Skip to main content

Alvin Lucier - I am sitting in a Room

 

In the song “I am sitting in a Room“ by Alvin Lucier a male voice is speaking to the listener in which the speaker constantly repeats the following sentence: “I am sitting in a room, different from the one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice and I am going to play it back into the room again and again until the resonant frequencies of the room reinforce themselves so that any semblance of my speech, with perhaps the exception of rhythm, is destroyed. What you will hear, then, are the natural resonant frequencies of the room articulated by speech. I regard this activity not so much as a demonstration of a physical fact, but more as a way to smooth out any irregularities my speech might have.“ Alvin Lucier pretends in his recording to speak to the listener directly as if he and the listener are physically in the same room.

The piece shows Lucier recording himself while narrating the text, playing the recorded piece back, re-recording it, and constantly repeating this progress. Lucier’s song is 15 minutes and 24 seconds long. In the first five to six minutes, it is quite easy to understand and follow the speech. The more the song proceeds, the vaguer and fuzzier the speech becomes and the listener cannot understand the sentences anymore. These difficulties to understand the speech during the song is additionally caused by Lucier’s stutter. In this regard, my impression is that from the middle of the recording on, the stutter of Lucier’s voice is no longer recognizable to the listener anymore. Additionally, it seems as if Alvin Lucier develops into security and safety regarding his speech and stutter. The more often he repeats the sentences, the less he stutters. Furthermore, the “I am sitting in a Room“ illustrates after the tenth minute an interplay of strident tones, that may be described as unpleasant and unbearable.

From my point of view, it seems as if Lucier tries to battle his insecurities regarding his stutter. He is aware of his stutter since he sarcastically says „ … but more as a way to smooth out any irregularities my speech might have.“ He plays the recorded piece back, re-records it, and constantly records this progress so that his speech dissolves in “alien-like“ and strident tones. Generally, “I am sitting in my room“ is an uncommon song that does not correspond to the overall taste of society, since it gets out of line. For me, Lucier’s song causes feelings of discomfort and stress. The more the song continues and comes to an end, the more these feelings strengthen. These negative feelings arise from the inharmonious tones and sounds of the song. Each tone, even the way Lucier speaks, is rather deep than high on a scale, creating the impression of sadness, discomfort, and escape.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure

 Sarah Kumar Dr. Bernd Herzogenrath The Future of (American) Music 06 Mar. 2023 Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure According to John Oswald, “[a] plunderphone is a recognizable sonic quote, using the actual sound of something familiar which has already been recorded” (Lecture Slides 18). However, only if the source stays recognizable can it be called plunderphonics. In his album Plexure , several songs are played back and mixed together, thus creating a new sound. This is interesting because while the excerpts of songs that are used are recognizable or at least sound familiar to some degree, played backwards and mashed up as they are in Plexure , they create a new sound. Like on the cover of the album, on which a collage making up a man can be seen, the mixing of different songs played backwards gives a new feeling to something known. The way the songs are mixed makes them unintelligible. The meaning of the words of the original recordings are not able to be compr...
Post a Comment
Read more

John Cage – Inlets

  This does not sound like music to me. Depending on the interpretation of different players or performers, this piece will always sound different. In this case, it sounds to me like someone is walking through a cave with water at the bottom, dragging their feet through it. Sometimes it sounds like water in a toilet bowl, especially when we hear the water in a bigger shell being swished around. These sounds are relaxing in the background, it is like a gentle stream of water. I just wonder what went through the head of the composer while writing this piece. But I guess he had some experimental ideas that are interesting to try out. Those shells are quite pretty, I have never seen such big ones that are not broken. I was surprised when something else happened towards the end of the piece. That tone which came out of the one shell was so clear, it sounded like a trumpet. I didn’t know that shells can sound like that. It was quite beautiful. It was a nice way to end the piece. I di...
Post a Comment
Read more

William Basinski – The Disintegration Loops III

  The Disintegration Loops is a quartet of albums published in 2002 and 2003 by American avant-garde composer William Basinski. The pieces are made up of tape loop recordings that were played over time, with noise and crackles rising as the tape deteriorated. Basinski noticed this effect when attempting to convert his older recordings to digital format. The completion of the recordings coincided with the September 11, 2001 events, which Basinski witnessed and adds a deeper meaning to the composition. The composition is fascinating in many ways and makes the listener lose track of time. The tape loop recording had a very calming effect on me and put me in a trance-like state when I listened to it in its entirety. The tape loop is really soothing, so much so that I didn't even notice the loss of quality when I first listened to it. It makes you forget about time and allows you to really get into the piece capturing the calmness it exudes. You forget or don't really notice how i...
Post a Comment
Read more