PRSF New Music Award –have your say and win a Zeppelin Mini
The UK’s most ambitious music prize is the PRS for Music Foundation New Music Award which carries a £50,000 prize.
This year, for the first time, they are opening the voting to the public. The voting will close on 12th September and the public vote will count as one vote on the judging panel. The winner will be awarded a £50,000 prize at a glittering ceremony in the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion on 16th September and their winning new musical work will premiere in 2011.
Let us know at the bottom of this blog which piece you think deserves to win and why, then vote here. The best answer will win a Zeppelin Mini and an iPod loaded with the five short listed films plus a half-hour SkyArts documentary.
The five shortlisted ideas cover the widest possible range of musical genres from electronic and site specific to acoustic and African-inspired beats, and the PRS for Music Foundation has comissioned a short film for each of the entries.
The five entries are:
aroundNorth – a stellar orchestra based on the rotation of stars around the Celestial North Pole
Automata Musica – combines the skills of composer and craftsman to make “automatic instruments” which audience members can play
The Battle of the Wordsmiths - recreates African musical instruments through beatboxing which introduces western audiences to the ancient traditions to Yoruba culture
The Organ of Corti - recycles existing sounds to create new ways of listening
SATSYMPH – a “satellite symphony” delivered through an iPhone app
The films will also be screened free from 26th July to 5th September. Venues include the ICA, London, Watershed in Bristol, the Black Box in Belfast, Sage Gateshead, Cornerhouse in Manchester, Cardiff Chapter Arts Centre, Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Arts, Liverpool Bluecoat Arts Centre, Nottingham Broadway Media Centre and the Roundhouse, London.
Let us know at the bottom of this blog which piece you think deserves to win and why, then vote here. The best answer will win a Zeppelin Mini and an iPod loaded with the 5 short listed films plus a half-hour SkyArts documentary.
Carla says:
For me, the best art is that which, for however brief a time, causes me to transcend my personal concerns and leaves me feeling uplifted and transformed in some way. That’s why I voted for Around North. Even the brief little film got me thinking about the rotation of the Earth and the relative positions of the stars and how this enabled humans to navigate and how I (like many urban dwellers) have lost my awareness of the stars at night. It also struck me that astrophysicists might even find it useful as an educational or research tool; from the description, it sounds like it qualifies as data sonification. The film and the intriguing sound excerpts have already caused me to pause and reflect on the universe and our place in it and it’s made me eager to hear the music of the spheres!
Posted: Monday, 26 July 2010
Karl Aussia says:
“We are all Pythagoreans’ – Iannis Xenakis (music theorist and composer)
The reason I believe that aroundNorth, the stellar orchestra based on the rotation of stars around the Celestial North Pole, should win the prestigious PRS New Music Award is because it reaches beyond the earthly to interpret the music of the spheres.
Credited to Pythagoras, the theory of Musica universalis (music of the spheres) sought to make a connection between geology, cosmology, harmonics and music. A theme that has reverberated throughout time influencing many artists and musicians – from Holst to Mike Oldfield, from Jean-Philippe Rameau to Phillip Glass and further afield.
So this concept also seeks to connect music with science by revealing hidden patterns and harmonics in the universe. How fitting for this year’s sponsor and prize donor Bower and Wilkins whose excellent products enable us to hear music through cutting-edge technologies.
Music has the universal power to inspire us and to elevate humanity. Through music we travel beyond our personal and wider cultural boundaries. Through music and technology we share vision, connect better, understand and collaborate with each other.
Of great vision, this project is not bound to human voices or manmade environments or satellites that are semi-tethered extensions of the earth. It reaches out to the celestial heavens offering us an opportunity to reflect on our place in the universe and the connections that bind us together and to everything else that we know exists.
Certainly it inspires me to imagine and to consider that which we are yet to discover.
Posted: Wednesday, 28 July 2010
Sean Chariker says:
For me the I like the idea of The Organ of Corti. Reframing existing sound and converting it into a more amorphic sound by using this great piece of scupture really shows ingenuity.
I could see this practically used along freeways and in inter-cities. It makes me rethink how I listen.
Posted: Thursday, 29 July 2010
Laura says:
I have just voted. I have gone for the Wordsmiths piece. I liked it for the Human touch, which to me the most important aspect of new music. Working in a visual arts environment, I often here hear PHD type men talking about scientific sound pieces. Where the brilliance is obviously apparent and usually very awe inspiring, I find the human sensual aspect to new music perhaps gets lost a bit. Second choice If I could make one would be the the Organ of Corti. Beautiful project
Posted: Monday, 2 August 2010
Dave Jordan says:
Nature,art and technology working in harmony.
Posted: Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Jaki says:
Automata Music – I love the idea of audience participation.
