This soundscape was inspired by John Cage's statement that "everything we do is music." All music is sound and all sound is music. This idea got me thinking about how we perceive sound and that everyone perceives sound differently. What is "music to my ears" may not be music to yours. With that in mind, I recorded many different sounds in my daily life, trying to figure out what sound resonates with me musically that isn't what we would normally call music. I ended up recording myself walking on ice, lacing up my skates, and figure skating on Ormsby lake.
I took figure skating lessons for five years in middle and high school, and I've always thought there was a musical quality in the sound of the blade on the ice gliding, turning, and jumping. I hope I have communicated both a sense of fluidity and rhythm in this soundscape, mirroring the way a skater should move across the ice.
I edited this project very little, although I played around with it a lot. The only changes I made were to cut a few clips together and reduce the background noise slightly in an attempt to muffle the wind. I hope it turned out alright.
I really like this. You were definitely able to create a musical line in your piece and you did a really good job at editing the background noises to keep focus on the ice. I want to know where you put the camera/microphone when you were skating? It sounds like it's attached to your boot which is really cool.
ReplyDeleteThe ambient noise from the background (wind, especially) adds a layer of environment that hints at a narrative, which seems like it would be impossible in a recording of scraping on ice.
ReplyDeleteWhat stood out to me the most about your piece is the starkness of the sound of scraping. It's both violent and grounding at the same time.
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