talking walls that sing

Working on These Walls Sing is for lack of a better word, surprising. I'm learning quickly how little I know about music and "built space." My perspective on everything (just about) is from within the moving/still body - and my solo work is designed to structure that experience, hopefully bringing others into it on their own terms.

These Walls Sing has not yet been about those things (but wait! the project is still young). What we as a group have discovered is that we are not quite yet on the same page as to what we're trying to create. Even among artists on the same project, clarity of idea and its description is difficult and essential.

But, as we laughed about at last week's meeting, if any of us wanted to work out our ideas in the written word, we wouldn't need to be making them into a performance. And some ideas simply do not translate, which is why we DO NEED to create in the medium of the idea/concept/inspiration.

-esther

these walls sing scores - round three

Here's more on our progress with These Walls Sing.

With our first attempt at making scores with original graphic notation, it was clear that each of us had made a score using devices familiar to us from our own disciplines - David's relied on time and layering, Esther's relied on space and body, and Shana's relied on line and color. Therefore, challenge #3 was to do the reverse. Shana and Esther to create "time-based" scores and David a "space-based" score.

Here is Esther's attempt:



I intentionally started with what I interests me, which is the body. I have a strong association between footprints on paper and the feeling of progression and exploration. They seem mysterious - whom do they represent? where are they taking her? what are they revealing to me?

Using the hands and feet symbols helped me think about moving through time and create a pattern that could be read sonically as well as temporally.

More from Shana and David soon.

these walls sing scores - round two

It's been a while since we reported the status of These Walls Sing, but rest assured we've been moving forward nicely.

In our last post, we shared the scores each of us created to graphically notate David's piece Robot Dream. Well, as an exercise in Graphic Notation Scores, it was more of a warm up, since we were interpreting music rather than providing the instructions for playing it.

This brings us to round two! We each made a score that was intended to be followed. What we discovered is that David is clearly the composer in the bunch. Even though none of the examples were yet sonic in nature, his score progressed in time in a way that is familiar to music. Esther's, on the other hand, observed rather than built sound, and did so in space rather than time. Shana's score used line and color to describe expressive qualities of sound.

For now, we have a piece of David's as an example:



next, round three and more discussion of the process.

Graphic Music Notation

We've been examining graphic music notation in preparation for our upcoming project, These Walls Sing. Graphic notation developed as a way to express musical ideas not possible in conventional notation. Composers created all manner of symbols and designs to describe music on paper.

Our interest in it is all about relating music to design (initially in graphic design and eventually in architectural design). This exploration will also allow all three of us to visualize musical ideas without needing to master conventional notation. Eventually we will use our graphic music to create the sound, space, and design for our project.

For now we are creating a series of graphic scores from existing music as a group exercise. We are attempting not to interpret the music, but to design a score that might be used to re-create the music in question. Our first set of scores is based on a piece called Robot Dream.

David's score:


Esther's score:


Shana's score:



Do you want to try your hand at making a graphic score? Use the music we did, and the send us what you make. At some point we'll post them on the blog.

These Walls Sing

Architecture and music differ in their relationships to time and space. Though time and space are inherent in both disciplines, architecture creates patterns and forms in space where music creates patterns and forms in time. With These Walls Sing, Seen Performance will explore this difference by thawing the "frozen music" of architectural design to create a physical space inside of music. The audience will listen to the music not by sitting in one place while it passes them in time, but, as performers, by moving through a designed space containing the music. As they pass through each part of the space, they will hear a different layer of sound. Since moving through space also means moving through time, when they arrive at the exit they will have heard the entire piece of music. The speed at which they move and subtle variations in each person's route through the space will give everyone a different, personalized experience of the piece.

We will be developing These Walls Sing through the end of the year, announcing show dates + venues in early 2009. Please visit here often to follow the process of getting from here to there.

talking walls that sing

Working on These Walls Sing is for lack of a better word, surprising. I'm learning quickly how little I know about music and "built space." My perspective on everything (just about) is from within the moving/still body - and my solo work is designed to structure that experience, hopefully bringing others into it on their own terms.

These Walls Sing has not yet been about those things (but wait! the project is still young). What we as a group have discovered is that we are not quite yet on the same page as to what we're trying to create. Even among artists on the same project, clarity of idea and its description is difficult and essential.

But, as we laughed about at last week's meeting, if any of us wanted to work out our ideas in the written word, we wouldn't need to be making them into a performance. And some ideas simply do not translate, which is why we DO NEED to create in the medium of the idea/concept/inspiration.

-esther

these walls sing scores - round three

Here's more on our progress with These Walls Sing.

With our first attempt at making scores with original graphic notation, it was clear that each of us had made a score using devices familiar to us from our own disciplines - David's relied on time and layering, Esther's relied on space and body, and Shana's relied on line and color. Therefore, challenge #3 was to do the reverse. Shana and Esther to create "time-based" scores and David a "space-based" score.

Here is Esther's attempt:



I intentionally started with what I interests me, which is the body. I have a strong association between footprints on paper and the feeling of progression and exploration. They seem mysterious - whom do they represent? where are they taking her? what are they revealing to me?

Using the hands and feet symbols helped me think about moving through time and create a pattern that could be read sonically as well as temporally.

More from Shana and David soon.

these walls sing scores - round two

It's been a while since we reported the status of These Walls Sing, but rest assured we've been moving forward nicely.

In our last post, we shared the scores each of us created to graphically notate David's piece Robot Dream. Well, as an exercise in Graphic Notation Scores, it was more of a warm up, since we were interpreting music rather than providing the instructions for playing it.

This brings us to round two! We each made a score that was intended to be followed. What we discovered is that David is clearly the composer in the bunch. Even though none of the examples were yet sonic in nature, his score progressed in time in a way that is familiar to music. Esther's, on the other hand, observed rather than built sound, and did so in space rather than time. Shana's score used line and color to describe expressive qualities of sound.

For now, we have a piece of David's as an example:



next, round three and more discussion of the process.

Graphic Music Notation

We've been examining graphic music notation in preparation for our upcoming project, These Walls Sing. Graphic notation developed as a way to express musical ideas not possible in conventional notation. Composers created all manner of symbols and designs to describe music on paper.

Our interest in it is all about relating music to design (initially in graphic design and eventually in architectural design). This exploration will also allow all three of us to visualize musical ideas without needing to master conventional notation. Eventually we will use our graphic music to create the sound, space, and design for our project.

For now we are creating a series of graphic scores from existing music as a group exercise. We are attempting not to interpret the music, but to design a score that might be used to re-create the music in question. Our first set of scores is based on a piece called Robot Dream.

David's score:


Esther's score:


Shana's score:



Do you want to try your hand at making a graphic score? Use the music we did, and the send us what you make. At some point we'll post them on the blog.

These Walls Sing

Architecture and music differ in their relationships to time and space. Though time and space are inherent in both disciplines, architecture creates patterns and forms in space where music creates patterns and forms in time. With These Walls Sing, Seen Performance will explore this difference by thawing the "frozen music" of architectural design to create a physical space inside of music. The audience will listen to the music not by sitting in one place while it passes them in time, but, as performers, by moving through a designed space containing the music. As they pass through each part of the space, they will hear a different layer of sound. Since moving through space also means moving through time, when they arrive at the exit they will have heard the entire piece of music. The speed at which they move and subtle variations in each person's route through the space will give everyone a different, personalized experience of the piece.

We will be developing These Walls Sing through the end of the year, announcing show dates + venues in early 2009. Please visit here often to follow the process of getting from here to there.