Project Log 4 – Voice

I thought I might have to explain something about the meaning of some part of the sound effects in my subject, although it’s a meaning I’ve given them and not sure if everyone can relate to it, but I still hope someone can.

The breathing sounds throughout the piece are used to express the state of the ‘protagonist’ of the story. I have used a nursery rhyme throughout the piece, which is ‘Tom, he was a piper’s son’. The reason for choosing this song was because there is a line that says: ‘But all the tune that he could play was <over the hills and far away>, over the hills and a great way off, the wind shall blow my way off, the wind shall blow my top-knot off.’ I used this song at the beginning of childhood. So I chose to play this little melody with a rusty feel, hoping it would sound like a child just starting to learn the piano. I also chose it for the last part because I felt it was a song that could be used to represent childhood.

In the escape phase, I chose to present it with two voices intermingled: one is the sound of parents’ nagging, on the other hand is the sound which be created by escaping. Escapism is a form of confrontation; the two voices are in a constant stalemate, fighting against each other. In the first escapist phase, the protagonist’s attitude loosens up at the end. In the second stage of escape, the protagonist falters, so he is constantly wandering back and forth. The third stage is not really an escape stage anymore, the sound fills the space and it is a moment that has to be confronted. Here I have played the voices that my friends have mentioned to me, the voices that for them they heard at the moment when they realised they were growing up. The words from the doctor, the cries of the newborn, the cries of the mother.

For the final stage, the new world which I chose is the wilderness. This new world is vast and in fact the world is not as scary as you might think. At the end I chose the sound of a 52hz whale. The story of the 52hz whale I thought was wonderful. At first everyone thought this whale was alone, but then it turned out that this whale had a partner, it was just temporarily out of the herd.