Posted: Friday, 6 August 2010
Tina Vanderwerf says:
Music, words, landscape…… soundscape;…….this is so good……………..I can’t wait walking in one of the parcs and listen…………..also a very interesting experience for people who never go to concerthalls……………a way to discover unexpected sounds on unexpected spots….brilliant…..!!!!!
Posted: Sunday, 8 August 2010
james says:
I like the Organ of Corti concept of recycling sounds to create new sounds. A very fresh and outstanding concept of capturing the daily sounds around us and hearing it in a new perspective.
Posted: Sunday, 8 August 2010
ASWIN SEKHAR says:
aroundNorth is indeed a novel and interesting idea. Music is heaven and astronomy is all about heavens. It will be a nice mixture of two subtle things in perfect harmony.
Posted: Monday, 9 August 2010
Alan Scott says:
around north is so new and interesting. Imagine………….music from heaven!
Posted: Monday, 9 August 2010
Georg says:
I like the ideas behind “around north” and the “organ of Corti” the most. Myself I walk around since years and record (rather poorly in sound quality of course, but that’s not such a problem for me) all sounds that surround us daily, and later play with those in sequencers and so on. So the organ of Corti seems to me the most lovely idea of those presented here, and I think with this you can include the audience too. So my vote would be for the organ of Corti, and I’m highly interested how this will sound :).
Posted: Wednesday, 11 August 2010
frisland says:
I voted for ‘aroundnorth’ because it is a creative bridge-building composition. It joins science with music and people with the universe. It is literally rendering the music of the spheres which has been an inspiration and philosophical fantasy of perfection and balance for thousands of years.
This project uses music and sound to render the movement of the stars in a way that could provide an accessible experience for those with limited sight and limited access to dark night star-viewing; it can add to scientist’s knowledge of stars and their interactions. It places us firmly in our own corner of the universe. It takes the most remote and inaccessible landscape and brings it down to earth.
Of the five selections, this one is the one Isaac Newton himself would have voted for – Galileo, Copernicus and the great composers Handel and Beethoven – imagine their excitement…
Posted: Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Matt says:
I think we have become so used to the background noise of traffic in our environment that we don’t realise the impact it has on us any more. This is why I have voted for the Organ of Corti – it will cause people to really listen to the noise around them, and also create something beautiful out of it. the fact that it can be taken around the country, or recreated in many places at once, also makes it very inclusive.
Posted: Thursday, 12 August 2010
Aaron Coleby says:
I vote for The Battle of the Wordsmiths. The other pieces certainly had their merits but didn’t strike me as relevant or accessible to the largest and arguably the most dominant music culture out there today – urban music. Wordsmiths struck me as an inclusive piece that gave value and respect to urban culture and at the same time pushed it’s stereotypes and challenged it to engage in the wider music community. It made me feel proud and hopeful for young urban musicians.
Posted: Thursday, 12 August 2010
Jeremy Cusworth says:
The Battle of the Wordsmiths…will have narrative, emotion and performance which for me is an integral part of music.
Posted: Thursday, 12 August 2010
Mike Dunn says:
yay, heavenly music gets my vote too – Around North
Posted: Thursday, 12 August 2010
Will Mowat says:
I vote Automata Musica. It gives people a chance to be actively involved in a performance of their own making within musical parameters set by the composer/originator in a targeted fashion. It appeals to my sense of chaos in life, which every now and again makes sense.
Posted: Thursday, 12 August 2010
Dan says:
I think the aroundNorth track should win as for me its refreshing as sound and visuals are put together with colours and lifeforms with alot of pattern. This was an interesting video and something people could watch and relate to, its makes you think about everything around you and brings the context of life together in one. A truly epic piece.
Posted: Thursday, 12 August 2010
James White says:
A tough decision to make with so many different and innovative approaches, but I love the concept of Automata Musica.
If the normal barriers of traditional instruments could be brought down, making it easier for them to activate sounds and sequences, but using a real mechanical device as opposed to an electronic sample, I think it would inspire people to create. I believe it would make people think twice before saying things like ‘I’m not musical’.
I think the scope for different instruments and sounds and sequences is enormous too, which is exciting and will make it easier to create your own unique sound. Very cool indeed.
Posted: Thursday, 12 August 2010
julie Canham says:
The reason I think aroundNorth should win New Music Award 2010 is It would be terrific to hear Robert , Jarvis, compose the day long musical played on a loop. The constellations of the rotations of the universe. For Urban places, if atmosphere is not clear one, and particularly for the
blind and all listeners listen to celestial astronomy side. Maybe could be a therapeutic piece of music for all, Of heaven and stars unusal and different.
Posted: Thursday, 12 August 2010
Jason Nelson says:
Battle of wordsmiths gets my vote! traditional and modern mixed together to create an unusal but inteteresting sound that is both entertaining and captivating to experiance.
