Robin Hayward

'Hayward's plunge into the fertile realm of noise and microtonal articulation suggests laboratory work, industrial processes... a lost world of steam engines chugging and hissing. That's not to say that his playing is imitative or merely a matter of sound effects. His expansion of the tuba's musical language is dramatic, with a sure sense of shape and movement that is musically rewarding as well as acoustically intriguing.'
Julian Cowley, The Wire (from review of States of Rushing)

'...these lengthy pieces exercise a hypnotic effect through a gradual accumulation of harmonic and timbral density. Long tones and their electronic afterimages overlap into slowly pulsating chords with long decay times and unexpected lacunae. The title track's low, fluttering rumbles have something seismic about them, something almost more felt than heard. On the shorter Travel Stain, Hayward is joined by Seth Josel on scordatura guitar. Relative to the solo tuba pieces, Travel Stain has a certain textural lightness. The ranges of the two instruments contrast nicely, as do their differences of timbre and duration of tones.'
Daniel Barbiero, AMN Reviews(from review of Nouveau Saxhorn Nouveau Basse)

Between the years 2000 and 2009 Robin Hayward composed a series of acoustic-noise based solo tuba pieces, drawing mainly on the 'noise-valve' technique he discovered in 1996. Two of these, Dial and Coil, were released in 2005 on his solo CD Valve Division. A series of more recent acoustic-noise based pieces was released in December 2009 on his second solo CD / LP States of Rushing.

Alongside this he has also been exploring the tuba's microtonal potential, and in 2009 developed the first fully microtonal tuba. In 2014 the CD Nouveau Saxhorn Nouveau Basse was released on Pogus Productions, featuring the three compositions Plateau Square, Travel Stain and Nouveau Saxhorn Nouveau Basse, all involving the microtonal tuba.

Relevant articles

What's in a name? The problematic Reductionist label

Article in the book echtzeitmusik published in 2011 by the Wolke Verlag.

Pitches Treated as Noise

Interview with Arie Altena published in Travelling Time in February 2012.

Redefining an Instrument

Interview with Chiyoko Szlavnics, musicworks #89, Summer 2004