Calculating machine
Aug 15, 2022, 08:00 AM
Composition by Amy Sterly.
"I was originally interested in the sounds of the calculating machine because of its random rhythms and interesting dynamics and I wanted to use it with some domestic sounds and rhythms on the violin. Then I came across a recording I made in the spring of the local birdsong, and it made me think of the latest report of birds in the red list of conservation concern which has risen considerably in the last decade.
"I thought of the people who count the birds, adding up the dwindling amount of species, using their calculators to construct their conclusions, and I wanted to use the mechanical sounds of the calculating machine to contrast with the rhythms of birdsong. The machine engulfing and outperforming the birds, the noise of the keys like the tick tock of a clock, time running out, a slow path to silence. The composition, which I thought would be about play and random sounds, became a piece with an important message about obsolete sounds and a new way of thinking about the sounds we are losing."
This is part of the Obsolete Sounds project, the world’s biggest collection of disappearing sounds and sounds that have become extinct – remixed and reimagined to create a brand new form of listening. Explore the whole project at https://citiesandmemory.com/obsolete-sounds
"I was originally interested in the sounds of the calculating machine because of its random rhythms and interesting dynamics and I wanted to use it with some domestic sounds and rhythms on the violin. Then I came across a recording I made in the spring of the local birdsong, and it made me think of the latest report of birds in the red list of conservation concern which has risen considerably in the last decade.
"I thought of the people who count the birds, adding up the dwindling amount of species, using their calculators to construct their conclusions, and I wanted to use the mechanical sounds of the calculating machine to contrast with the rhythms of birdsong. The machine engulfing and outperforming the birds, the noise of the keys like the tick tock of a clock, time running out, a slow path to silence. The composition, which I thought would be about play and random sounds, became a piece with an important message about obsolete sounds and a new way of thinking about the sounds we are losing."
This is part of the Obsolete Sounds project, the world’s biggest collection of disappearing sounds and sounds that have become extinct – remixed and reimagined to create a brand new form of listening. Explore the whole project at https://citiesandmemory.com/obsolete-sounds