Posted: Friday, 13 August 2010
Bex Marshal; says:
Around north would be musical vesion of the horoscope system involving us all! perfect!
Posted: Friday, 13 August 2010
Rob Palmer says:
All of the nominees have interesting and exciting projects, however my vote goes to Battle of the Wordsmiths for it’s wide reaching accessibility. Hip-hop music is one of the most popular urban music styles in the tastes of today’s youth, and combining that with more traditional rhythms and beats that are centuries old, a new fusion of music is created that can be understood by young and old alike. Adding to this an epic story where the future of the world is at stake, the attention of any listener would be transfixed. This project doesn’t over-reach on it’s progressiveness and is a much more palatable step up the never-ending ladder of new music.
Posted: Friday, 13 August 2010
David says:
For me “The Organ of Corti” is definitely a revolutionary idea that could have a great impact in transforming our surroundings into something new and exciting. It is also accessible to everyone passing by and do not require any further equipment making it really interesting in changing our perception of open spaces.
For me it is the winner.
Posted: Friday, 13 August 2010
Alvaro says:
I like “Automata Musica”. It is a innovative and interactive way of making music allowing to create your own music at the same time as you can hear it, allowing you to interact with other musicians at will. It will make a especially rewarding music experience especially for those without previous music knowledge allowing everyone to equally be able to participate in the music experience independently of their previous musical knowledge or skills.
Posted: Friday, 13 August 2010
Al Sansome says:
My vote goes to Terry Mann & his Automata Musica simply because I love the concept, the sounds and the endless possibilities.
Posted: Saturday, 14 August 2010
Mel says:
I thought all of these projects were interesting and put forward to us clearly and with a real enthusiasm. My vote however, goes to Automata. I love the idea that where music and lyrics come from our heart, from our thoughts and memories, suddenly Nature and the Universe could potentially offer us their own sounds and notes too. We are so used to holding and playing a musical instrument, – an object, something that has been built and made for that purpose, but to look to the stars and the Universe and think that they can play to us their own music is something only a child could dream for. Our very own ‘Stellar Orchestra’ would be like a gift from the stars themselves. Maybe they could connect and talk with us, through their own Celestial music! How wonderful would that be!
Posted: Saturday, 14 August 2010
troy davids says:
I think that all the entries are worthy of the title as you cannot get more innovative than what i’ve seen on the videos, however, I believe the organ of Corti has that little something extra that separates this brilliant idea from the others.
The most enchanting reason why this entry should win would be it’s ability to totally engage us, “the public”. If you are walking about the town and happen to see one, you can imagine being overcome by curiosity and then without warning being captivated by what you might discover.
No musical talent or “know how” is needed to use this equipment and that is what makes this technology not only useful to everyone from all walks of life, but also ingenious.
Posted: Saturday, 14 August 2010
Gloria Garcia says:
The organ of Corti gets my vote! I found it very interesting how people on the street can appreciate different sounds being modified depending on where they stand. Well done to all though, they are all amazing projects.
Posted: Saturday, 14 August 2010
Dave says:
All of these projects have merit, but the Battle of the Wordsmiths wins it for me; here musicians interact with each other and create something which may be greater than the sum of its parts.
All the projects are interesting and intriguing; however, two of them invlove little more than the application of an algorithm to found sounds or phenomena, another enables the generation of predetermined musical sequences in a non-determined way, and the other depends on the listener having an iPhone or other high-end gadget and therefore would exclude me from experiencing it!
However, it would be great if the prize money could be divided into 5 chunks – say 20K, 16K, 8K, 4K and 2K, and awarded to all 5 finalists so that all these projects have a chance of being realised.
Posted: Sunday, 15 August 2010
Dale Sumner says:
Congratulations to all of the entries – each one is highly imaginative and innovative. However the one that finally won me over was aroundNorth by Robert Jarvis.
His concept is the only one that provides the listener an opportunity to hear ‘sound’, for something that we do not have a recognizable ‘sound’ for, that being the movement of the stars and the Earth. And as Robert mentioned in the film, it also gives people who have restricted or no sight an opportunity to ‘hear’ the Universe, which for most of us we can see.
I think this is an exciting concept and it would be an interesting experience to hear the final work.
Posted: Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Rebecka Slater Lyons says:
The battle of the Wordsmiths, because the face of art is everchanging, but its heart remains the same.
Posted: Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Mandy says:
I voted Automata Musica. There’s a good chance these “instruments” will still be around for years to come, and so have such a greater legacy than the other projects. Can’t wait to have a go!
Posted: Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Nic Lucas says:
Terry Mann..Automata musica …makes musical participation accessable .and egalitarian . as children many of us loved the simple hand wound music box that we played fowards or backwards revelling in making our own starting point ..finding a palendromic phrase on these everlasting music strips..As an enabler working creatively with people with learning dificulties I can see fantastic creative choices with Dr Mann’s application.
