history
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For many years now I have been working with developing music compositions that are not only inspired by some aspect of the natural
environment, but are created and presented in such a way in order to deepen each listener's relationship with the environment.
The idea for Echolocation came whilst working on one such composition: my gr0w sound installation for the Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden. Whilst devising this piece I experimented with different ways of connecting with the garden's soundscape, including ultrasonic sound, and for which purpose I had purchased a bat detector. As I sat in the garden one night picking up the bats' biosonar signals, I realised that what I was holding in my hand was a potential musical instrument, and not only that, but what was being 'played' was the result of a collaboration between the bats as well as myself. Later on I developed this idea further with a sound installation proposal for the London Wetland Centre. This large scale project took the form of a musical composition for a ‘choir’ of bat detectors, located in optimum positions to receive the ultrasonic calls of the bats that visit the reserve. These signals are then transmitted to a sound manipulating computer, which in turn records, processes and sequences the sounds according to an algorithmic composition for an audience to listen to the following day. The proposal was shortlisted for the 2008 New Music Award. |