Re: [ARSCLIST] Alvin Lucier: "I am Sitting in a Room"

[Brandon Burke <bburke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

[Post-script]

Something to this effect can also be seen in the Roland Kirk/John Cage film
"Sound?" (1967) wherein Cage recites passages about sound aesthetics while
doing things like playing on a playground, sitting in a cab, and eventually
shouting in a large and very empty room.  Similar purpose, similar effect.

-- Brandon



Quoting Matt Bailey <msbailey@xxxxxxx>:

> Some of you may be familiar with the experimental composer Alvin Lucier,
> some might not. He once did a piece called "I am Sitting in a Room"
> which was recorded by Lucier reading a text (transcribed below) into a
> tape recorder and then repeatedly playing it back into another. Some of
> you tapeheads might be interested in listening to it, so I've provided a
> link below:
>
> http://www.ubu.com/sound/lucier.html
>
> The text: "I am sitting in a room different from the one you are in now.
> I am recording the sound of my speaking voice and I am going to play it
> back in the room again and again until the resonant frequencies of the
> room reinforce themselves so that any semblance of my speech, with
> perhaps the exception of rhythm, is destroyed. What you will hear, then,
> are the natural resonant frequencies of the room articulated by speech.
> I regard this activity not so much as a demonstration of a physical
> fact, but more as a way to smooth out any irregularities my speech might
> have."
>
> Enjoy,
>
> Matt
> --
> Matt Bailey
> Audiovisual Archivist
>
> Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
> University of Georgia Libraries
> Athens, GA 30602-1641
> (706)542-5788
> http://www.libs.uga.edu/russell/
>


Brandon Burke
Graduate Research Assistant
Digital Library Services
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX
phone: (512) 495-4439
email: bburke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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