Can’t keep this quiet any longer, the long awaited follow-up to “Obsolete?” is here. Very excited.
“Observations” is an audio visual study of the people, machines and practices at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University. Culminating in two performances on 12th &13th of March, 2010 at 7.30pm during the Cambridge Science Festival.
The piece poses the question of “What does it mean to be an Astronomer?” and how it has evolved; from observations with the unaided eye and the first telescopic studies 400 years ago, to modern telescopes and satellites collecting data across the full reach of the spectrum, and the importance of theoretical study of astronomical concepts such as cosmology.
Following on from the successful “Obsolete?” in 2009 at The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park, Matthew C. Applegate aka Pixelh8 internationally renowned “chip tune” musician will be directing, composing and performing this entirely new piece.
All of the sounds in the music will be recorded from the machines, people and interpreted from the data they collect at the Institute. This includes electro-mechanical, mechanical, and ambience as well as interviews with leading scientists and curious visitors to the Institute.
The work is supported by the researchers at The Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge and the outreach officer Dr. Carolin Crawford and was funded by the PRS for Music Foundation Live Connections award.
The PRS for Music Foundation (PRSF) is the UK’s largest independent funder of new music across all genres. Widely respected as an adventurous and proactive funding body, the Foundation supports an exceptional range of new music activity – from unsigned band showcases to composer residencies, from commissions for new music to experimental live electronica. Since March 2000 PRSF has given more than £12 million to over 3,000 new music initiatives.
“Observations” is an audio visual study of the people, machines and practices at the
Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University. Culminating in two performances between
9-22nd of March, 2010 during the Cambridge Science Festival.
The piece poses the question of “What does it mean to be an Astronomer?” and how it has
evolved; from observations with the unaided eye and the first telescopic studies
400 years ago, to modern telescopes and satellites collecting data across the full reach of
the spectrum, and the importance of theoretical study of astronomical concepts such as
cosmology.
Following on from the successful “Obsolete?” in 2009 at The National Museum of
Computing, Bletchley Park, Matthew C. Aplegate aka Pixelh8 internationally renowned
“chip tune” musician will be directing, composing and performing this entirely new piece.
All of the sounds in the music will be recorded from the machines, people and interpreted
from the data they collect at the Institute. This includes electro-mechanical, mechanical,
and ambience as well as interviews with leading scientists and curious visitors to the
Institute.
The work is support by the researchers at The Institute of Astronomy, University of
Cambridge and the outreach officer Dr. Carolin Crawford and was funded by the
PRS for Music Foundation Live Connections award.
“The PRS for Music Foundation (PRSF) is the UK’s largest independent funder of new music
across all genres. Widely respected as an adventurous and proactive funding body, the
Foundation supports an exceptional range of new music activity – from unsigned band
showcases to composer residencies, from commissions for new music to experimental
live electronica. Since March 2000 PRSF has given more than £12 million to over 3,000
new music initiatives.”
I was very fortunate and dare I say honoured to give a talk at the John Cage “Everyday is a good day” exhibition at the Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge. I admittedly was nervous Cage’s influence on me as a musician was extremely important in my formative years and it was a little shaky at the start when discussing his ideas about chance and silence. During the talk I discussed how through Cage’s work I learned to stop and listen to the sounds around me and got in to chip tune music, how I expanded those concepts and included them in “Obsolete?” and “Observations” by way of visual and sonic chance. And finally how I created a piece of software called “SONUS (One)” (out soon) to illustrate a spatial realisation of chance music on the Apple iPhone and Android phone. It was good fun and good questions from the audience, I do really like Cambridge hopefully I will be there a lot more soon.
