Sound Map of Udell’s Avian Chimaeras (2015)
The piece started with the sound of a winding gear and birds chirping across the background. At 00:13, the gear winding stopped and the sound of a rotating gear started, just like a windup toy starting. Then at 00:18, there is a different sound, it could have been the sound of the windup toy together with a sound of a broken machine. Then at 00:30, the sound of the windup toy pans across, as if the toy is moving from left to right, and there are also birds flying across. Then at 00:55, the sound of the windup toy stops and there are different species of birds chirping. At 01:12, there was a deep bell like sound and numerous birds are flapping their wings and flying around. There was also a train travelling through train tracks. Then at 01:12, the sound of the windup toy vanished and the train entered a tunnel. It tells that the toy was not in the train when it entered the tunnel. At 02:07, it started raining and the sound of the travelling train vanished. There are also crickets in the background telling that it is already night time. Then at 02:32, the sound of the windup toy returned. But at 03:26, the sound of the windup toy goes faster and faster and then there is also a sound of a broken machine again. Then at 03:40, the windup toy broke and started flying and ricocheted all over the place. Then at 04:21, the sound of the toy smashing stopped and there is a crashing sound and the sound of the toy entering a very long steel pipe.
At 05:11, the winding gear started again and the chirping birds also returned. Somehow the windup toy is repaired. Then at 05:22, the gear winding stopped and the sound of a rotating gear started again but this time it is different. It may be a different toy or the crash affected the sound of the toy. At 05:51, there was the sound of a train at a distance and the sound of the windup toy continues. Then at 06:58, the number of birds flying across seemed to have increased. At 07:21, the moving train appeared and entered the tunnel again, but now the windup toy seems to be riding the train together with the chirping birds. At 07:38, there are sounds of metals clashing together as if the train tracks are getting derailed. Then at 08:04, the train started to fade out and eventually stopped. Lastly, at 08:58, the sound of a broken machine started again and the piece ended with the windup toy blowing up and it seemed that the toy finally arrived at its destination.
According to Dennis Smalley’s four modes of listening, namely topology, morphology, motion, and structuring processes, sound can be heard in numerous ways and they can depict different things. For example, a sound panning from left to right indicates the motion of the object. A change of sound in the same object indicates that the object changed or morphed like the change of the sound of the windup toy that changed after it crashed down the long steel pipe and got repaired. Topology simply means the type of sound, it can be noise, node, or note. Lastly, structuring processes deal with how to “musically” structure a piece that has no audible pitch or rhythm. It deals with how a piece is composed. (Talbott, 2013)
Sounds can sometimes be subjectively perceived because we may hear differently from others. But it can also be a good tool for imagination. For example, the piece Avian Chimaeras, I imagined it as a windup toy bird failing and being broken at first, but did not give up and ultimately reached its destination. But for others, it can also be a different story depending on how they heard the whole piece.
References
Avian Chimaeras. (2015). Chester Udell.
Talbott, B. (2013). Denis Smalley's "Spectromorphology", with respect to Simon Emmerson's "Five Spaces". Retrieved February 16, 2016, from https://benjamintalbott.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/denis-smalleys-spectromorphology-with-respect-to-simon-emmersons-five-spaces/
