Aural Diversity: Concert 2
Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester — 30 November 2019.
This page contains documentation of the second Aural Diversity concert. If you are looking for the earlier event, see the first concert (July 2019, Old Barn, Kelston Roundhill).
Funding
The second concert was funded by GNResound Ltd and Arts Council England.
Concert format
All the music was created by aurally diverse musicians and composers for an aurally diverse audience (i.e. any type of hearing, including so-called “normal” hearing). The performance was relaxed and followed our conventions.
Listening methods included roaming wireless headphones and dedicated listening stations, vibrating floors, video and BSL signing. The concert had three sections of live performance in the main hall, streamed to roaming headphones. These were interspersed with periods in which the audience was free to roam between spaces and experience the music as an installation in a range of ways.
The event was presented and introduced by Duncan Chapman, with some information provided by visual projection. We used several spaces in the Attenborough Arts Centre.
Programme
Part 1: live in main space (also streamed for roaming)
- Anya Ustaszewski — Arbometallugism (fixed media)
- Duncan Chapman — 4 journeys (a short instrumental version of some sonic journeys from Leicester station to the AAC as experienced by people with diverse hearing)
Interlude 1: installations in alternative spaces
- Andrew Hugill — Thirty Minutes for diplacusis piano (new pieces for diplacusis piano)
- Sam Sturtivant — Sensonic (installation for vibrating floors)
Part 2: live in main space (also streamed for roaming)
- John Levack Drever — Sanitary Tones (live performance)
- Ruth Mallalieu — DiversiJazz (audiovisual)
- Simon Allen — Aerosol for amplified tuning forks (live performance)
Interlude 2: installations in alternative spaces
- Andrew Hugill — Thirty Minutes for diplacusis piano (new pieces for diplacusis piano)
- Sam Sturtivant — Sensonic (installation for vibrating floors)
Part 3: live in main space (also streamed for roaming)
- Duncan Chapman — new work for 4-channel sound, in collaboration with local participants, exploring the sounds of Leicester as experienced by people with diverse hearing experiences
- Andrew Hugill — Kelston Birdsong for small ensemble and birdsong
Audio
From the Station to the University
This piece was created by Duncan Chapman in collaboration with a group from the Hearing Support Centre, Beauchamp College, Leicester, with contributions from Tim Baker and Simon Le Boggit. It contains some favourite sounds — the sounds associated with the city — and lasts just enough time to listen to while walking from the station to the University.
About the artists
Duncan Chapman is a composer and sound artist who regularly works with leading music organisations throughout the world. Much of his work results in sound installations, recordings or multimedia performances.
Simon Allen is a composer and percussionist. A slow change in his hearing up until 1993 has brought 50% loss from the top down in terms of area on the audiogram; accompanied by hyperacusis, tinnitus and two hearing aids. Frequencies above 2.5kHz start to register as clusters of white noise and rapidly disappear above that.
John Levack Drever is a composer and Professor of Sound Studies. He has continuous high-frequency tinnitus in his right ear accompanied by some hearing loss, and increasing intolerance to high sound levels. Through his research and in everyday life, he is acutely aware of the impact of sound on sensitive ears.
Andrew Hugill is a composer, musicologist and Professor of Creative Computing. He has severe hearing loss in his right ear and mild loss in the left ear, tinnitus and diplacusis, due to Meniere's disease diagnosed in 2009. The full story is here.
Ruth Mallalieu is a clarinettist and vocalist. She has been profoundly deaf since birth and has bilateral cochlear implants (one aged 13 and one aged 23).
Sam Sturtivant is an electroacoustic composer working near Bath. He has a notch loss in the upper frequencies.
Anya Ustaszewski is a composer and flautist. She is autistic with sensory processing difficulties, especially with regard to hearing. She has hyperacusis with a particular sensitivity to higher pitches, and a touch of misophonia.
Conventions
At an Aural Diversity concert, a set of conventions always applies. These include a lack of extraneous noise and movement, plenty of time between pieces to allow for changes in listening mode, no applause (appreciation may be expressed by waving hands in the air), and a general respect for the hearing needs of others.
Aural Diversity concert programmes include details of what may be expected in each piece (for example loudness levels, contrasts, instrumentation, duration, and ideal listening suggestions). Audience members may choose the best approach for themselves and adopt a listening mode accordingly, piece by piece.
Guiding rules
- The concert space will be laid out with a salon feel, with some room also for standing.
- The concert will be “relaxed”, with ample time between each performance to allow people to change location and prepare for the next piece.
- Lighting will be dim, and there will be a minimum of spoken conversation and ambient noise in the performance spaces.
- Audience members may choose to leave the room quietly at any time during a performance, possibly to continue experiencing the music in another way.
- The concert programme will provide details of what audiences can expect during a given piece, including duration, sound intensity, loudness, contrasts, sound types, and general character.
- There will be no applause; audiences may express appreciation using the BSL convention of hand waving.
- Signed commentary, surtitles and video evocations may be provided both before and during the music as appropriate.
- The venue may include a main communal chamber as well as break-out spaces (and outdoor spaces, where available) where the music may be experienced in user-controlled ways.
- Audiences may change their ways of listening from piece to piece, following the recommendations in the programme.
Ways of listening
- In the same space as the musicians, without mediation.
- In a break-out space (or outside), without mediation.
- Through streaming to hearing aids or via a loop system.
- Through streaming to Bluetooth headphones with user control of levels.
- Via haptic (touch) devices located in the main auditorium or break-out spaces.
- On a specially made vibrating floor.
- Via bespoke listening devices (e.g. listening trumpets).
- By watching descriptive/evocative video and/or signing.
- Conceptually, without cochlear input, using imagination.
Programme information (indicative)
The programme may be laid out like a menu, giving information about each piece so listeners can decide how they would like to listen. Information might include:
- Title
- Composer(s)
- Performer(s)
- Notes
- General character
- Genre
- Instrumentation
- Duration
- Pace
- General loudness levels
- Contrasts and intensities
- Recommended ways of listening