Artist-in-Residence
Elliot Bergman
Native Chicago composer and musician, Elliot Bergman, attended the Edgar Miller Legacy residency program in the fall of 2017. Inspired by the improvisatory, free-form aesthetic of architecture, geometry, and design work found in Edgar Miller’s Glasner Studio, Bergman used simple technologies and traditional materials to render these ideas into sound and music.
Bergman's residency showcase performance on November 4th, 2017, titled Laissez Vibrer (“Let It Vibrate”), utilized woodwind instruments and his own hand-crafted metal bells, cymbals, gongs, chimes, and bowls to layer sound motifs and to harmonize with Edgar Miller's embedded art and design in the Glasner Studio. Several of the instruments used in the piece were created from melted down bullets and guns, with the intention of creating instruments of peace and compassion directly out of instruments of violence and terror.
This video includes portions of his final performance of original music and sound. Click here to jump down and view the full-length showcase performance.
Below are detail images of Bergman’s original hand-crafted musical instruments performed with during the residency showcase.
Video Credits:
Music Composition & Performance | Elliot Bergman
Backup Instrumentals | Erik Hall
Cinematography | Parker Nyquist
Direction & Editing | Mark Pallman
Laissez Vibrer
“I love Edgar's inventive use of materials, mastery of many traditional arts, and his ability to transform a space using light and color. I took this opportunity to read in this space and it was a place of quiet sanctuary for a number of mornings. This passage from the book Bridge of Waves: What Music Is and How Listening to It Changes the World by W.A. Matthieu particularly resonated with me:
‘If you hold the rim of a bell it can't ring. If you touch the rim of a ringing bell, it will stop ringing...When composers want a percussionist to allow a cymbal, or a gong, or a chime to continue ringing without being damped, they write laisser vibrer on the score. Aside from the beauty of the sound of the words themselves the phrase has always been a cautionary mantra for me. When I am listening to music, laisser vibrer reminds me: just let it happen, don't be to hasty to have some idea about it, or reaction to it. Let it vibrate--laisser vibrer... Sometimes you have to and sometimes you don't, but let the scene play out some, let it unfold. Give life a chance. Don't touch the bell.’ ”
— Elliot Bergman
Upper Left: Symmetrical stacked “Polytonal Bell Tower” detail. | Upper Right: Hand-crafted standing “Peace Bell” detail.
Below: Concentric reverberations. | Bergman with his bronze instrument array.
“There’s a lot of overlap between architecture
and geometry and building and the way
frequencies exist in the world.”
- Elliot Bergman
Full-Length Performance
Interested in becoming an Artist-in-Residence? Learn more & apply here: edgarmiller.org/residency-program/