The Allam Lecture Theatre is one of the largest lecture theatres on the university campus. It's found in the Business School, but is also known for freqeuntly hosting guest speakers and external events.
The Theatre has relatively little history, being a modern space, and the lack of a unified subject taught within it made it difficult to come up with a unifying theme for composition. In the end, I decided to focus on the shape of the building, and the idea that it attracts people from afar, rather than simply those already within the university.
Four speakers are to be placed at equal distances along the curved back wall of the lecture theatre. On the lecturn, at the front of a room, is a phone which audience members may use to control the performance.
The two left speakers will be playing an extract of music based on the latitude coordinates of the room (53.77012672657883), although one speaker will have an extra beat rest before initially starting.
The two right speakers will play a similar extract, but based on the longitude of the coordinates of the room (-0.37076175212860113), again with a beats' rest between them.
To make these extracts, every digit in the coordinates represents a distance from the tonic (A), with 1 being one step from the tonic, and so on. Since the latitude is positive, the notes rise from the tonic, and since the longitude is negative, they descend from it. 0 is represented by a rest.
Both extracts will loop continuously, and since they differ in length and each speaker starts playing at a slightly different point anyway, they will phase in and out of sync with each other, creating a complex pattern from simple source material.
In addition, the audience will be able to manipulate the piece. By pointing the phone towards different speakers, they will be able to 'mix' the composition as it evolves.
This will be achieved through the program Isadora, through which the data from the phone compass can be linked to the positions of the speakers, so that the sound appears to seamlessly follow the movement of the phone.
The Theatre has relatively little history, being a modern space, and the lack of a unified subject taught within it made it difficult to come up with a unifying theme for composition. In the end, I decided to focus on the shape of the building, and the idea that it attracts people from afar, rather than simply those already within the university.
Four speakers are to be placed at equal distances along the curved back wall of the lecture theatre. On the lecturn, at the front of a room, is a phone which audience members may use to control the performance.
The two left speakers will be playing an extract of music based on the latitude coordinates of the room (53.77012672657883), although one speaker will have an extra beat rest before initially starting.
Both extracts will loop continuously, and since they differ in length and each speaker starts playing at a slightly different point anyway, they will phase in and out of sync with each other, creating a complex pattern from simple source material.
In addition, the audience will be able to manipulate the piece. By pointing the phone towards different speakers, they will be able to 'mix' the composition as it evolves.
This will be achieved through the program Isadora, through which the data from the phone compass can be linked to the positions of the speakers, so that the sound appears to seamlessly follow the movement of the phone.
What made you choose this space? It's certainly a challenge, considering the lack of historical research that's possible with this space. You've been imaginative in your ways to engage with the space though, using a form of data sonification, but also being considerate about how the materials will work together musically. There would also be scope to do something more theatrical, along the lines of a lecture though perhaps?
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