Sonic autoethnographies: personal listening as compositional context

This article discusses a range of self-reflexive tendencies in field recording, soundscape composition and studio production, and explores examples of sonic practices and works in which the personal listening experiences of the composer are a key contextual and compositional element. As broad areas for discussion, particular attention is given to soundscape composition as self-narrative (exploring the representation of the recordist in soundscape works) and to producing the hyperreal and the liminal (considering spatial characteristics of contemporary auditory experience and their consequences for sonic practice). The discussion then focuses on the specific application of autoethnographic research methods to the practice and the understanding of soundscape composition. Compositional strategies employed in two recent pieces by the author are considered in detail. The aim of this discussion is to link autoethnography to specific ideas about sound and listening, and to some tendencies in field recording, soundscape composition and studio production, while also providing context for the discussion of the author’s own practice and works. In drawing together this range of ideas, methods and work, sonic autoethnography is aligned with an emerging discourse around reflexive, embodied sound work

Composition portfolio

This portfolio includes four electronic pieces as well as three works especially devised for dance and theatre. The electronic music compositions Plastiches, Clangor, Showtime! and Ciguri investigate different approaches to the use of space and temporal structures. The works Dance studies Nos. 1 &2 were created as collaborations with choreographers and explore aspects of the relationship between music and contemporary dance. The large-scale dance-theatre work To have done with the judgment ofArtaud explores different aspects of experimental music and contemporary dance and is related to the later works of Antonin Artaud

Dance-the-music : an educational platform for the modeling, recognition and audiovisual monitoring of dance steps using spatiotemporal motion templates

In this article, a computational platform is presented, entitled “Dance-the-Music”, that can be used in a dance educational context to explore and learn the basics of dance steps. By introducing a method based on spatiotemporal motion templates, the platform facilitates to train basic step models from sequentially repeated dance figures performed by a dance teacher. Movements are captured with an optical motion capture system. The teachers’ models can be visualized from a first-person perspective to instruct students how to perform the specific dance steps in the correct manner. Moreover, recognition algorithms-based on a template matching method can determine the quality of a student’s performance in real time by means of multimodal monitoring techniques. The results of an evaluation study suggest that the Dance-the-Music is effective in helping dance students to master the basics of dance figures

Theatre Noise Conference

Three days of Performances, Installations, Residencies, Round Table Discussions, Presentations and Workshops More than an academic conference, Theatre Noise is a diverse collection of events exploring the sound of theatre from performance to the spaces inbetween. Featuring keynote presentations, artists in residence, electroacoustic, percussive and digital performances, industry workshops and installations, Theatre Noise is an immersive journey into sound

Festival Spaces and the Visitor Experience

A festival implies a special use of space for both the organiser and the visitor. On the practical level of events management, it is a series of temporary per - formance venues presenting special organisational problems. For the festivalgoers, it is a space set apart to which they come seeking an extraordinary experience. This experience can have an emotional and symbolic significance, which they then come to associate with the place itself. For this reason, festivals and special events are increasingly used as part of strategies to regenerate or reposition urban areas or coastal resorts. Events attract additional visitors, creating economic benefits for retail, leisure and other businesses. The publicity can be used for place marketing aimed not only at attracting visitors but also new businesses and investment to the area (Jago et al., 2003; Morgan et al, 2002). They can also give a boost to the cultural or sporting life of the residents and increase local pride and selfesteem. Festivals are part of the area’s ‘experience economy’ to use Pine and Gilmore’s (1999) term, creating a temporary ‘creative space’ which can attract visitors (Richards and Wilson, 2006). But how should that space be designed to optimise the experience of the festival-goers and contribute to the success of the event? Answering this question requires an awareness of how festival-goers perceive the impact of the location and its layout on their enjoyment of the event. The role of space can best be explored within a wider conceptual framework that maps the visitor experience of the event. This chapter is based on research into the 2005 Sidmouth Folk Festival, a long-established event which saw a significant change in ownership and organisation from previous years. This sparked a lengthy discussion on an enthusiasts’ internet message board about how successful it had been. One aspect of this was the rival merits of a festival based in a showground and one spread over existing venues around the town. An analysis of these discussions was used to explore the elements of the event experience and the ways in which festival-goers evaluate i

Social music in cars

This paper builds an understanding of how music is currently experienced by a social group travelling together in a car - how songs are chosen for playing, how music both reflects and influences the group’s mood and social interaction, who supplies the music, the hardware/software that supports song selection and presentation. This fine-grained context emerges from a qualitative analysis of a rich set of ethnographic data (participant observations and interviews) focusing primarily on the experience of in-car music on moderate length and long trips. We suggest features and functionality for music software to enhance the social experience when travelling in cars, and prototype and test a user interface based on design suggestions drawn from the data