The worlds biggest musical installation?

In present day, technology is changing faster than ever before. Musical installations no longer need to be set in one place for someone to interact with or enjoy as Bluebrain have shown us. Bluebrain is a two-man band/composition team made up of Hays and Ryan Holladay. Bluebrain had the idea of revolutionizing the divide between album and live performance. They have created an album that you must be in the right place to enjoy. Set in Washington D.C.'s National Mall, Blubrain produced their album as an iphone app that is soon to be available on android. The listener can then only enjoy the album in the national mall area where they have to interact with the mall to hear everything. Using smartphones gps device, your smartphone traces exactly where you are and where you are walking, as you walk around and get closer to certain things, the album grows. As you approach one thing in the mall, you will hear a keyboard section sweep into the composition, approach another and a cello will enter, instruments will fade in and out depending on where you are situated and where exactly you are in the mall. Some things you will only hear if you are right up against an area, touching it. This is a huge step on how music can reach your audience. Bluebrain wanted to expand on the idea of localizing your music. But having people come to interact with your album could be the future that drives some huge pieces of musical work!


Here is a video hosted by vimeo that shows the project in use:


http://vimeo.com/bluebrain/thenationalmall

Under the bridge down town

John Morton is an American composer best known for his work on the manipulation of music boxes and their sounds. For this work he is often compared to the likes of John Cage is who known for his use of prepared piano technique. Morton approached the public art program with the idea to install a device in the famous Central Park that captures the feel and motions of the park. Morton recorded in the park over 40 days in the course of a year capturing all the sounds heard daily including: the cracking of leaves, ball games, kids singing, poetry recitals, conversations, bells,  musical instruments and more. He ended up with hundreds of hours or recordings. Morton then edited down his recordings to short samples. The installation was set up in 2009. When The Delacorte in central park chimes its bells, Mortons installed computer programme records the chimes, plays them back disjointedly and starts a 20 minute composition of the samples recorded within central park with the samples being played back at random. This installation was installed in a tunnel in a busy section of Central Park on the walkway to the zoo.