Final post for Aural Terrains - update and conclusion

Aural Terrains - Week 3

Week 3 of the aural terrains project started out quite interesting with a guest, Chris O Connor, coming in to teach us for the day. In the Chromakey Room we all sat around in a nice big circle and got taken through a number of activities relating to improvisation. One that I found particularly interesting was where the whole class had to sing a single note for a while. We did a few different activities based around that idea. With the lights off everyone simply had to just sing a note and continue with that until we were told to stop. Along the same lines, we then had to sing the note of our choice while listening to everyone else and picking a note that we heard and mimicking it. The effect of these were actually quite cool and you really need to experience it yourself to get the right idea of it. With the lights off especially you could really feel the vibration of everyone's voices which sounded and felt more like a sort of deep humming rather than singing. We then used the same sort of technique but had volunteers 'conduct' us. For example the conductor would simply use expressions and everyone else had to mimic their expression to get a certain sound. Again, it was really interesting to hear and feel the result.

After that we went back to our circle and played a game of clapping. It went like this: the first person would clap and say one, the second person would clap and say two, the third person and first person would clap and say one, the second person and the fourth person would clap and say two, and so it went around like that. It's amazing how quickly everyone starts. After doing that for a while it got more complicated and you had to try and switch between the one and two beats. We then continued with that in smaller groups, basically the people who were closest to us and practised doing it together as each group then had to perform it in front of the class. Not mentioning any names but there was someone in my group who didn't really seem to know what he was doing and even when I asked him he said he did but during the practice he kept screwing it up. I was kind of annoyed about that, but I got over it. I think that may have been all we did, I'm not sure now. All in all those activities were a lot more fun than I would have thought if I'd been told beforehand what we were going to be doing.

The rest of the week was then dedicated to coming up with, planning and practising for the much dreaded upcoming performance. I was working with Jess and Rebecca for that. We started coming up with ideas and had quite a few pretty quickly. One that I liked the idea of was using string or nylon or something similar to attach between the levels in the gallery(AUT St Paul's Street Gallery) and make it into a sort of giant harp using the glass it would be attached to to sort of help the sound resonate and become louder. It also meant that we would be able to be on separate levels and not seen as easily, which would have been great for Jess and me, as neither of us enjoy performing. However we didn't end up going with that idea and after more discussion and discarded ideas we decided to use water on glass to make different noises. We were going to use different tools/instruments as well as our hands/fingers to make what would hopefully be interesting noises.

Some tools we thought about using were, things like branches as well as a fly swat and things like a window wiper sort of thing which made a number of different interesting noises, as long as the window was dry. Once we were decided we went up to Rebecca's apartment to practise. We started in a deliberate way, each taking turns to use a sponge, which incidentally made an interesting noise itself, to wet the window (we had one each) and then basically went into improv and did what we each felt was right. The attempts we had went quite well and gave us something to work with.

I think it was after that that we each went home and recorded some sounds which we had to play for the class on Friday (or maybe it was before), I'm not sure now. Here are the sounds below:

Mine:



Jess':



Rebecca's:




The next Thursday was a sort of dress rehearsal where everyone had to give a short performance just to show what it sounded like and to also figure out how long it was going to take to set up.

So the next was of course performance day and I was certainly not looking foward to it. We ran into some technical speed bumps as we were setting up and had to change it quite a lot. Our original plan was to each have one of the big 3 glass panels and play off that but the glass was dirty and wasn't making much sound. Eventually we decided to each use the same bit of glass and play on the smaller space as best we could. Luckily Jess had an amp and a microphone and I had an extension cord which meant that we were able to set up the amp inside and have the microphone against the glass. That did make it kind of difficult to play around but we managed.

One of the worst moments was that even though we were supposed to go second probably less than five minutes before everything was supposed to start we got told: you guys are going first. AHHHHHHH!! So up we went, first, and basically just did as well as we could. It was quite difficult because of how much we'd had to change and also I really didn't know if people could hear it at all so I was really just willing it to be over. Jess and Rebecca both did really well and I'm just glad that I made it through the performance and then was able to just watch the others and know that ours was done. Hopefully it sounded reasonable. To be honest I don't know what it sounded like. I can't bring myself to listen to the recording of the performance, let alone watch the video. Maybe sometime next year I'll manage.

All in all, this project was actually a lot more enjoyable than I thought it was going to be at the beginning and I'm very glad that I managed to get through the performance, however badly I did.

Here is the recording of our performance:

Maths and Art

I've copied all of my previous, and some new, Maths and Art posts onto a new blog. Here's the link:

Maths and Art blog

It's also on the side of the page.

Maths and Art Essay

Here is the link to my Maths and Art essay:

Mathematics and Art Essay

Maths and Art Essay info

At the moment my maths and art essay is for some reason refusing to go onto my blog, so when it final wants to I'll put it on...

Played sound drawings

Here are copies of my sound drawings played by Jess and Rebecca. It's interesting to see how they played them. I played one of Jess' and one of Rebecca's, I thought it would be difficult to read them and play them but I basically just played what I saw, and interesting task. Thankyou to Jess and Rebecca : ).

Rain: (played by Jess)







All drawings: (played by Rebecca)
Train, silence, cars at night, train x 2

Aural Terrains - Week 2 cntd

Circuit Bending:

Well this project has involved soldering, and electronic diagrams that I'm terrible at deciphering. I hated the soldering in the wearable interface project which meant that I was dreading doing it for this project but I found it a hell of a lot easier and actually doable. As I said, I'm not good at reading the electronic diagram things. Fortunately I have some very helpful friends and so thankyou to Chis(Clifton) for helping me so much, I definitely appreciate it : ).

