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SHUT UP AND LISTEN! AWARD 2011
Cormac Crawley (IE)
Port of Call - Soundscape composition
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Port of Call
The port, as an interface, offers access from land to water, from water to land, north to south and east to
west. It is the beating heart of many cities, towns and villages. With a broad band of sound such as the
roaring of the ocean our ears often play tricks with us. We may imagine sounds; plucked from its vast
spectrum of frequencies.The piece offers a chronological description of how the port has had an ongoing
effect on the lives around it. Also presented is the effect that those around the port have had on this once
tranquil soundscape; previously only disturbed by nature itself. A montage of sounds emerge from the ocean
and develop from natural and harmonious to unnatural and sometimes dissonant depicting human
interference and pollution of the soundscape. The struggle between human and environment is portrayed as
a sway of events throughout the piece; natural and unnatural.
Cormac Crawley
Cormac is a postgraduate student of Queen’s University, Belfast. Having completed his MA in Music
Technology he enrolled in the Sonic Arts Research Centre of Queen’s to further explore the research interests
he realised during his Masters. His PhD is based on interactive composition in relation to the natural audible
environment. He develops interactive scenarios that harness the relationship between environment and the
audio produced in that environment. Cormac’s research is tied closely to acoustic ecology. In his
compositions and installations he attempts to personify harmonious relationships within the soundscape
whilst also highlighting causal relationships of negligence and dissonance. This often involves the use of
sensory technology interacting with various aspects of the climatic environment which will ultimately assist
the compositional output.
http://soundcloud.com/cormac-crawley