Month: February 2015

Composing/Scripting/Playing the Soundscape: Part 1

With all of the Universal Juiciness that is going on right now, I am drawn more deeply into this sounding world. Still highly under the influence of Caverna Magica. (Wow, I just noticed that influen-ce and influen-za have a lot of letters in common. Infected by Caverna Magica? Hmmmm…) There are four primary pieces that have my attention right now and they are:

A performance for Jim Kellough’s show Warmed Over Sue Realism will be an “opera” woven by myself, June Merlino and Jim. This soundscape is really raw right now, but forming. (March 7 – Tea Time @ The Scrap)

“New Music 4Trudie” is a present for Trudie where I attempt to capture what she loves in the song “New Music” from the musical, Ragtime. I presented her with these two themes for Valentine’s Day. (Perhaps a performance for next Valentine’s?) Here they are:

Soundscape for All Hallows Eve for Allie Mullin’s Halloween-inspired photography exhibit, where I will create a multi-facted, creepy, yet inviting sonic vibe. I am really interested in spreading the sound around The Makery via small, wired together speakers units. I have some small speaker units from recycled TVs and I think they could be wired together and run along the floor for effect. (Anyone reading who knows how to do this, please contact me. I could use the help. This is for the end of October, 2015.)

“VolleySunds” (after Caverna Magica) still has me interested in further development. I want to get together with Susanne and Eleanor Mills to work on ways of shaping it. I added a new section to it this week.

As more Ableton projects get started, left behind and returned to, I am beginning to have a “Hope Chest” of ideas to use as starters or as extenders for larger pieces I am working on. This is an example of a phenomenon of synchronicity that I have been observing lately. I call it “planting seeds for your future self.” Those moments when you commit to a project, or buy a book, or make a call for no sensible reason. You are just compelled to do it and you do. Afterward, you think “what was THAT about?” Six months, 3 years, 15 years later, you realize that THAT moment has manifested into this present one, and you, alone on your own, could NEVER have planned this out. So very important to adknowledge and appreciate the Divine WoW in action.

Which brings me to the title of this post. I want to pay closer attention to the process that is involved in creating soundscapes. As questions arise, ways to explore those questions must be created. I want to create flexible templates for composing and performing soundscapes. In order to do this, I am taking some time to look back and take note of the various methods as they are evolving.

I found notes from the very first soundscape I performed at the Durham Arts Council, Far Afield (A Response to the Art of Nancy Tuttle May). NTM sent me the images for her show and I spent time with each image while the soundscape was being created. I really love her work and was very excited by the images. They were profound and whimsical at the same time. I worked with the ideas of mystery, playfulness, whimsy and an exotic universality. At that point the process was to flesh out my responses to her art work, select voices for the piece based on those responses, and proceed from there. A concept, some voices and we’re off!

The next layer is harmonics. Modes and scales are of particular interest to me. They are like Lego blocks that you can use to create all manner of sound textures and feelings. I chose to begin Far Afield with a watery, wavering sonorous Dorian-stepped scale, repeating over and over in an urgent appeal. From there, we moved through vast, prolonged pad synth lines in counter-harmony with the original Dorian wash of tones. There was a sort of Latin tinged movement in there, ending with a Native American flute loop created by Susanne Romey. When I performed it, I added in vocals and percussion. The most recent recording of the entire piece that can be heard on Soundcloud does include the vocal and percussion parts.

I am very fond of this soundscape and enjoy listening to it myself. When I performed it at the opening reception, I invited people to listen to it as they looked deeply at NTM’s art. Very few people did this, mostly people chatted with each other, which added a dimension of sound that I had not taken into account when preparing to play it live. Certain nuances could not be heard, while other parts swept through the space, riding on the voices. Here is a 30 second video of the event that gives a feel for what I am talking about: (Thanks to Eleanor Mills for this!)

Friends in attendance that night were upset that people were not listening. While I had not planned for people to give me their rapt attention, I had hoped they would engage in the process of looking at the art with the soundscape accompaniment. Since this did not happen, I realized I had to rethink how I would go about presenting soundscapes in a public social forum. (Luckily, in this case, the soundscape played in the gallery for the run of the show, so people could go and hear it while looking at the art that inspired it.)

Since then I have had three more soundscaping experiences, and each one has reshaped my intention and process.

To be continued.

