Composition for One or More Listeners - Sam Longmore

When I started working on this piece I found myself reflecting on the means by which it would be experienced.

I wondered how a piece presented via a website could create shared experiences of listening? How might my interest in the physical relationship of sounds and spaces be translated in an online context. Could an online work consider the ways hearing and listening shape experiences of the world around us? Would it be possible to engender a social listening akin to a concert while still utilising the spaceless-ness of online distribution? I am still unsure of the answers.

This is a composition for small devices such as bluetooth speakers or smartphones. A single composed work has been divided into different parts for different numbers of listeners. If you are listening alone there is an arrangement of this composition just for you, however I hope you will find the time and space to listen with a friend or two, in which case there are a couple of instructional comments below.

I.    This piece has been published here in three forms:

-    as a single part for a single listener - Linked here
-    in two parts for two (or four, or eight) listeners - Link to Part A - Link to Part B
-    in three parts for three (or six, or nine) listeners - Link to Part A - Link to Part B - Link to Part C

The parts of this work are intended to be played back at the same time, giving an experience of the whole composition. If you are listening with one other person, one of you will play ‘Part A’, and the other to ‘Part B’. If you are three listeners, one will play ‘Part A’, another ‘Part B’, and the other ‘Part C’.

II.    Once you and your listening partner(s) are ready, count in and hit ‘Play’. Don’t worry if you aren’t perfectly in sync. Slight differences in starting are welcomed.

III.    As you listen – whether by yourself or with others – I would encourage you to move about the space you are in, and at times place your speaker down, moving independently of it, listening to the other sounds around you.

IV.    If you are listening with others, it is likely you will be using different devices to one another, which will result in different maximum volumes. Bumping the volume up and down to suit your setting, taste and temperament is encouraged.