‘Discover the significant features of the soundscape, those sounds which are important either because of their individuality, their numerousness or their domination’.

The Life of Little John

Throughout my dissertation I studied a range of sonic arts works, one in particular was Luc Ferrari’s ‘Presque Rien No.1: Le Lever du Jour au Bord de la Mer’, a sonic snapshot of a day in the quiet fishing village of Vela Luka, Croatia. I wanted to capture my own Nottingham version of this piece that integrated the philosophy of ‘Sound walking’.

To symbolise the ‘Queen of the Midlands’ I found it fitting to use the shape of a diamond drawn onto a Nottingham City to map my score of recording locations and Sound Walks. The four points of the score was; The Old Market Square, The Nottingham Castle, The Station Street Train Station and the Lace market Square. The piece begins at 6am and each 30 seconds represents an hourly snapshot as it transits from each location.

The piece seems true in its minimal processing but aesthetically pleasing through its arrangement and story. The title ‘The Life of Little John’ comes from the ‘Sound Mark’ of the Bell Chime of the Little John tower, chiming at the heart of Nottingham City Centre, with the lowest chiming bell in the United Kingdom. The Little John Bell operates as a time marker, informing the daily Nottingham dweller and in this piece the listener of the time of day.

The Sound Walking aspect provided movement to the piece, in contrast to ‘Presque Rien No.1’, which remains static in terms of the phonographers location. It is clear in the piece that I am moving through and past sounds within my coordinates (mostly recognisable with the buskers that are static).

To an inhabitant of Nottingham there are so many archetypal sounds featured in the composition; the Bell Tower, the warning signals of the trams, the buskers that frequent the street corners daily. The piece is rich in sounds that Schafer identifies as classifications; The sounds of water in the fountains, The sounds of animals, The sounds of voices – talking, shouting, singing, whistling, The sounds of the body – walking, eating, drinking.

I feel I am ‘exposing’ a moment in time, whilst also ‘imposing’ my route and my existence within the snapshot of the work. The piece functions as a historical/cultural preservation, a sonic artifact and recording of history that hopefully in later years can be enjoyed by future generations.