The Magic Hour

Made an appearance at a Botanic Garden picnic event today.  These are events where the general public comes to the garden to see what’s growing, to eat food and to witness various art performances and to take part in workshops.  I was invited to show some of my recent investigations into the bioelectrical sonification of plants.

Using some custom-made equipment, I spent the afternoon wiring up some of the garden’s plants (and the occasional fruit from somebody’s lunch) to subject them to a small electric potential, allowing me to use the small changes in voltage to control different aspects of an audio signal.

In this way people were able to hear not only how different each ones sounded but also how sensitive the plants were to their surroundings.  It was a real surprise for them to listen to the plants ‘ obvious reaction to being touched as well as simply being near to someone, or to being blown about in the wind.

Over the last two evenings I have also been spending time in the Botanic Garden observing the bats that visit of an evening in search of food.  Wednesday evening was a lovely summer’s evening and predictably there was a lot of bat activity as they fed along and above the River Cherwell.  One of the best observation areas was just below The Spring Walk as the absence in vegetation made it easier to see the bats against the night.  This is also quite a handy area as it’s next to one of the temperate greenhouses that not only has electricity but also a humidity that is equipment friendly.

On the Thursday night the weather was foul, and the river became a sort of wind (and rain) tunnel, so not very conducive for the bats feeding.  There were, however, a few bats feeding below the Alnus Glutinosa tree, which is just above The Spring Walk.  Here they flew round and around the tree just below its canopy again and again, feeding off the insects just below the branches.

During the afternoons I have also tried recording the insects in the garden, but have not had so much success, mainly due to the excessive traffic noise that filers through from Oxford’s busy roads.  Even when using a parabolic microphone, I found the rumble too prohibitive.  I’ll have to think again about this.

Worked with the school students again today.  Starting with their written observations from yesterday’s visit to the Botanic Garden, the pupils devised short musical ideas which I then recorded.  It turns out that they have all been learning violins and cellos through their involvement in another project, and so we predominately worked with that instrumentation.

The plan is that I will use snippets of their music, manipulating and processing their sounds and begin to create the installation.  As I do, I shall keep the students up to date with my process so that they can offer comments and recommendations, and in this way be a part of the creative process.

When completed, the composition will be heard in an area of the Garden known as The Spring Walk.  This is a winding path by the river with low shrubbery on either side.  Our idea is that the sounds will come ‘unexpectantly’ from different sources along the path and startle unsuspecting visitors.

Today I worked with pupils from St Barnabas Primary School, investigating the Botanic Garden for insect activity.  We spent a fine afternoon exploring the garden and taking note of everything creepy crawly -describing the insects, their movements and any audible sounds.  Our plan is to use these observations as a starting point for music making, which we will do back at the school tomorrow.

In the evening I intend to revisit the garden to observe what bat activity there might be as I am also interested in creating an installation based on their biosonar calls.