Micro Soundwalk

The original inspiration for my project came from a book that I bought from an antique shop. The book was a tourist guide written around 1950-60, it was full of pull out maps of the area that I live in. I found it fascinating in that the maps represented life from another time. I wondered how it might be possible to combine a map with some kind of sound element, to make a composition or performance.

After much deliberation and investigation I decided to go out and listen to some sounds from my environment. One place that I like to go when thinking about composition is Dartmoor. I wanted to find a place on the moor that could be sonically interesting enough to make a sound composition, however, I was keen on finding a place that was also unusual or perhaps not in keeping with the natural landscape. I visited two reservoirs that I new existed but I had never seen. The reservoirs were structurally spectacular and strangely alluring, I liked the way that we are dependent on the reservoir as a source of water as long as they are kept filled by springs from the land in which they are placed.

It was at this time that I began to think about the sounds that were being produced in that particular location. I tried to imagine what it might have been like before the resorvoir was built. I imagined the quiet sound of a small stream carving a path through the landscape over many years. In contrast, I listened to the roar of water passing through a small gap in the resorvoir wall and falling to a deep pool below, birds that previously may not have nested in the area, families walking and picnicing, dogs barking and cars arriving. From this, it is possible to think of sound as having a history or perhaps telling a story.