Nested Soundscapes

If you poke one of the hexagons in the top right corner of this page, you will find my ever-evolving artist’s statement. If you read my artist’s statement, you will see that one of the questions I am exploring in my sound work is:

How do I shape the audio experience in a roomful of people talking?

Some interesting developments around this question arose when we played at Open Eye Cafe last Saturday.

The intention when playing soundscapes is to massage the sonic space and to ultimately raise the vibration of all who are present. So far, the approach has been to create soundscapes with energetic movement that evolve slowly over time. Then Susanne and I add another layer of improvisational interaction. These interactions happen in the moment and serve to reinforce, contrast or re-shape the soundscape. I remix the soundscape as we go, creating more layers of sonic interplay.

This is what we brought to Open Eye on February 7, but I came home with so much more.

There was a moderate sized crowd there and people came and went during the three hours we played. I was very focused on the soundscape and Susanne, only giving the room a cursory amount of attention. The soundscape was a strong presence in the room as people chatted, ordered food, studied, etc. We played three soundscapes, each about 40 minutes to an hour. I had my Zoom recorder, and forgot to turn it on until the last soundscape, entitled The Space Between. And am I glad I did!

When I explained to Trudie the revelation I had after listening to the recording of this performance of The Space Between, she said, “You have been talking about that for months.” Ha! So true. But somehow it all came together when I heard it. This section of the soundscape is a soundpainting of a haiku by Basho:

Even in Kyoto
Hearing the cuckoo cry
I long for Kyoto

The recording begins with a wild cuckoo cry that is extended slightly by some voices of coffee shop patrons. Listen closely and you will hear a little “ohhhhhh” as the cuckoo cry ends. People in the room interacted with the soundscape almost seamlessly. They added an element of awe at the beautiful surprise of the cuckoo cry! So you will hear that moment right at the beginning, then the soundpainting of the haiku, and finally, the sound of heavy rain water accompanying the clanking of dishes and conversations taking place. Don’t try to hear the soundscape we are playing, instead listen to the whole recording as one soundscape that unfolds before your ears.

Listening to this recording made clear to me that the fullness of a soundscape is reached when interacting with activities in a space. Each space will be different acoustically, energetically,and the sounds in the space will be varied by type and quality. A new soundscape is generated with each performance in a particular space, creating a soundscape within a soundscape, or a “nested” soundscape. So now getting a good recording of each soundscape performance has become very important. (This must be why I have 3 mini-disc and 2 Zoom recorders.) Placing multiple recording devices around the space, will give me the raw material for creating the nested soundscape. This idea has me very excited thinking about the variety of venues and the types of soundscapes they might produce. (Photo Credit: Bill Romey)

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the idiosyncratic beats of dejacusse@ Open Eye Cafe, Saturday, Feb 7

I am excited about an opportunity to play soundscape in a coffee shop in Carrboro NC next Saturday night. TJ Goode and empty sound were scheduled to play at the Open Eye Cafe on February 7th, and I was going! Then TJ said they couldn’t do it and did I want to? And I said “yes” because Rob Brezsny’s Leo horoscope said to “do things before you are ready”. I let the day seize me! Once I committed, I am up at 4 am working on ideas in Ableton Live. I have three hours to play, so I want to do something languid and calming with an underlying energy. I am really thinking about a sound painting that will evolve over time. And I know exactly what I want to play.

In the early 1980s one album, one sound held me rapt in wonder and that was the album Caverna Magica. Andreas Vollenweider’s whimsical, sensual, joyful journey deep into a magic cave was a whole world to me. Furtive and fun, Caverna Magica
begins with two people whispering and laughing as they enter a sea cave where you hear the bloup, bloup, bloup of water. This is a moist place. I want to play with a soundscape reminiscent of Vollenweider and Caverna Magica.

Luckliy, I have started a Live Set of Vollenweider sounds, including two mallets, one percussion, two chimes, some absolutely beautiful strings, and that plucked samisen that I love so much. There is alot to play with here. I have some simple themes in D Dorian mode and I can vocalize and play the bowed psaltry as well. I have written several solos for the mallets and strings that I am finding very heart-wrending. The pleasure of longing returns. Here is a sample of the strings and the samisen with a little bass and tweaked high-hat:

Suzanne Romey is going to play flute and toy piano with me. She has a new Balinese flute that she is wanting to try. So if you are in Carrboro Saturday night, stop by and give us a listen. We will be painting the room with sound.

8 pm to 11 pm

Open Eye Cafe
openeyecafe.com/
Carrboro, NC