Posted: Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Jim Birkett says:
After looking at the excellent ideas proposed on this years New Music Award I choose the aroundNorth stellar orchestra. As music is mathematics in it’s fundamentals equally are the movement of the stars and galaxies.
To be able to analyze and discover the melodies formed by these astrological patterns is a very exciting prospect and feel this is the newest form of music creation in the selection.
Posted: Thursday, 19 August 2010
Jenny says:
I am very taken by the “Around North” idea, but prefer the “Automata Musica” to all the other projects because of the craftsmanship involved and the fact that it will encourage people who can’t play any musical instrument to play with it, enabling them to create thier own music. I would love to see and hear what children do with it, or the elderly – or anyone. There should be a set of these instruments in every city, town and village in an easily accessible public place.
Posted: Friday, 20 August 2010
Gina Dobbins says:
I have voted for like Automata Musica, because I would like to see this project come to fruition . This seems to me to be so imaginative and open to both experienced musicians yet inclusive enough to allow people without much musical knowledge to become involved. This will help anyone who can physically turn a handle, make their own music or join in with others.
Posted: Saturday, 21 August 2010
al says:
organ of conti because it’s cool and it’s connected to sustrans and we need them to expand to have cycle routes all over the uk
Posted: Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Twinkle says:
Aroundnorth stella orchestra, renaissance of the relationship between people and the universe, celebrating the wonders of astronomy and its importance to our day to day lives.
Posted: Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Gary Burnett says:
All very interesting, but I’d choose aroundNorth overall. Each piece has something different to offer, but I like the relationship between tiny little us and these vast stars – something more than the sun of its parts, if you’ll allow the pun…..
Posted: Saturday, 28 August 2010
clare says:
robert jarvas. I love his idea to music and the solar system entwined into one. what a fabulous idea. Its great to a connection to the solar system and the earth.
Posted: Sunday, 29 August 2010
Doctor B says:
An amazing overview of creativity in sound in the UK, all of them deserving of support and recognition.
Posted: Tuesday, 31 August 2010
Manick Govinda says:
I voted for battle of wordsmith. It’s human, it’s passionate and it brings the past and present together through a dialectical exchange. It’s also visceral and very physical – free your ass and your mind will follow or free your mind and your ass will follow?
Posted: Thursday, 2 September 2010
Jenni says:
The stars have always held much significance for the human race: from using stars to navigate the globe, to seeking life-guidance from astrologists. When we look up at night, how dull would the sky look without the stars? aroundNorth will provide us with the chance to actually hear the stars, singing to us, in all their glory. For people without sight, this is an opportunity to hear what eveyone else has seen for centuries. A glorious concept that will be housed in a beautiful location.
Posted: Thursday, 2 September 2010
Felix says:
I think The Organ of Corti is the piece which has the most potential for positively changing how we listen to the world.
As far as I can tell from the video, The Organ of Corti draws attention both to the sounds which are around us already, and to the mechanics of our ears. I love that it does not add new sounds to the environment, but rather reshapes our perception of existing sounds and invites us to reconsider the way that we hear and think about them; this feels like a timely and playful exploration of the noisy, post-industrial world that we have created together, and I think the organ provides a welcome opportunity to reconsider, explore and review what is already here before we add to it.
I also think The Organ of Corti offers the most accessible and meaningful audience experience out of all the shortlisted projects, because it can be applied to familiar sounds which already mean something to the people who listen to their worlds through the organ. People who hear the traffic that they hear every day through the organ will remember the different potentials in that sound every time they hear the traffic afterwards, so the project has a lasting legacy which will embed itself in everyday sounds and listening long after the organ has moved on…
…The Organ of Corti also seems to give the audience an experience which is playful and full of discovery. From the video, it appears that hearing the world through The Organ of Corti involves active exploration and wonder on the part of the listener or the audience, and I think that impressions found through this kind of active participation last for a long time after an artwork has been experienced, because your whole body remembers the unfolding experience, and the part you played in it. I think this is an empowering experience, which reminds you of your own abilities to listen to, and think differently about, sounds.
I think that after hearing a sound you know well through The Organ of Corti, it could be difficult to prevent yourself from asking how other things may sound through that sonic lens, and so I think the potential legacy for how we will think about and imagine sounds as a result of this work is much greater than in the case of the other shortlisted projects.
I love the ongoing link between everyday sounds and the potential for music, and I think this work – more than any other in the shortlist – builds on the legacy of John Cage, and other composers who have explored environmental sound as a potential source or variety of music.
The affirmative and celebratory dimension of such ideas is worth sustaining – especially via projects like The Organ of Corti, which enhance the pleasure we can find in our everyday lives just by shifting the way that we listen to the world that is around us.
