Raewyn Turner : My method of translation used in the 2002 Four Senses Concerts

Raewyn Turner ©

My first step in making a perceptual analysis of music is to make a morphological configuration of music in pauses and phrases as a description of sound.

I interpreted sound to light by making a visual representation of the sound, in an intuitive drawing. This puts sound into a relationship with other experiences, specifically a visual experience of light and dark. Phrases of the sound were coded into light, the pauses into dark, so making correspondences between sound/silence and light/dark. The method involved intuitive drawing, charts, measurements, referral to the seasonal time of harvest of aromatic plants, and an equation which produces a selection of  plants from which to choose smell pitch. 

The chosen smell elements were orchestrated in an improvised layering of pre-selected fragrances of different pitch, throughout each piece of music. 

Proportional comparisons based on duration of piece of music and latitude periodicity.  

Raewyn Turner © 2002

Example: Brahms Hungarian Dance 10

Proportions of silence to sound events in music

Duration in seconds of the entire piece of music          = 110 seconds

Divide above by 2                                                              = 55 seconds

Divide total by the sum of silent events = 5 seconds     = 11. seconds

Proportion of silence to sound  = divide by 10                 = 1.1

Proportions of light to dark events in pollination times

• Refer to the pollination chart showing the list of plants with corresponding pollination times. ( time at which plants flower at particular latitudes, at particular night time and daytime hours)

• Estimate night time and daytime minutes.

• Find the proportion of night minutes to daylight minutes by dividing daytime by night time.

• Match the proportions of a flower and its subsequent essential oil’s pollination time and latitude at which this occurs with the proportions of silence to sound events in piece of music to obtain a range of corresponding proportional comparisons. 

• chart of Rise and Setting times for the sun for 2007: 

• I find those proportions are present in December  2007 

       Eg  1.1 @ 10' south of the equator. 

20’N, India: holy Basil (^), angelica root (o), champaca (o), frankincense (#),

frangipani (o), jasminum (o), musk mallow (#), amamthus (o), patchouli (o#), rose attar (o),  rose indian (o), sandalwood  (o#), tuberose (o#), tuberose (o#)

10’N Somalia: myrr (#)

10’N Thailand

13’N Vietnam: caleput (^)

13’N Cambodia

10’N Philippines: elemi (#)

9’N    Ethiopia: frankincense (#)

10’N  Nigeria

10’N  Costa Rica: cardamon (^o)

11.30’N  Sudan

8’N  Ghana: cocoa extract   (o#)

 The selection provided an olfactory pitch range.

Olfactory Pitch ^ (top), o (middle), # (bass)