RADIO
Jo Truman has worked as a professional freelance radio feature creator, writer and producer. Most of these works were commissioned in the 90’s -a time when the radio feature and audio arts were at their zenith. This style of radio was descended from the German Horspeil, and often challenged the listener with their creation of sound worlds which could convey complex ideas which would unfold their sonic and textual narratives in a slower tempo than other contemporary radio contexts, enabling greater immersion into the sound world, challenging the listener to not only listen in greater detail but enabling visualisation via this mode of sonic storytelling.
This process involved conceptualisation of ideas, script and other creative writing, recording and often performing.
RADIO
Jo Truman has worked as a professional freelance radio feature creator, writer and producer. Most of these works were commissioned in the 90’s -a time when the radio feature and audio arts were at their zenith. This style of radio was descended from the German Horspeil, and often challenged the listener with their creation of sound worlds which could convey complex ideas which would unfold their sonic and textual narratives in a slower tempo than other contemporary radio contexts, enabling greater immersion into the sound world, challenging the listener to not only listen in greater detail but enabling visualisation via this mode of sonic storytelling.
This process involved conceptualisation of ideas, script and other creative writing, recording and often performing.
Cell songs (The Listening room, ABC, Classic FM) Exec producer Andrew Mc Lennan.
Her first foray into audio arts was a 60 minute work titled Cell Songs, commissioned by The Listening room, ABC Classic FM. This work revolved around the idea of three imaginary soundscapes exploring notions of pace of living, sounds of cultures and the technologies that defined perceptions of time, place and place. Each movement commences with the sounds of devices used to measure time in each cultural context.
In each movement Jo performs the Voice of Gaia, according to her imagined response to each era.
Movement One: Pre colonial Australia -opening with the sound of water droplets. This movement sound recordings of Kakadu National Park environmental sounds, indigenous story telling by Pauline McLeod, mimetic bird singing by Gulpilil and Truman.
Movement two: The Industrial Revolution in England, deportation of convicts, colonisation of Australia. Introduced by the sounds of a mechanical clock. Recordings of re-enacted convicts voices and narration of crimes which facilitated the brutal punishment involving deportation to newly established penal colonies, (by Paul Carter), singing of colonial ballads by Phil Minton, Elise Lorraine, Maggie Noonan, wax cylinder recordings of Fanny Cochrane-Smith.
Movement three: The Contemporary Digital era. Introduced by the sounds of a digital time device.
A movement depicting the faster digiat culture of information overload and convenience. The metallic sounds formation deliberately contrast the organic “analogue” sounds of the slower first movement, creating an atmosphere of stress, angst and ungroundedness.
A piece I have called ” Chainsaw Massacre” is an unlikely duet between sharp industrial sounds and my voice as I perform the grieving voice of Gaia. This lament segues into the sonorous voice of Tribal Elder/poet Bill Neidji (whom I interviewed in Kakadu National Park) as he muses on the sentience of trees, the importance of caring for Mother Nature and warns of impending environmental catastrophe if we continue on the current path of destruction.
Link to Cell songs:-
https://thelisteningroom1.bandcamp.com/track/cell-songs
Other professional feature length radio commissions include:-
A suite of Jo’s poems and prose performed with her original compositions exploring and reflecting on family dynamics. Musicians: Jo Truman, Trevor Brown and Theirre Fosmal.
A reflection of vocal mimicry and its origins.
Sdreamings (Audiakustisches Kunst, WDR Koln. Exec Producer Klaus Schoning)
Composed works involving structured improvisational processes
Instrumentation: Voice, Piano, Yedaki.
This work was conceived during a time of homesickness during the long period of living in Europe. It consists of seven sequences and is inspired by memories of a year long sojourn through the Northern Territory of Australia. The seven sequences create a sound map of my internal and external experiences and responses to the environment with the voice, piano, yedaki and text, tracing feelings of loss, despair, grief -connecting with a sense of loss, despair and dislocation that many First Nations people experience in the region, transformation, resolution and hope arriving in the form of a sonic bird.
The work involves my long held fascination and exploration of internal emotional states manifest and are expressed in the voice and revolve around my poem sdreamings
The sdreamings are finally
reversing their journey
No longer resisting the inevitable
when the moon seduces the tide
with her darker face
The sediments of bygone years
swirl in momentary confusion.
In each one are reflected images of her face
They settle to form a new mosaic.
Mov 1: Utterences – trying to find the words when the voice has been shut down by trauma.
Mov 2: sdreamings (poem)
Mov 3: Yedaki
Mov 4: Harmonics and Subharmonics (Voice /Yedaki parallels)
Mov 5: Birds and water (extended vocal techniques)
Mov 6: Katajuta (piano/voice)
Mov 7: Breathings/ the wind/resolution
This work was composed, performed and produced whilst I was living in Europe, and draws on memories of the year I spent living and traveling in the Northern Territory of Australia. Inner and external landscapes are transcribed into voice, piano and sound. Exec Producer Klaus Schoning. Electroacoustic technician: Benedict Bitzenhoffer
Extreme Throats: (Commission: ABC Classic FM. Exec Producer Stephen Adams ) Five part mini series on extended vocal techniques based on my MMus Thesis research of the same title, as part of the ABC’s “Voice Week”)
https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Extreme_Throats/4rs7MwEACAAJ?hl=en
Horspiel commission -Audioakustisches Kunst, WDR3 Koln – 30 Mins
This work was composed, performed and produced whilst I was living in Europe, and draws on memories of the year I spent living and traveling in the Northern Territory of Australia. Inner and external landscapes are transcribed into voice, piano and sound. Exec Producer Klaus Schoning. Electroacoustic technician: Benedict Bitzenhoffer
https://on.soundcloud.com/RiZWpbyXNEemSmwEu4
Deprem: Commission: Radio Eye; Radio National, ABC. Exec producer Tony McGregor
A travelogue. A journey through Turkey in the wake of the devastating Izmit earthquakes of 1999. On Site sound recordings and interviews by Jo Truman, text and prose: Jo truman
https://on.soundcloud.com/DQ2g9f7opH32JTn6zb
Bridge to Otherness – Commission:- WDR Koln Audioakustisches Kunst. (Producer, Artistic Director)
EVERGLADES
Step into the captivating world of Jo Truman – a versatile artist weaving together music, composition, and visual artistry. With a rich background as a teacher at Sydney Community Colleges and the Goulburn Regional Conservatorium, and as a tutor at Nepean Community College for 18 years, Jo brings a wealth of experience to her creative endeavors.
As a freelance radiophonic feature writer, composer, and producer for ABC and WDR over 19 years, Jo’s artistic journey is both diverse and impactful. Join us on this immersive experience, where Jo Truman’s harmonious blend of roles as a singer, musician, sound artist, composer, and visual artist unfolds in a symphony of creativity.
BRIDGE TO OTHERNESS
Bridge to Otherness is a portrait in sound of the Blue Mts, where I live in Australia commissioned by WDR Audioakustisches Kunst (Koln). People who have differing world views who call this place home speak – from indigenous elders of the Gundungarra clan, to a local anthropologist, writers, shop keepers, ecologists, artists, musicians and even the manager the highway upgrade. Bridge to Otherness was written composed as a response to the mainstream celebrations of the bicentenary of the crossing of Blue Mts by the colonial explorers Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth and looks at how the colonisation of place has affected our relationship and response to it , and our sense and perception of time as technology has provided the means to speed across the escarpment on a highway which was developed from an indigenous walking track. Bridge to Otherness asks “what is progress?”. Interwoven with the talking are the sounds of the bush recorded by the composer -birds, water and wind.