Alexis Lamb presenting at Music and Transcendence in a Post-Human Age Conference

Sonic Awareness Leading to Environmental Conservation: Developing an Interactive Performance Based on Field Recording and Improvisation Research

How can man-made music interact with our natural environment in ways that make us aware of the full soundscape? How can our sound awareness inform our conservation of the environment?

Over the past year, I have developed a project that aims for an hour-long interactive, outdoor, site-specific show coupled with an activity to give back to the local environment. The show will include composed and improvised music, as well as opportunities for community members to participate using instruments and non-traditional musical scores, while focusing on the soundscape of the place and answering it. At each location, instruments such as wind chimes, wind harps, and any instruments created from materials from the region will be installed in the performance space. Textual and graphic scores may also be used to allow any member of the community to be involved in the show.

This artistic manifesto will represent an opportunity to discuss my work so far and how my research, field recordings and improvisations will impact the final project. The first part of my research process included visiting remote areas of Alaska and Ecuador to collect field recordings and design improvisational sessions in various ecosystems with minimal human impact. For the second phase of my project, running between fall 2022 and spring 2023, I plan to travel to five distinct ecosystems across the United States with varying soundscapes. In these places, I will carry out workshopswith the composition equipment while recording to once again determine nature's response to human music. The objective of this phase of the pre-composition process is to create an inventory of sounds that will be possible to interact with during the final phase of the project based on the ecosystem of each performance location. This way, the music will be personalized to fit the soundscape wherever it is performed. The first performances of the final project are scheduled for spring 2024.