The act of listening is the art of giving voice: on Andile Khumalo’s Tracing Hollow traces for solo clarinet

Abstract

Andile Khumalo’s Tracing Hollow traces for solo B^♭ clarinet (2014) presents ‘sound’ in multiple senses as a primary parameter of musical attention. Sound in this piece exists as the typical parameters (pitch, rhythm, timbre), but also as gesture, shape, resonance, sonority and as a kind of space in which to explore one’s listening. This listening opens out onto multiple subjectivities and ultimately onto a notion of freedom.