Vocal Landscaping: The theatricality of sound in audio walks

Myers, M (2011) Vocal Landscaping: The theatricality of sound in audio walks. In: Theatre Noise: The Sound of Performance. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne and Wear, UK, pp. 70-81. ISBN 978-1-4438-3440-7

Preview

Text RR_Vocal landscaping_031013_nid66.pdf Download (5MB) | Preview

Abstract / Summary

This book chapter articulates and philosophically contextualises the dramaturgy of audio walks and their significance as a site-specific theatrical mode and space of performance. It not only contributes to the neglected subject of the theatricality of sound production that is addressed in the entire volume, but also to the understanding of the significance of walking, vocalising and listening with audio walks as modes of performance that shift the locus of meaning production to a new understanding of a participant as percipient. Sarah Jane Bailes’ review of the book cites this contribution to the understanding of audio walks in the context of auditory dramaturgies (http://www.c-s-p.org/flyers/Theatre-Noise--The-Sound-of-Performance1-4438-3440-8.htm). The chapter appears alongside a selected collection of contributions from the Theatre Noise conference exploring sound and performance at Central School of Speech and Drama in 2009. Another version of the chapter was also presented at the 2nd International Forum on Guided Tours at University of Plymouth in 2011, which brought together an international delegation with intersecting interests in both artistic and commercial forms of guided tours. The chapter is related to and follows on from earlier research into the conviviality of audio walks and guided tours explored in Output 3, to a digital media artwork developed from a set of way from home walks, which was broadcast by BBC Radio Devon, published online at (http//:www.wayfromhome.org), commissioned for a special DVD insert by Performance Research Journal (2004), and included in the Millais Gallery’s Art in the Age of Terrorism exhibition and publication. This research also led to the development of a doctoral research project in collaboration with Dr. Caitlin DeSilvey (University of Exeter) and the commercial business partner Treasure Trails, which attracted funding from the European Social Fund to explore how locative narrative devices can deepen engagement with landscape.

View Record (staff only)