, full panic mode, passes from behind the left centre of my head to starboard front. Next door, the neighbours are screaming -  “Fuck you...I didn’t...get out that door...” - but I tune that out. The ambient hum of night air and low frequency motor vehicle drone merges with insect hum called back from the 1970’s, a country garden somewhere, high summer in the afternoon. The snow has settled. I can smell woodsmoke. Looking for fires I open the front door, peer out into the shining dark and hear stillness. Not country stillness but urban shutdown. So tranquil. Truthfully, I am lying in intensive care. Wired, plugged and electronically connected, I have glided from coma into a sonic simulation of past, and passed, life... These sounds reconnect me to a world from which I had disengaged. Sound places us in the real universe.’

     The equipment I use to create my soundscapes can be bought in any good music store: record deck, synthesiser, CD player, DJ mixer, effects pad, short wave radio, drum machine, multi-effects unit, main mixer, workstation, Mac computer + recording software, CD mastering unit, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, various other instruments, the natural world of sound, voices, found instruments, MiniDisc.

     My methods vary. Sometimes I only use one or two sounds with my voice and at others I may use multi layered sounds. It just depends on my inner experience after completing the haiku. I am not a true musician, I am a sampler, manipulator and arranger of ‘found sounds’, so the results that I get are a natural response to the haiku. There’s no formal composing. Most of the soundscapes are completed in one session. I am of the opinion, as are many other contemporary musicians, that this kind of music does have its own merit artistically.

     I am also working with acoustic guitarist Chris Ayliffe. He played a prominent role in the development of fingerstyle guitar in the late 50’s. Chris has worked with some big names: John Renbourne, Bert Jansch, Davy Graham, Ralph McTell, Wizz Jones and Jacqui McShee to name just a few. Chris has the unique ability to listen to my words and then develop his inimitable acoustic soundscapes around them. It is still early days for Chris and me, but we are beginning to put together some very interesting things. We were lucky enough to have played a set at the Eden Project, Cornwall, last year.