Andrew Hugill

Andrew Hugill at the keyboard

(Photo: Miguel Aranda de Toro)

Andrew Hugill (b. 1957) is a composer and academic. He was diagnosed autistic in 2018 at the age of 60, an event that has led to a substantial re-evaluation of his life experience. He also has Ménière's Disease, diagnosed in 2009, a balance disorder that has caused severe hearing loss, tinnitus and diplacusis (in which the two ears hear different pitches).

His compositions have always (unwittingly) reflected his autistic listening, including unusual combinations of sounds such as: piano and grinding rocks; electrical generators and orchestra; frogs and ensemble. His music focuses on detail and reveals connections between 'musical' and 'non-musical' sounds. In 2019, he launched the Aural Diversity project for and by people with a wide range of hearing differences.

Hugill's academic career has included a period as Professor of Music (1997-2007). He is now Professor of Creative Computing at the University of Leicester. His publications include the books: 'The Digital Musician' (Routledge), now in its third edition; and 'Pataphysics: A Useless Guide (MIT Press, 2012). In 2004 he created the influential website 'The Orchestra: A User's Manual'.

Verdigrade

LISTEN to the piece | VIEW the evocative transcription video | Download the SCORE

Verdigrade depicts the degradation of my hearing since being diagnosed with Meniere's Disease in 2009. Meniere's is a balance disorder that also affects hearing. I have severe unbalanced hearing loss, constant fluctuating tinnitus and diplacusis, a phenomenon in which the two ears hear different pitches when a single note is played. As a result I cannot lsten to music for more than a few minutes.

I think of this degradation as resembling verdigris, the green patina that forms when metals such as copper, bronze or brass are exposed to the air. It was used as the main pigment for green in paintings in the 15th and 16th Centuries. Leonardo da Vinci warned that its beauty could 'vanish into thin air if not varnished immediately'.

The piece is scored for two pianos. One is a normal Bosendorfer. The other is a digital instrument that I built that reproduces exactly what I hear when a normal paino is played. I call it the "diplacusis piano".

The piece follows a rigorous system. The normal piano begins, playing a descending sequence of twelve pitches between F#7 and C2. The interval between each pitch increases by a semitone each step, and the duration of each pitch also increases by one quaver beat. With a two quaver rest at the end, the entire sequence lasts 80 beats. This repeats twelve times, losing one of the pitches each repetition in the sequence: 5, 7, 8, 1, 12, 3, 6, 4, 9, 10, 2, 11.

Meanwhile, the diplacusis piano reverses this process, beginning with a silent 80 beat phrase, then adding one pitch at a time following the same sequence but rising from C2 to F#7. Once again the intervals and durations increase by one step each time. The piece ends with a complete statement of the rising version on diplacusis piano.

An important part of the musical interest in the piece is the discrepancies in tuning between the two instruments. The creeping verdigris of diplacusis gradually emerges to erase the precision of the original idea. Finally, it too vanishes into silence.