Story Walk - "Spare Key"

This soundwalk is supposed to tap into the sublime, as we are not actually in the experience itself, but are listening as if we were.

This is an echoes that is created in response to articles written by Lola Remy and Budhaditya Chattopadhyay for Digital 601: Critical Practice Lab

A verbal examination of the concept of boundary, in/visibility and/or normality by three different U-M-affiliated individuals that includes their self-described positionality and how they came to understand these topics mapped onto U-M's campus. Informed by pieces such as John Cage's 4'33" (1952) and Alvin Lucier's I Am Sitting in a Room (1969). [Normality | Boundary | In/Visibility] What is a boundary but an invisible fence A self-soothing means, a way of making sense Of how we view others and the places we’re in But perhaps, also, itself, a way to understand what’s within? How do boundaries shape our sense of self? When we choose to disclose, or ask for help. How much do I need to say about me For someone to get a sense of visibility On what we hide away or refute Or of the things we choose to amplify and unmute? I am so careful to construct a functional facade To be relatable, to hide that I’m not a fraud. Yet, I’ve realized that I have never felt normal— That I feel most ‘myself’ when I get to be informal. And while this felt very bad, at first, Being abnormal may not, actually, be the worst.

Welcome to "Echoes of Our Sonic Past", a soundwalk curated by the students of Musicology 346: Historical Sounds taught by Professor Diane Oliva during Winter term 2023.

Welcome to "Everything You Touch," a soundmap at the Diag by Billy Mark. A soundmap is audio art that uses gps technology to allow the direction of your walking to triggger sounds. Wherever you go on the grass surrounding the Diag, you will play different voices, rhythms, and chords. This piece responds to the Octavia Butler quote, "Everything you touch, you change, everything you change, changes you. The only lasting truth is change. God is change". The voices you hear are students lying in the grass, breathing and allowing a stream of consciousness to flow for 20 minutes. Although you have to walk to different areas to hear the different voices, all of the 20-minute voice sessions trigger simultaneously, so they will end around the same time. Feel free to walk through them as you'd like. After the 20-minute voice sessions have ceased, you can walk through the map's music by itself. If you'd like to listen to just one voice all the way through, restart the walk in that location and remain in that zone. And finally, since there are a lot of trees, sometimes the sensor gets wonky. If that ever happens, just restart the app, and you should be good to go. Thanks to Quinn Hunter and Shaunda Bunton for commissioning the piece. And to the entire InterArts class for sharing their beautiful voices.

“Inventing Future Sounds for Ceremonies: Reimagining Ceremonial Music for the Organ & Carillon” Grace Chan and Nicholas Vines Monday, October 2, 2023 3:50 pm Britton Recital Hall Many keystones of the Western classical canon were commissioned for significant royal or aristocratic events such as births, deaths, marriages and coronations. This ceremonial music has historically diffused from “top down”, influencing ceremonial music for sacred and secular events such as graduations and civic celebrations in wider society. For the upcoming British Royal Coronation on the 6th May 2023: “a new commission for solo organ embracing musical themes from countries across the Commonwealth”. We would like to explore how organ and carillon works are commissioned and composed for ceremonies in contemporary Australian society especially in a time when the idea of “Commonwealth” is evolving. This will involve reimagining and inverting the commissioning and creative process to explore how music for these ceremonial instruments can be inclusive, diverse and reflect the community in which the music is performed. The proposed work would be for carillon and offer an alternative to the coronation commission’s approach. Rather than ‘Commonwealth musical themes’ - which evoke old notions of nationhood and colonialism, as well as bring up issues of appropriation – the basis of the composition would be original melodies reflecting the multifaceted nature of individuals in a culturally diverse and egalitarian society such as Australia.