GEO-LOCATED SOUND DESIGN:
SING! SOUND WALK PROJECT PROPOSAL
Continuing with its exploration of experimental music, including graphic scores, text scores, improvisation, and sound collage, I propose that the students enrolled in Music Academy of the West’s Sing! Program design and execute a sound walk installation on the Music Academy of the West's (MAW) campus using the geo-located sound design program echoes.xyz.
The students will map out the various sound sites on MAW's campus that will trigger musical pieces that are specifically designed for that location. Some sound sites will overlap, creating complex counterpoint as the pieces intermingle, while some will remain simple stand-alone sites.
I will likely create a series of sonic prompts as I did for our sound collage project (see below) that will guide the students in recording their sounds. Also following the fall semester model, I will then compose music that ties all of the children’s sounds together into a cohesive whole.
In addition to, or in conjunction with sound collage, other possibilities for sound sites include:
Land acknowledgment of the Barbareño Chumash who originally inhabited the land that MAW's campus inhabits
Spoken history of some of the founders and historically significant teachers and performers who inhabited MAW
Recordings of historic MAW performances
The MAW campus was selected as the site for the Sing! sound walk/installations for several reasons:
It gives students ownership over the space. MAW is their school. Many of the students who come to Sing! come for low-income families, and the wealth of MAW is intimidating. Allowing students to make their mark on the space will make them and their families feel at home in this learning and performance space.
The space is geographically central to the students living in Carpinteria, Goleta, and Santa Barbara. Accessibility to students and their families is imperative to this project.
Fall 2020 Sound Collage Prompts
SOUND OBJECT: Record audio of yourself for 1-3 minutes playing an object or combination of objects in your house that you love the sound(s) of, but it is not a musical instrument. For example:
wine glasses being gently struck with a chopstick or rubbed with a wet finger
pots and panda being struck with silverware, banged against one another, or rubbed with your hands
water sounds: pouring water into a glass, splashing in a bathtub, turning on and off the shower
Rubbing stones/sandpaper together
VOX DRONE: Record yourself for 1-3 minutes singing long notes beautifully, quietly, and with excellent singers’ posture and breath support.
CLOCK: Record yourself for 1-3 minutes clicking your tongue to imitate a clock ticking. You can freely change the how high/low and fast/slow the tic-toc sounds are.
VOX OBJECT: Record yourself for 1-3 minutes making “unusual” sounds with your voice. For example:
Trilling your tongue or your lips
Breathing through your teeth (imitating the wind or waves crashing at a beech)
Making kissing noises with your lips
Healthy vocal fry (Ms. Erin and/or Ms. Christine will demonstrate)