Self - Portrait (for solo piano and contact microphones) by Pierre-Henri Wicomb

The piece was a commission for the South African pianist and multidisciplinary artist Coila Enderstein in affiliation with the South African Music Rights Organisation, SAMRO. The focus of the piece was sculpted around the personality and interests of the performer, composing a piece that truly reflects the instrumentalist it is written for, drawing from her psychology and physiology. The piece incorporates extra-piano sounds, including the tap sounds against the lid of the instrument, foot and whistle sounds. The former techniques are designed around a choreographed sound generation concept, a kind of internal dance with the hands mimicked in the depressing of the keys, while engaging the lid of the piano. The extreme registers of the instrument are also frequently used to echo this idea, creating a dance through using the highest and lowest keys of the keyboard resulting in big arm movements.
Personality tests and interviews were conducted to create a thorough profile of the performer.