My Sonic Art

Chapter 10: Environmental Music

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Abstract:

If the ocean could sing, what would it sound like? Does this beauty and complexity of waves breaking on a beach have a musical equivalent? If the gentle air currents of a summer’s breeze could be discernible by the human ear, what would we hear? And how would it combine with the feeling of the wind against my skin? If the colours of the setting sun could be converted into sound as it drops into the ocean, would it be as musical as I expect it to be? Would it give up its secrets to me? Enviro-Music is music that is created by the natural environment. It is a special category of sonic art that makes use of sensor technologies to expose musical qualities within naturally occurring environmentally-driven events. Enviro-music is experienced in the natural environment itself. It expands, relocates and deepens the ordinary listening experience, through encouraging interaction with natural events at site-specific locations. A defining characteristic of enviro-music is that it brings to life an extraordinary level of detail normally hidden from sight and sound. It allows the complex patterns, relationships and eco-systems found in nature to be experienced as music.