Musical Time-Lapse – approaches to speed and slowness in sound, music and audiovisual media

Time-lapse is a common technique in visual media – the sky that changes from day to night in a matter of moments, the flower whose day-long blossoming is reduced to seconds. Super high definition slow motion is also currently in vogue – cameras which can shoot at 1000 frames per second give us the ability to see processes more slowly than ever before, revealing hitherto unseen details in movement.

How do these practices relate to sound and music? Using digital sound manipulation, we can ‘stretch’ sounds to give an impression of slow motion, and we no longer have to accept the consequent lowering of pitch that occurred in analogue media when we slowed the tape down.  But what about time-lapse? What would an audio time-lapse consist in? What technical and creative tools would we use to create one? What musical applications could such tools have? In this talk Evelyn Ficarra explores notions of audio time-lapse with specific reference to her recent audiovisual / performative collaboration with media artist Ian Winters, Summer, Winter, Spring.

About the speaker

Evelyn Ficarra is a composer and sound artist. She has a strong focus on electro-acoustic and collaborative work and has written music for dance, music theatre, multi media, experimental film, radio, installation and the concert hall.  Her work has received support from, among others, the Arts Council of England, the London Arts Board, the Sonic Arts Network, the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust, the Hinrichsen Foundation, the Djerassi Resident Artist Program, Meet the Composer and Poems on the Underground.

Her music has been heard in concert halls, theatres, music festivals, film festivals, on television and in radio broadcasts in the UK, Europe, the Americas, Australia and the Far East. Recent works include O, One, a five minute opera for two Nao robots and cello, and War Poems : the dead returning lightly dance for large chamber ensemble and recorded sounds. Upcoming collaborations include Listening Creates an Opening, with Mary Armentrout Dance Theater, which will be premiered at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer in September 2018. Evelyn is a Lecturer in Music at the University of Sussex.