Sound and space as compositional tools: using the reverberation of a basilica as part of a musical composition

Abstract

Classical composers such as Wagner, Mahler, Handel, and Debussy, among others, noticed that a space’s acoustic qualities affected their compositions, so they made intuitive arrangements to their performances to suit the space. Some contemporary musicians, on the other hand, incorporate those sonic characteristics as part of their composition. Pauline Oliveros, John Butcher, and Paul Bavister are some composers who produce site-specific works, compositions that include the site’s sound as part of their sound works. This project proposes site stimulation as a methodology to extract Basilica del Voto Nacional’s reverberation, a neo-gothic church in Quito, Ecuador, to produce a site-specific sound work: Composition for a Jazz Quartet and for a Basilica. This research aims not only to use spatial sonic qualities for music composition but also to propose a friendly, day-to-day activity, such as listening to music, as a learning method to acknowledge spatial sound phenomena.