Strata Sequence: From Musical Rocks to Palaeo-Soundscapes

Abstract

Strata Sequence is a body of work comprising a range of creative outputs, including compositions and installations. The work represents a series of collaborations with museums and festivals related by the theme of geology. The first created work, Living Waves, is a multi-channel composition interweaving field recordings from the Lake District with readings from the writings of John Ruskin alongside recordings of a specially created lithophone (the Brantwood Musical Stones) played by Dame Evelyn Glennie. An interactive audio-visual installation, Strata, was subsequently created utilizing the Xbox Kinect sensor with custom software created in MAX. This allows participants to play a virtual version of the Brantwood Musical Stones via hand movements in front of a video screen, and is designed for touring. An on-line geological soundmap of Cumbria is also being created to represent sounds above and below the ground. The final part of the sequence is the recreation of a Jurassic soundscape entitled Re-imagining the Jurassic. This was created for a 16 month exhibition at Scarborough’s Rotunda Museum called Scarborough’s Lost Dinosaurs.