Perth Voice Interactive

North Perth musician Cat Hope is taking her immense talent off-shore after scoring a Churchill Fellowship.

Just 11 West Australians earned a grant under the prestigious research program.

The composer, musician, songwriter and noise artist is well known both locally and internationally for her avant garde music but the Edith Cowan academic is also gaining a reputation for devising an alternative way to write music.

“I developed my own system, sometimes borrowing from other cultures,” she tells the Voice. Colours and lines more reminiscent of a graph than traditional music are used to compose scores.

“There are limitations in traditional music, which is centred around [instruments like] the piano,” Dr Hope says. “The 20th century blew that away. Music doesn’t have to have a 4/4 beat—or a beat at all.”

In January she heads to Japan, Germany Iceland, Sweden and the US to talk to musos and further refine her system.

by JENNY D’ANGER