Alvin Lucier – Space’s Influence on Sounds

Alvin Lucier was engaged in the physical properties of sound, and examined how sounds vary in different rooms respectively. Despite the obviousness that sound and music is perceived differently depending on the room one is, I have never actually considered this fact to be interesting enough to think about it.

When listening to his piece “Nothing is Real” for the first time, I did not realize that fragments from a Beatles’ song were incorporated. The piece starts very slow, and has several pauses in between that lengthen the last note played. For this reason, I experienced it as both sad and dark. For instance, I could imagine it to be played at a funeral. The pianist appears to be very composed and only plays the piano with one hand, which for some reason intensifies those emotions I perceived. Further, to me at least, there is no clear pattern that reveals the sound that comes next. The notes are either very high or very low, but both produce the same feelings; there is no mix of high or low tones within a short sequence. Some of the higher notes reminded me of a Christmas song for some reason, which then made me think this piece could also be played in church. Until the appearance of the teapot, the piece was accompanied by some sort of tension. I was waiting for one sudden break that introduces a new rhythm, which I expected to be faster, or at least different from the previous minutes. The teapot did not exactly generate this sudden break, but it certainly changed the dynamic and acoustic of the play. Depending on the position of the teapot’s lid, and whether the pianist moved the lid during some notes, the sounds differed in comparison to the previous minutes. I was just wondering whether the pianist knew exactly which movement of the teapot would suit best to one corresponding note, or whether his movements were chosen intuitive or even randomly. The play as a whole had a seriously calming effect on me, and at some stages I almost felt in a state of trance.

In his other famous play “I am Sitting in a Room”, Lucier recorded himself reciting a speech in an enclosed room, played back the recording and recorded that, and repeated this process until the recording was left with unrecognizable pieces. While listening to it in class, at some point I was wondering after how many repetitions the piece would eventually stop or whether I will be able to remember the entire speech by heart if it continues. After perceived hundreds of repetitions, the words of Lucier started to turn into mere sounds rather than defined words. Especially his stuttering had vanished completely, and his speech reminded me of scientists trying to catch sounds of aliens from outer space. His voice turned into some sort of melody, which demonstrates that the frequency set-up of a room decides how a sound is like (just like the teapot, only bigger). Although my ears started getting used to the high, scratchy notes of the play, the overall experience in the end was quite unpleasant, but definitely interesting.