Posted: Thursday, 2 September 2010
Michael says:
aroundNorth gets my vote.
I’m all for crossovers that really work so aroundNorth’s ability to bring art and science together gives it a big head start there for me. The fact that I’m a stargazer helps too ;-). Anyway, it gives a powerful base to work from.
I’m also drawn to it by its universality (no pun intended). The other entries are limited by either location (being in SW England), money (having someone able to afford to install a Corti or provide automata), or musical taste (not everyone likes hip-hop), whereas aroundNorth can be enjoyed freely, now and forever more by anyone on or off the entire planet, presumably in any orchestrated style they prefer. It is really timelessly elegant.
Last, but not least, it is the one with the most emotional harmony for me, and I suspect for more members of the public than the other projects. Basically because so many of us have at one time or another looked up, felt small, and wondered of the vasteness of the Universe.
It simply works for me on every level from the base on up to the emotional harmony. A lovely idea.
Posted: Friday, 3 September 2010
andrew says:
Wordsmiths. This is a fascinating use of modern street music and vocal styles combined with ancient Yoruba rhythms to create a uniquely poetic fusion. Both the modern and traditional seem to grow from being together in one groove. 1 + 1 = 3.
Posted: Friday, 3 September 2010
Dr J says:
Organ of Corti. Some of the best art / science is about revealing what is already there, where it went unnoticed or unrealized before. I think Organ of Corti does this, too – and it is interesting and different that it’s not art or science as such (although that is involved), but music (and I do think it’s music). Another great thing is that unlike any other entry here, no new sonic material is added: this is a revealing or creating through reduction. It also offers a very original take on well-known musical approaches / techniques like field recording, algorithms over soundfiles, filtering, and minimalism. Plus, it looks great, it is very simple and timeless (no computing or contraptions, just rods), looks easy to implement in multiple situations and forms, and I can see it working with the public.
Posted: Saturday, 4 September 2010
scottfree says:
There is a qualitative difference between SATSYMPH and the others: SATSYMPH is a completely authored environment which, perhaps paradoxically, gives users the opportunity to self-create their own unique contemporary symphonic experience ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. SATSYMPH is not ‘a one-off” or a translator of existing ambient but an infinitely variable virtual auditorium. SATSYMPH is the next stage in development of ‘music’ and ‘poetry’. That’s why : SATSYMPH!
Posted: Monday, 6 September 2010
James says:
I voted for Satsymph as this idea is the only one that is really pioneering – all the other pieces are great but don’t really push any new boundaries very far if at all – we’ve had ambient music, sounds filtered from one type to another, sounds initiated by external stimuli, all that sort of thing is very worthy, but not new. Satsymph is creating something completely new – the way music is experienced and composed – it’s never happened like this before. The way the music is placed into the landscape and you have to walk to discover it and create your own story is new too. People make their own compositions by exploring the natural environment – it’s got to be good for your health, too, as it gets you out and about! It can also become international immediately as it’s not confined to one place only or one time – it can be all over the world – that’s amazing! And yes, for the very first experience you will need an iphone, but this can quickly change to be available on many other types of phone and media. when a concert or installation happens, it’s usually in one place so restricts many people from taking part because they don’t live near or is at a special time. Satsymph can be taken anywhere and be experienced at any time by lots of people. And it’s not just about music – it’s about poetry too, and that’s a first for this competition. Satsymph really can broaden audiences as it can appeal to people who are interested in poetry as well as music, and it’s not in a concert hall and you can experience it completely in your own way.
Satsymph can change the way music is experienced and the way artists think about composing new music – it’s all really new and pioneering and deserves to win!!!!!
Posted: Monday, 6 September 2010
Ian Talbot says:
For it’s true innovation I voted for SATSYMPH. It seems to me that it is the one concept that reaches out to people who have perhaps never considered this type of music, or poetry, before. As a concept too there would appear to be few limiting factors for future growth…
Posted: Monday, 6 September 2010
Vivienne says:
Satsymph are my winners. I love the way Satsymph have extended the boundaries within their concepts. They have given the listener the ability to take the Satsymph journey which is not only magical but completely Enchanting! They simply must win!
Posted: Monday, 6 September 2010
Rosy James says:
Interactive art of any kind is a great way to introduce audiences to new concepts and enhance their experience. I love the way this piece combines music and poetry and shares the composing with the people exploring it. It’s inspiring and original and will touch people’s senses on many different levels.
Posted: Monday, 6 September 2010
Rosy James says:
Obviously I was talking about SATSYMPH.
Posted: Monday, 6 September 2010
Bill Knocker says:
I believe art is a way of communicating ideas or emotions to people by means other than by a simple logical recounting of the facts. Even written prose becomes art when it generates an emotional response that goes beyond a purely intellectual understanding. All five projects are novel and inspiring, but three are technological innovations that can be used to create art as defined above. About North and Wordsmiths would truly be pieces of art in their own right.
