Psithurism

Abstract

Noise from nature: A descriptive analysis of effective transformations in the generation of acousmatic material in the work Psithurism for 2 channel fixed media.The project described below, situates itself with a broader ecological awareness common to South Africa and other coast-rich areas of the world affected by dune destruction. The sounds of nature, particularly noise from nature, have always fascinated me. Where mechanisms of natural forces are the random drivers in the creation of natural noise, I find my interest even more peaked. For years, the sounds of gentle winds blowing through trees for example, has drawn much attention to my ears. It stood to reason, that eventually I would take advantage of this and put this to a music project. The ability for such sounds to engender memories, a sense of place or feelings of experience have always been rather potent - noise as such, can be, and is filled with abundant information. What structures of sounds, pitches or rhythms can we find there? How can these underscore personal or more objective narratives and views? In electroacoustic music, effective material is generated through transformation and noise can be particularly useful here. “Coloured noise” as Jonathan Harvey puts it “…would be the filtering of noise into quasi pitch-like structures…”. Thinking of noise in this way can conjure up almost unending possibilities for sound creation. Casuarina equisetifolia - the Horsetail Tree, Whistling Pine, Iron Wood or Australian Pine, is an invader species in South Africa. One of the many plants introduced that are native to Australia and the Pacific Rim region, this species disturbs the natural vegetation of sensitive coastal areas in our country. They have the longest needle-like leaves out of any of the casuarina or pine species known. For this reason, they make incredible sounds, similar to the wind through other trees with needle-like leaves, although the characteristic of the sound through this particular species is unique, simply because of the length of the leaves. This sound is called a psithurism or a soughing of the wind through the trees. This specific wind noise was recorded on several farms around the Western Cape, where the trees are used as wind-breaks. This was achieved by positioning a pair of condenser microphones in an ORTF configuration (110° angle between them) on a very long microphone pole beneath the trees during a windy day for an hour on each farm. Through various mechanisms of sound-transformation techniques and the application of electroacoustic composition techniques in the structuring of the work Psithurism, it was possible to create long sustained tones, bell-like tones, staccato attacks, highly varied timbres and many other sound-related gestures. The bells, act as a sort of ‘warning’ reminding us of the dangers of using exotic vegetation. The work seeks to underscore narratives of biology and ecology in an electroacoustic art-music aesthetic.