By exploiting the similarities in the constructive processes of architecture and music—both layer repeated elements to construct the whole, both deal with the proportion and relationship of their constituent parts—These Walls Sing connects the experience of one with that of the other. The audience listens to the music not by sitting in one place while it passes them in time, but by moving through the space (and thus through the music). Sonic and spatial cues guide the audience through the entirety of the work and perform their listening experience.
In order to construct a "multi-room" song, the music for These Walls Sing consists of five separate sections built from layers of looping patterns. Each layer contains one instrument or part of one instrument (e.g., piano chords, piano melody, piano counter-melody). Different
combinations and versions of these layers will appear in each section of the song, making each section distinct. Throughout, all layers will play back in synch, creating the song's continuity by keeping the musical pulse constant.
The design of space in These Walls Sing corresponds directly with the structure of the music, resulting in five distinct rooms, one for each section of the song.
The audience travels from room to room in a fixed order that follows the song’s basic story. Each room, and the music that fills it, is composed to encourage the audience to explore what they’re hearing and sensing, through which they find the details to the narrative in their experience of the sound and space. Layers of music are mapped into the spatial design that in turn guides the viewers to become listeners, and as listeners, to move with their surroundings.
Since the audience moves through These Walls Sing to experience the piece, they become performers of the work. Thus, they are, like a cast of dancers, limited in number at any given time. This also ensures that the audience encounter their co-participants not as distractions but as part of the work.