I am an amateur astronomer and have struggled to convey to other people the sense of wonder I feel when learning about the universe. About North is an original way to convey some of that wonder through our musical senses, which is a way that can make the universe live in our minds in a different way. It will also make it accessible to people who cannot see the beautiful images that most of us can see. It must be dreadful for visually impaired people to be told that they are in the presence of a wonderful sight and not to be able to see it. If this idea gives them another way to make the image real in their minds, it has to be given its chance.
For that reason, and for the possibility of the wonder of the universe living in my mind in a new way, I voted for About North and I hope that it lives up to its promise.
Posted: Monday, 6 September 2010
Mark says:
I have voted for SATSYMPH as the competition is to find the most innovative musical ideas in the UK today. A truly unique listening experience coupled with an interaction with space/landscape all triggered by the listener is a worthy heir of Cage, Ives and Birtwistle…..a concept whose applications are far-reaching and varied. Can anyone say a collection of ‘new musical toys’ are that interesting? Like any child, the toys will be played with, shaken and rattled before being abandoned as the limited musical interest wears off. Beatboxing? Yawn! How is this innovative? An envirnonmental musical filter (the organ of Corti) is a nice idea but are the results that interesting? Stars determining musical phenomena…….all depends on the ingenuity of talents of the composer creating the triggered sounds.
SATSYMPH is a revolutionary way to experience both sound and the world we live in. Innovative? YES! YES! YES!
Posted: Monday, 6 September 2010
jane says:
SATSYMPH to me offers an innovative approach to using current communications technology to bring multimedia experience to a wide range of people. This is not only the most imaginative of the projects but also the most likely to reach a wide variety of people most of whom would not normally pay interest to contemporary music and arts.
Posted: Monday, 6 September 2010
Gordon Crosse says:
I like SarSymph. Although all have “Cageian” elements and involve audience participation – this is the one that most retains the dignity of a creator or Author. Something is created by the authors – but the audience can control how they experience it. and by moving around the space will feel they are truly exploring. It does not make the mistake of thinking that “Anyone can compose….” and it is not a slave to chance. I am sure that once it has been a success on the iPhone it will appear on other devices. I am excited by this project and cannot wait to experience it.
Posted: Monday, 6 September 2010
sylvia junge says:
The reason why Satsymph should win is very simple; it is a brilliant, innovative, musically creative idea.,unique. No contest!
Posted: Monday, 6 September 2010
John A. Carollo says:
I voted for Satsymph for its creative potential, its interactive effect and its accessibility. No other artistic contestant in this competition has all three of these intriguing qualities as part of their proposal. Aesthetically, Satsymph has a sound set of foundational principals that has promise and can be a springboard for a rich future musical tradition. It’s a visionary proposal sets forth the idea that each and every one of us can be creators and have influence over our creations as we go from here to there. Taking the music hall out of its rooted environment and into a moving landscape is an idea that has come none to soon. As artists, we need to be concerned with the manner in which we leave our traditions to future generations. Satsymph will get more of our precious youth involved, being creative and having fun! Life is a “moving picture” and as we move in our unique landscapes the symphonic sounds that we experience will always be new as we articulate our ideas with novel verbal constructs.
Posted: Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Liz Spurgeon says:
SATSYMPH has the wonder and imagination to break new ground:) my vote is with them everytime.
Posted: Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Kerry Andrew says:
I’m going for AroundNorth. The music will be created by something so out of our control and will make us look up. It’s something for me that would connect science and the mysterious.
Posted: Tuesday, 7 September 2010
ivonoates says:
SATSYMOH offers a great future direction for sound experiment
Posted: Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Victoria says:
SATSYMPH has the amazing potential to create music for you anywhere you are- sounds simple! it takes complexity and creates an immediate and personal experience. The environment in four dimesions.
Posted: Tuesday, 7 September 2010
adam says:
the organ of corti
this piece should win because its simple and its accessible.
it can be understood by all ages.
it plays on our perception of sound, the musicality of sound and will bring all sorts of people closer to the wonder of the musicality sound & noise.
in a world bombarded by noise it will in a unique way enable the listener to focus in
on particular elements of sound within its respective environment.
its architectural and will embody physical space in a unique way.
i love it.
Posted: Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Marc says:
I voted for SATSYMPH – it’s a revolution in music/poetry fusion – totally pioneering. Nothing will be the same after, just endless creative possibilities. Passionate, exciting, exploratative, engaging, compelling; an Alice in Wonderland fantasy experience delivered to you, anywhere in the world, through your mobile device. A walk in the park will never be the same again! That’s why people all over the world are interested in it, why philosophical articles are being written about it and people can’t wait to experience it. You want something new, REALLY new, then it has to be SATSYMPH!
Posted: Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Ken says:
The competition is about the most PIONEERING music in the UK – not the nicest, most popular, most easily digested, most playful, most familiar or most spiritual. The competition is about innovation, newness, what’s revolutionary. So what is revolutionary and new?
Certainly, just about every type of music has been experimented with and written and performed live, recorded, with electroacoustics, the list is endless – minimalism, new complexity, neo-classical, post modern, avant garde, impressionistic, ambient, popular – you name it, all been done one way or another. So what IS new in music and what can be new in this competition and context?
Is it the music itself or could it perhaps be something else like the way we experience and construct music that is now the most pioneering and new aspect of music for the future. I believe it is.
Satsymph offers a completely new way to experience and create music and words that is both fully authored by composers (as opposed to ambient and externally triggered music) that is also highly interactive and determined by the people who experience it, set into a landscape that can be explored like physically walking through the pages of a vast score and playing the music as you walk by, mixing it, structuring it to follow your movements. And this can happen anywhere in the world over and over.
That’s a completely new way to experience music – that’s what innovation is – not the reapplying of familiar principles with new triggers and filters, they are small changes of perspective, no matter how lovely and attractive – Satsymph, however, offers a paradigm change!
Satsymph IS innovation,
IS art and
IS the future!
Posted: Wednesday, 8 September 2010
David Collins says:
I like the Organ of Corti, because it’s recycling, it’s outdoors, and its’ accessible to potentially many thousands of people because it’s transportable. It can give a new experience at every listening, and because it is recycling sounds, it is communicating directly to each listener about their own immediate environment. So it’s kind of more than “just” music, it’s so relevant to many of the most important themes in our lives today, and surely that’s what innovation in contemporary music has to strive to be.
Posted: Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Nazzarena Arman says:
If performance is the result of the interaction between a living being, its actions and the space in which it all happens, then SATSYMPH is quintessentially the first and most significant leap forward in terms of artistic performance of this century. SATSYMPH breaks all the rules and conventions we have so far accepted about art. It consists of creating a parallel dimension to our everyday life and forming an organic and experiential world in its own right. SATSYMPH, which stands for Satellite Symphony, liberatingly and irrevocably blurs the boundaries between creator, executor and listener giving the latter the freedom to create without constraints.
SATSYMPH uses the latest GPS enabled technology to present artistic content to the public, in the form of words and sounds of the highest quality. As such SATSYMPH becomes an all-embracing work of art, intrinsically entwining the man-made to the not-man-made. It also revolutionises the way artists can think about their work, programming it down to the millimetre to allow each one of us to create our own performance in a given space, entirely dependant on the listeners’ choices and actions.
This part-art, part-technology installation is totally invisible. Having no visual element, the opportunity for those members of the public who may usually be resolutely against public art to attack and detract from it is, therefore, minimised. Access is reserved strictly to those people who choose to tap into it. The green credentials of SATSYMPH look very good indeed: nothing is physically created. Above all, nothing remains after the performance: no refuse is produced and there are no issues of where and how to preserve this opera (Italian for a dramatised work of music as well as work of art). Once the symphony has been painstakingly allocated an open space and the application uploaded to a receiver, phone or GPS display, the listener can interact with it freely, always occupying only virtual space. But SATSYMPH is no virtual reality exercise; rather it is something that is here to stay, permanently embedded in a new kind of reality: that of the future.
As a performance theory person who has spent a considerable amount of time waiting for something like SATSYMPH to happen, without being able to put my finger on exactly what I was waiting for, allow me to rejoice at SATSYMPH. Hail the team of creators Marc Yeats, Ralph Hoyte and Phil Phelps for finally being able to position themselves on the shoulders of those proverbial giants and sit there with tranquil unawareness and indifference. Both Marc and Ralph had the cheek to tell me that they have very little knowledge of who and what they are sitting on. They came up with the idea via completely independent means from the traditional academic study of the humanities. But this fits in with who they are: doers.
The giants I refer to are the embodiment of ideas which have formed in the centuries since records begun. There has been a long, long build up to this endeavour. How long? Well, it might be worthwhile to mention the “constant flowing of all things” (Πάντα ῥεῖ) which Heraclitus, a philosopher who lived between 535 and 475 BC, initiated by stating that “ever-newer waters flow on those who step into the same rivers”.
This is one of the first concepts set in stone in Greek philosophy, one which has since challenged generations of philosophers and intellectuals throughout the centuries. Reality is constantly in motion, ever-changing, yet manifesting itself in forms that are always constant: the river is always the river, even if the water changes continuously. So, by walking through a SATSYMPH-equipped space, anyone can be in the ever-changing flow of sound. One cannot get much more per-forming than that: forming music in virtue of the fact of existing in a specific space, doing something simple like walking or standing still.
Most crucially, because everyone is different and does different things in different ways at different times, the music that everyone is creating is, by default, unique. This river of fugeant (fusion-sound-word), as Ralph likes to point out, can then be stored away and played and re-played again at will. I wonder what good old Heraclitus would make of SATSYMPH’s application; he would have cause to feel very proud, for someone has finally proven one of the possible interpretations of his work in practice, not just words.
Performance could not be demonstrated and ontologically grasped in a more succinct and down to earth manner than via SATSYMPH. Sensorial fun, intellectual novelty and audience participation could hardly be more democratically mixed together and shared around. Perhaps, it is now time for a new meaning of the word ‘performance’ and the latest corollary to many other concepts in our intellectual toolkit, because, yes, SATSYMPH simply is that kind of seminal work!
Posted: Wednesday, 8 September 2010
More Ken says:
Oh yes, and Satsymph is completely green – it has no physical trace, it does not leave any mark or residue on the environment and takes minimal physical resources to reproduce.
It is also uniquely transportable to anywhere in the world at the touch of a few buttons. It is also unique in that it can be experienced differently by 100s of people simultaneously across a huge or intimate space.
And, it gets people out and about and moving around – you don’t sit and listen, you go find the music and words – it’s a voyage of discovery!
All the projects here have great merits musically and for their ideas – but none are as revolutionary as Satsymph, that’s why I voted for it.
Posted: Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Laurie Fenwick says:
Automatica Musica is a wonderful development. The composer allows the audience to take part voluntarily in the performace, thereby contributing to the overall experience, by providing them with instruments. John Cage, however, in his 4’33″, risked violence by not telling the audience what their role in his piece was to be!
Posted: Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Frances says:
I like the Organ of Corti because it engages our curiosity about the sounds of our environment which we so often blank out
It engages us in the world of sound in a fresh way. I’d love to see and hear it on SUSTRANS cycle routes where it could provide a rest stop for body mind and spirit !
Posted: Wednesday, 8 September 2010
More more Ken says:
Wow – Nazzarena Arman’s comment is awesome – and so true – Satsymph is so different it could change the course of music creation and experience – now, that’s pioneering!!
One also has to consider what is the musical value of all these projects – how engaging are the musical results, or sound results – how long would you listen before you get bored? How exciting are ambient triggered sounds or filtered noises or sounds that are always beautiful when freely combined? Wouldn’t capture my imagination for very long – how much ambient hiss, drone and tone do you want in one day?
Satsymph is REAL authored music and words – it’s dramatic, sensitive, dynamic, communicative, human, interactive, responsive, theatrical – a real experience, new and fresh every time, never experienced in the same way twice – and as compelling as theatre or opera, but outside in the environment –
now THAT captures my imagination!!
Posted: Thursday, 9 September 2010
Martin Bulmer says:
I find all these projects fascinating, and hope to see each of them come to fruition. I voted for Automata Musica because it involves interaction between people, to produce music from simple physical sources. It is not automatically driven like “Around North” nor is it a solitary experience like “Satsymph” or “Organ of Conti”. Unlike “The Battle of the Wordsmiths”, anyone can take part and put their own influence on the music produced. Automata Musica is the one I would most like to have a go at, to actually get hold of one of those handles, on a beautifully crafted musical instrument, and PLAY.
Posted: Thursday, 9 September 2010
Sally R says:
Just a question about the Organ of Corti.
If it recycles environmental sounds, can these sounds be heard over and above the sounds it is recycling, in that same environment? Are the sounds amplified in some way?
In the PRSF video it shows the Organ of Corti next to a very busy London road with heavy traffic making a hell of a noise. if the Organ of Corti is in situ, which I presume it is, it will need to be pumping out really loud sounds in the environment to be heard over and above the road noises or do you have to stand extremely close to it to hear the sounds it produces?
Posted: Thursday, 9 September 2010
Sally R says:
In response to Martin Bulmer:
Automata Musica is my next favorite to Satsymph because it shares some aspects like pre- composed sounds and music that are assembled in different ways by participants, making it interactive. But what I wonder is just how long it will be interesting to turn the handle of a music box. You can turn it fast or slow, at this point or that, alone or with others, but it still boils down to just turning a handle. Like one of the previous comments said: “Like any child, the toys will be played with, shaken and rattled before being abandoned as the limited musical interest wears off.”
And, according to the composer, the music sounds nice and beautiful whatever combination the music boxes are in, so no drama or contract then!
And a point about Satsymph. User’s experiences (journeys) can be uploaded to a Satsymph website where they can be played back and shared with anyone in the world.
Music, even when experienced with others, remains deeply personal.
Posted: Thursday, 9 September 2010