So everyone was making um, devices I guess, to use in an improv performance. We had been put into groups of 3 with people that we wouldn't usually work with, I was put with Nick and Oliver. The only time that I'd ever worked with Nick was for one day in the orientation week and I'd never worked with Oliver. I knew both of them though and enjoyed working with them. The device I used for our performance was called 'The Champ' and it used a piezo disk to make sound. I played through a speaker and also had a volume control. Here are some photos of it below.

I was understandably nervous before our presentation with not much idea of what I was going to do. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be and the criticism and feedback we got wasn't too bad. Both are below:

Group performance:



Criticism and feedback:

Maths and Art update

I had my maths and art tutorial a while ago and found it very useful if not kind of overwhelming at the time. When it was my turn to talk I gave my reasons for using perspective as a subjects. The main reason for choosing it as a subject is because I'm interested in that way it works and how it is used in so many different art subjects e.g. sculpture, painting, architecture, photography, optical illusions and also one of my favourites, chalk drawings.

James seemed to also liked the idea of chalk drawings and wanted me to do one myself. Now even though it is one of my favourite examples I wasn't really banking on doing one myself. Someone in the group suggested using a projector to, well project an image onto the ground and copy/trace it with chalk.

This is something that I'm really not confident in doing so I was not looking forward to it at all. The main reason is that my drawings skills are not up to something like this and also the difficulty of getting all of the proportions right. So I was starting to think of other stuff that I may be able to do. However, I was saved by Rebecca who helped me with my ideas about the chalk drawings and I'm probably going to go with that idea now and also develop it by first using thick paper to draw on.

Anyway, I've got to get the essay done first...

Here are some examples of chalk drawings, obviously a lot more complicated than what I will do but also really awesome:
(One example is of a photo of a drawing seen from an angle that shows it in proportion and another is of the same drawing seen from an angle that shows it out of proportion.

Quick note about the blog...

For some reason it has been harder for me to write in my blog in this semester compared to last. I really don't know why and I'm kind of worried about it but I do seem to have improved again recently.

And on that note, above will be a major update on both the maths and art and aural terrains projects. Forgive me if the order of them is a bit messed up...

Shopping list

Ok here's a quick update about the aural terrains project:

Today I/we went and bought some necessary items from a shopping list we were given. This involved finding the items and walking up a ridiculously steep hill... I've got no idea what we'll be doing with them but I am really REALLY hoping that it doesn't involve soldering!! : )

Maths and Art

Well I haven't written very much on the subject and I need to for the upcoming essay and practical, so here's some more on the Maths and Art paper.

Quick overview first:

I have not enjoyed the maths lectures at all, though most of the art ones have been quite interesting, probably for two big reasons: I'm much more interesting in art than I am in Maths and also they're not as long : ). Ok, that was a 'very' quick overview...but not to worry, here's some more info...

Literature review:

I was a but late in starting the literature review - although I had done some research before hand so that was to my advantage, however I did get it done. The main trouble that I had with it was probably that I sort of started it again a couple times. I had an idea and started writing it, then I though it was wrong so I changed my idea and started writing it again and then I thought that was wrong so once again I restarted it. I did eventually settle on one idea though and managed to get it all finished.

After I handed it in I was really worried that I had done it completely wrong and that I wouldn't pass... The day we got them back I was really freaking out about it. Anyway, I was, and still am, thrilled about the mark that I got. Very, very happy : ). However, this does leave the practical and essay to come.

Essay and Practical:

As we are supposed to be documenting/talking about our essay and practical in order to show our though process I'll put in my abstract question to make it easier to follow. Here it is:

"The Mathematics Behind the Theory of Perspective and its Influence on Artistic Beauty"

As is necessary I've been doing some more research in order to help me with my essay and practical. I should hopefully be alright with writing the essay, but at the moment I'm pretty stuck with what to do for the practical. Hopefully I'll figure out something soon. I'll put up some photos of something that I think is relevant to this in the next post ... when I find my camera. : )

Aural Terrains - Week 2

Overall I have actually quite enjoyed the this last week. Going out and recording the sounds ourselves was interesting and fun, as well as being educational. I also enjoyed the actual editing, putting the sounds together to make something that sounds good and portrays an idea, as well as using the sounds that are interesting to me.

We've had a number of guest speakers come in and talk to us this past week, though some more interesting than others, as will always be the case. However, each person did have some interesting things to say and also videos.

I'm not really a musical person, I mean I don't play any instruments (apart from guitar hero :D ), and I don't know how to read music. Because of that I was quite worried that I would struggle with this project. So far though it has been surprisingly interesting and enjoyable (I really need to find some synonyms for those two words..) and hopefully it will continue to be so.

Group Recording

Final group composition:



This is the final group composition of our recordings. The recording was done by all of us but the editing was mainly done by Jess and me. I was very pleased with the final result. The sounds we used in it were intentionally dramatic and worked well. It was very effective when played through the speakers (and in the dark) and you could really physically feel the impact of it. The two tutors seemed to like it, as well as other people in the class which is always a very satisfying feeling.

Individual Recording

My final individual composition:

Field Recordings

Some more field recordings:


Chickens:



Construction Work:



High Heels:



Metal Vibration:



Sea Sound:



Train

Field Recordings

A few (of many!!) of our field recordings:
(Some are quite long because I haven't cut them).

Banging sound:



Beach waves:



Birds:



Boat motor:



Britomart: