Texts and images by a rawlings Š 2019, unless other noted in the photo credits on pages 122-125. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any manner without prior written permission from the copyright holders. Published by Laboratory for Aesthetics and Ecology. Cover photo of air currents over the North Atlantic Ocean, screenshot by the artist from the website of Cameron Beccario, earth.nullschool.net, used with permission. Typeset in Freight and Freight Sans. First edition, limited to 300 copies. ISBN: 978-87-999834-6-9
foreword 6
ยง
table of contents ยง
inner sound scores for performing geochronology 9 ~ sound 10 ~ sund 11 ( 12 ~ ( ) 13 ~ deep time listening 14 performula anthropotempos 16 performula anthroposeen-and-heard 22 performula geochronology 29 how to perform geochronology in the anthropocene 30 ~ attack, sustain, decay 32 sound of sand in-situ foreshore scores 35 in time 36 ~ intime 37 ~ dopplergangur 43 violinouflage 44 ~ foreshore, in c 50 foreshore, ey(r) 54 foreshore, ribbed for pleasure 56 ยง
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water sound scores for sonic and movement composition 61 ~ sustain decay 62 sea level 64 ~ vibrato, ebb, flood 65 echolocation 66 ~ choral reefing 68 melody waves / memory waves 69 hocket barnacles 70 ~ sæ / sigh 71 rising sea level 81 sound of mull scores of place-markers for place-makers 83 ~ ö or ø 84 ~ rising 85 ( sund ) 86 ~ sound sund 88 ~ météophor 95 knots 103 ~ knot 106 ~ ) 107 appendix 109 ~ co-conducting gestures 110 acknowledgements 118 list of works with photo credits 122 references 126 ~ bio 127
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foreword
Sound of Mull is a series of performance scores developed through artistic practice-as-research into how to perform geochronology in the Anthropocene along North Atlantic foreshores. This research was undertaken through PhD study at the University of Glasgow from 2015 to 2019. As a branch of geomorphology, geochronology determines the ages of sediment, fossils, and rocks, thereby assembling a geologic planetary history. As a geochronological dénouement, the proposed geological epoch of the Anthropocene may indicate the figural moment in geologic time when human activity inscribed itself into sediment across the planet. Geochronologists partly comprising a working group to give the Anthropocene its formal designation note that “[t]he expression of the Anthropocene in the environmentally sensitive coastal systems [including beaches, tidal flats, and deltas]… represents a diverse patchwork of deposits and lacunae that reflect local interplays of natural and anthropogenic forces” (Zalasiewicz, Williams, and Waters 2014). Climate change also places foreshores as central players impacted by storminess, glacial melt, rising sea levels, and ocean acidification. The performance scores offer strategies for experiential knowledge acquisition through direct or imagined engagement with the multiple temporalities and more-than-human co-constituents of North Atlantic foreshores. Participatory, experiential engagement may sensitize people to the hidden geochronologies of everyday life. The title Sound of Mull refers to both a Scottish body of water as well as the potential audibility of contemplation. Each subsection (including Inner Sound, Sound of Sand, Water Sound) adapts the name of a Scottish body of water to refract through the geomorphic or metaphysical property it lists. The words ‘score’ and ‘composition’ are frequently and intentionally left without reference to artistic medium, so as to allow for their imaginings and applications within, between, and beyond arts practices. The scores emphasize sensorial engagement through listening, movement, response-ability (Haraway 2007, 89), and sustain-ability (García Zarranz 2018). All scores are intended for personal experiment, social experience, and/or compositional exploration.
foreword ~ 7
( (
parentheses shores oars ears
inner sound scores for performing geochronology
deep time listening¹ Go outside and listen for what cannot be heard. Go to a foreshore and listen for the benthic community beneath the sand, rock, or mud. Listen for the ocean’s youth, whose story may echo in a moon-snail shell. Go to a mountain and listen for orogeny². Listen for the thoughts3 of a once-thriving ecosystem, of current ecosystem struggle, of future ecosystem resilience. Go to a young forest and listen for the unfurling of Devonian4 ferns in early morning sun. Go to a coniferous forest and listen for the first Permian5 pine cones to drop from tree to floor. Go to the winter and listen for Ice Ages past, melting glaciers’ present, and the ghosts of glaciers future.
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1
In geologic time, the term deep time refers to a planetary timeline that spans the Earth’s existence
over c. 4.5 billion years (McPhee 1981, 20). In sound education, Pauline Oliveros coined deep listening as multi-faceted transformative action (Oliveros 2005, xxiii). This title combines deep time and deep listening to propose a method for performing geochronology. 2 Orogeny
is the formation of mountains. It may be of use to reference geologic time guides to
determine the orogeny’s onset, duration, and phases or the physical manifestations of height, area coverage, and geologic materials associated with the mountain range you visit, to focus your listening across millennia. 3
Aldo Leopold’s Thinking like a Mountain argues for ecosystem sentience (Leopold 1987, 129-32).
4
The Devonian period of geologic time ranged from 419 to 372 million years ago. During this period,
the first young forests appeared, populated by clubmosses, horsetails, and ferns. 5
The Permian period of geologic time lasted from 299 to 254 million years ago. During this period,
the first coniferous forests appeared.
inner sound ~ 15
performula anthroposeen-and-heard The following guideline offers notes for devising a sound composition based on geologic time translated into relatable human time. Each section’s duration is derived from the temporal chart in “Performula Anthropotempos.”
Precambrian Supereon: 3 eons HADEAN first eon duration 99 days, 04:57:09 (8,571,429 seconds)
ARCHEAN second eon duration 248 days, 00:22:51 (21,428,571 seconds)
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As plate tectonics, asteroid impacts, and both mineral and rock are the evidential material confirming the planet’s age during this period, the composition would be made entirely of percussive elements derived from geologic entities. This may include using surround or contact microphones to activate the sonic properties of rocks through tapping, touch, or impact. Field recordings of geothermal areas may also be of use. One option would be to dedicate audio from a geothermal power plant as the sonic event for this eon. An alternative could be to make infrasonics audible for the human ear.
The percussive (produced through impacting rocks) and liquid (field recordings of hot springs, mud pools, fumaroles) geologic sounds of the first movement continue, enhanced by the inclusion of water recordings and sonification of microbial data. Running percussion mallets over fossils may produce interesting sonic embellishments, alluding to the emergence of microfossils during this period. Hydrophonic recordings may be of use.
PROTEROZOIC third eon duration 323 days, 17:50:29 (27,971,429 seconds)
Major orogenous and glaciation events mark this period. Green algae colonizes the ocean, and multi-celled animals flourish. Hydrophones may capture water freezing into ice, or the sounds of sea worms, sponges, and soft-jellied ocean dwellers. Percussed fossils and heavy stone will continue sonic exploration as in ARCHEAN.
Paleozoic Era : 6 Periods CAMBRIAN first period duration 8 days, 21:05:43 (767,143 seconds)
ORDOVICIAN second period duration 7 days, 11:45:43 (647,143 seconds)
The emergence of supercontinent Gondwana invites field recording tidal ebbs and floods, emphasizing rocky and muddy foreshores. With the first appearance of chordates, the fine bones of tiny fish may be assembled into organic marimba, xylophone, drumsticks, or wind chimes. Continue the sonic exploration of sea worms and sponges introduced in PROTEROZOIC.
The emergence of land-based green plants and fungi during this period will invite sonic exploration of these biotic entities; think percussion, contact mic, biorhythm amplification. Hydrophones and contact mics may listen to cephalopods (eg. the tentacular6), corals, bivalves (eg. Mytilus edulis), and echinoderms (eg. starfish). The final moments of this period should sonically recall an Ice Age through experimental amplification of water freezing and ice crack-
inner sound ~ 23
ing; any hydrophone recordings of ice from PROTEROZOIC may be repurposed here via sound transducers placed within buckets of ice.
SILURIAN third period duration 4 days, 11:08:34 (385,714 seconds)
DEVONIAN fourth period duration 9 days, 09:23:49 (811,429 seconds)
CARBONIFEROUS fifth period duration 9 days, 22:53:19 (859,999 seconds)
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Caledonian, Scandinavian, and Arcadian orogenies invite reverb experiments in echoic valleys, impacting large rocks together to produce sound. Counterpoint this with intimate recordings of millipedes running throughout a patch of vascular plants. As a through-line, continue previous ORDOVICIAN hydrophone recordings of corals.
The first appearance of trees, ferns, and crawling insects situates our composition within a young forest. Audio-record rain massaging the forest. Record the skittering of insects beneath a fallen tree. SILURIAN recordings within echoic valleys may punctuate this composition, denoting the rise of Appalachian, Antler, Variscan, and Tuhua orogenies. ORDOVICIAN coral recordings continue as a quiet, persistent through-line.
With the highest levels of atmospheric oxygen ever recorded, Aeolian sounds dominate this composition. Produce sound by blowing across the leaves of large trees. The sudden radiation of winged insects suggests soundscape recordings of large-sized odonta may be appropriate, to approximate flight sounds of extinct protodonta. To note abundant reef life, flourishing forests, and glaciation, recur DEVONIAN forest-rain recordings, ORDOVICIAN coral recordings, and PROTEROZOIC ice recordings.
PERMIAN sixth period duration 7 days, 17:42:52 (668,572 seconds)
The appearance of moss and conifers invites soundscape recordings in a different kind of forest. With audio recorded in summer months, the forest life of beetles and flies will take especial sonic focus. These will meet DEVONIAN forest recordings, ORDOVICIAN coral and bivalve recordings, and SILURIAN echoic valley recordings. The emergence of supercontinent Pangaea invites a return to the CAMBRIAN foreshore soundscape recordings, leading to a crescendo of layered soundscapes.
MESOZOIC ERA: 3 PERIODS TRIASSIC first period duration 8 days, 16:43:48 (751,428 seconds)
JURASSIC second period duration 8 days, 22:40:58 (772,858 seconds)
95% of life on Earth becomes extinct and, with this, the multiple soundscape recordings used in the PERMIAN composition are now silenced. Still, archosaurs, ichthyosaurs, and pterosaurs dominate land, sea, and air; mark their presence with an extended percussive exploration of large mammal bones. SILURIAN echoic valley recordings may be of use to mark the multiple orogenies forming throughout Pangaea.
Explore the sonic expressions of pine cones and bivalve shells. With the abundance of dinosaurs, sound-record large bodies moving through fields and forests. Sonify the harmonic tremors affiliated with earthquakes to signify the break-up of Pangaea into Gondwana and Laurasia.
inner sound ~ 25
CRETACEOUS third period duration 13 days, 05:27:37 (1,142,857 seconds)
CRETACEOUS, third period. The proliferation of flowering plants parallels the rise in insect abundance. Also known as the “Insect Aria,� this composition focuses on the skitter and buzz of pollinators. Dinosaur evolution may be explored through remixing TRIASSIC recordings of mammal-bone percussion. Played in reverse, SILURIAN echoic valley recordings mark the break-up of Gondwana.
CENOZOIC ERA: 8 EPOCHS PALEOCENE first epoch duration 1 day, 14:29:31 (138,571 seconds)
EOCENE second epoch duration 3 days, 14:54:17 (312,857 seconds)
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Dominated by a tropical climate, immersion within a tropical rainforest bioregion will net a soundscape imaginary for this epoch. Speed up the CRETACEOUS remix of TRIASSIC bone recordings to signal the extinction of dinosaurs. Alpine and Himalayan orogenies may prompt recurrence of SILURIAN echoic valley recordings within the middle hours of this composition.
EOCENE, second epoch. A moderate, cooling climate recommends soundscape recordings in a temperate rainforest bioregion. SOSUS hydrophone recordings of whales may be sourced as sound imaginary of diversifying primitive cetaceans. Antarctica is reglaciated, so play backwards PROTEROZOIC ice recordings. Alps and Hellenic orogenies may prompt punctuated recurrence of SILURIAN echoic valley recordings.
OLIGOCENE third epoch duration 1 day, 19:15:15 (155,715 seconds)
MIOCENE fourth epoch duration 2 days, 22:14:17 (252,857 seconds)
PLIOCENE fifth epoch duration 10:47:37 (38,857 seconds)
PLEISTOCENE sixth epoch duration 10:11:30 (36,690 seconds)
As the climate continues to cool, soundscape recording in a tundra bioregion is encouraged. The rapid evolution, diversification, and dispersal of flowering flora and mammalian fauna also invites contact-mic recording of plant biorhythms and animal heartbeats.
Soundscape recording in a savannah bioregion may capture synonymous diversification of grasses and birds. Appearance of the first apes invites audio recording of primate communication. Activity within Kaikoura, Carpathian, and Hellenic orogenies prompts revisitation of SILURIAN echoic valley recordings.
The cool and dry climate, correlated with a Quaternary Ice Age, recommends soundscape recording within a subarctic desert bioregion. The presence of australopithecines invites an exploration of vocable shifts between primates and humans; this may be performed through editing audio samples of various species, or through attempted vocal acrobatics by a sound poet. A chorus of mammal vocalizations can also become focal for this composition. Minimalist employment of PROTEROZOIC ice recordings is encouraged.
Slow down the CRETACEOUS remix of TRIASSIC bone recordings to signal the extinction of Pleistocene megafauna. Proto-semantic utterances by a chorus of sound poets explore the evolution of anatomically modern humans during this period; utterance may commence with unvoiced phonemes (eg. s, t), and move near its end to
inner sound ~ 27
voiced phonemes (eg. vowel sounds). Two-thirds of the way through this composition, audio recording of a volcanic eruption should eclipse all other sounds to signify the near-extinction of humanity by the eruption of Lake Toba supervolcano and subsequent volcanic winter.
HOLOCENE seventh epoch duration 00:02:46 (166 seconds)
ANTHROPOCENE current epoch duration 00:00:01 (1 second)
6
The impact of Homo sapiens on Earth would be evident in the Holocene. This section is comprised of human voices who explore ‘O’ (from ‘ooh’ to ‘oh’ to ‘awe’ to ‘ahh’ to ‘ow’). Soundscape recordings from agricultural and industrial zones are encouraged.
The current moment of the so-called Anthropocene, proposed as some 70 years young, would make up the final one second of composition with the shush or hiss of a wick set aflame. Either that, or the sped-up sonic boom of nuclear detonation.
Acknowledging Donna Haraway’s enthusiasm for multispecies becoming-with through engagements
with “the tentacular ones” (Haraway 2016, 31). See her book Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene for more on tentacularity.
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performula geochronology Acquire a geochronology report for a specific location, and then develop a score that corresponds with the report’s chronology. Refer to “Performula Anthropotempos” for recommended time length of geologic strata indicated within the report. Refer to “Performula Anthroposeen-and-Heard” for a correlation of sounds to chronology.
inner sound ~ 29
how to perform geochronology in the anthropocene Visit a site. At this site, move in counter-clockwise circles or spirals. This may be performed seated, crawling, walking, or in another way. While moving, focus attention on the present soundscape. Listen to what can be heard in front of you. Extend your listening to what is audible behind you. Bring your attention to sounds on your left, and your right. Listen for sounds above you. Listen for what you can hear below. Extend your listening as far as you can in each direction, building the soundscape around you. As you move, build the envisioned world in your mind’s eye. Close your eyes and imagine what you recall is inside of you. Extend this imagination to reconstruct where you are situated for what is in front, behind, to both sides, above, and below you. Now, build deep time onto your envisioned and heard worlds. From where you sit, imagine the site around you twelve hours earlier. Yesterday. Last week. Last year. A decade ago. Hear and envision the world around you one hundred years ago. Imagine the site one thousand years ago. Extend your imagining to the inception of the Holocene—twelve thousand years ago. Megafauna extinction and most recent glaciation, 126,000 years ago. Rise of Homo sapiens, 781,000 years ago. Cooling climate and spread of Homo erectus, 1.8 million years ago. Quaternary glaciations, 2.5 million years ago. Imagine the development of the Greenland ice sheet, 3 million years ago. Cooling climate, 5 million years ago. Warming and extinctions, 15 million years ago. Appearance of Iceland, 17 million years ago. Horses, 23 million years ago. Antarctic glaciation,
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33 million years ago. Global warming, 56 million years ago. Dinosaur extinction, 66 million years ago. Primitive birds, 145 million years ago. Dinosaurs, 250 million years ago. Moss, 298 million years ago. Appearance of amphibians and winged insects, 323 million years ago. Imagine sound and sight of the first trees and wingless insects, 419 million years ago. First vascular plants on land, 443 million years ago. Diversification of cephalopods, corals, bivalves, and echinoderms, 485 million years ago. Green algae colonies in the seas, 1.4 billion years ago. Much orogeny, 2.5 billion years ago. Appearance of single-cell life, 4 billion years ago. Formation of the Earth, 4.6 billion years ago. Hold in your mind two moments in time. Hold in your mind Quaternary glaciations, 2.5 million years ago and much orogeny, 2.5 billion years ago. Hold in mind megafauna extinction, 126,000 years ago and dinosaur extinction, 66 million years ago. Hold horses, 23 million years ago and primitive birds, 56 million years ago. Moss, 298 million years ago and green algae colonies in the seas, 1.4 billion years ago. Hold in your mind the formation of the Earth, 4.6 billion years ago and the detonation of the first nuclear weapon in 1945. Now, extend your built worlds into a speculative future. Where you currently circulate, what soundscape might you sense twelve hours from now? Tomorrow? Next week. Next year. A decade from now. Hear the world one hundred years from now. Imagine this site one thousand years from now. Dig through soil 10,000 years from now, and rebuild past soundscapes from the material you unearth. Extend your imagining to the end of a so-called Anthropocene, and listen for what sustains and decays there.
inner sound ~ 31
in time Pronunciation: /ɪn/ /taɪm/, ĭn tīm Etymology: in tīma (Old English), in tīmô (Proto-Germanic), i time (Danish), í tíma (Icelandic). Prepositional phrase
~ When or before due ~ Immediately ~ Eventually ~ Successive continuum of past, present, future ~ Rhythmically synchronous
Intime Pronunciation: /ɛ̃.tim/ Etymology: intimus (Latin). Adjective (French)
~ Intimate ~ Inner
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intime Prepare to visit a foreshore during low tide. It may be helpful to consult sunrise and sunset times, moonrise and moonset times, meteorological predictions, and a tide chart to assess the conditions you may experience during your visit. Go to the foreshore and move in a large counter-clockwise circle. This may be performed through running, walking, crawling, or in another way. To establish the perimeter of your circle, start by angling the left side of your body as you move. Maintain this angle for three or more counter-clockwise circles in order to mark the path you will continue for the remainder of your circulation. Familiarize yourself with the more-than-human residents of the site. Sand-worm mounds and stranded jellyfish may be abundant. Eelgrass may have washed ashore in curls of sea. Dried kelp may be caught in rooted succulents, tracing circles when moved by wind on sand. Plastic refuse may be lodged between sand and stone. Go to a foreshore frequently passed by half-submerged Vanguard-class submarines carrying sixteen nuclear warheads. Run in a counter-clockwise circle as submarines patrol the GIUK gap. Familiarize yourself with the geopolitics of the region by touring its industripark or learning its link to oil-rig production and maintenance. Translate a poem from French to Morse code. Assign Morse code a correlated movement vocabulary, where a long dash equates to a flat-foot step and a short dot is a tiptoe step. Translate the poem from Morse code to movement. Walk the poem. Familiarize yourself with the emotional weather of friends during your circulation. Conduct a grief ritual by moving in counter-clockwise circles. Walk or run the same path repeatedly on wet sand to form a temporary tattoo on the land when the tide is low. As the tide rises, your imprint will be erased by the ocean. In time, all will be relieved. sound of sand ~ 37
violinouflage Take three violins and place them for longer-term dwelling/immersion in foreshore environments. DROWN MY VIOLIN: The first violin is in the water, only visible at low tide. BURY MY VIOLIN: The second violin is buried in the sand at the mid-tide mark. EXPOSE MY VIOLENCE: The third violin is left exposed on a very windy beach prone to erosion, only touched by water at high tide. Each violin should be left to interdepend with its foreshore environment, with occasional monitoring to extract measurements of storminess, sedimentation, deposition, and erosion.
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