Tag Archives: creative collaboration

Sounds of Toronto – 6:00 AM

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We’ve been enjoying the sound recordings that people have been sending in response to our first “task”. The subway chime has been forever burned into our auditory memory. What about the melodic chatter of Chinatown conversations, punctuated by the clink of dinner plates?

Over the next several weeks, we’ll set a “daily task” that we hope will inspire you to think in a more focused way about the sounds in your world. First is a series on sounds associated with different times of the day. Here’s one for early birds:

What is your sound of Toronto at 6:00 AM?

Grab your smartphone, digital camera or recorder and capture the sound. It can be a few seconds or up to a minute, depending on the sound. Save your sound/video file and share it on our Facebook page or Soundcloud! Deadline: August 9, 2012 – because we will be incorporating your sounds into an exciting activity that takes place August 11-12. Details will be revealed soon!

If you need technical help, email Rachel McDermott <rachelmc@mit.edu>. Have fun!

“Launch Music” for A Toronto Symphony (Part 1)

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To officially launch our A Toronto Symphony collaboration, I created a series of chords last month to serve as a kind of “genetic” code for the project, and also to serve as material that we could share back-and-forth to modify and to make new things. Chord progressions are great because they are both simple – a kind of musical backbone or skeleton – yet complex enough to truly tell a story. Just think of the chords in a classic piece by The Beatles like “Michelle”, or the way Bach squeezes a universe of expression out of his seemingly simple 4-part Chorales.

Click on image to enlarge

I have always enjoyed composing harmonic progressions, and the one I have started for A Toronto Symphony is typical of the way I work (see score at right). There is a strong melody line that helps to shape how each chord moves to the next, and how the whole line together creates a story. In my music, the bass (lowest) line is equally important…and of course I care about the rest of the notes too. In addition, this chord progression starts and ends simply, but moves in waves, zigzagging from simple/familiar to complex/strange chords, from notes bunched near the center of the keyboard to those spreading from low to high, and from chords which feel restful and resolved to those that seem dense and tense. Sometimes the movement from one chord to the next feels fluid and natural, sometimes surprising. I have tweaked this all fairly carefully, so that the whole progression feels pleasing and complete but also has much variety and potential for further development.

You can hear how the first section of the chord progression sounds by listening at 9:10 in the video below, from my ideacity 2012 talk:

 

Feel free to download the score and play around with it yourself. Try it on an instrument, add your own melodies, rhythms and variations, and share it back. I’d love to hear what you do with it!

Harmonically yours,
Tod

Coming soon, Part 2 

Sound Inspirations via NPR

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We have been receiving some terrific “sounds of Toronto” and suggestions of sounds, so thanks to all of you who have sent things to us. Many others have contacted us to say that they will be sending sounds, so we really look forward to listening to those.

As you are thinking of the most typical Toronto sounds to send or to tell us about, I thought that you might be interested in taking a listen to this short radio piece that – coincidentally – popped up on National Public Radio in the U.S. on Monday.

I nearly drove my car into a tree when I heard it, since it has so much relevance to the kinds of sounds we are trying to collect. Listen here.

What I think is so interesting about this NPR piece is that people identified not only typical but also really unusual sounds from their respective cities, from all over America. For instance, someone identified the signature sound of New Orleans not as music spilling out of jazz clubs, but rather as the sound of the steam calliope on the riverboat Natchez. Never would have thought of that!

Steam calliope on the riverboat Natchez

I hope you enjoy listening to this NPR clip, and also hope that it might give you an idea or two of sounds you know in Toronto that will surprise and delight, and will also allow all of us – from the city and from afar – to listen to Toronto in a new way.

Look forward very much to hearing from – and to hearing – you.

– Tod

P.S. For a reminder of how to send us sounds, or suggestions of sounds, see our Launch post. To subscribe to this blog, click here.

Your Sounds: Sam at Yonge-Dundas Square

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Sam’s contribution to “A Toronto Symphony: Concerto for Composer and City” is the soundscape at Yonge-Dundas Square. You too can send us your soundscapes of Toronto. Post a video on YouTube, capture sounds on your cellphone and upload the mp3 to Soundcloud, YouTube or direct to Facebook, and share the links via our Facebook page! Tweet it to @ComposerCity and we’ll share your #SoundsofToronto far and wide. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you need technical help finding your way around all this social media technology.

Media coverage of our launch

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We’re starting to get media coverage of our launch. The CBC’s popular morning radio program, Metro Morning, aired an interview with me on June 14. Click here to listen.

The Toronto Star has invited readers to send in their “sounds of Toronto” and plans to report on the results.

The Toronto Standard has a nice write-up of our initial composing process, in which I collaborated with eight talented and adventurous musicians from the Toronto Symphony to create some new music:

The resulting composition, performed at the official launch at the ideacity conference, built from a scattered, wandering mélange of textures into a series of playful melodies and phases with each instrument taking brief solos. It’s an unexpected, yet pleasing tune that evokes the diverse bustle of a metropolis.

And here’s a thoughtful blog post by John Terauds for Musical Toronto. I really didn’t know what to expect, so it’s a relief to read his reaction:

Machover’s Ideacity audience had a chance to hear the results, which may or may not be part of the much, much larger finished work. But along the way, the composer was able to prove to himself, as well as key witnesses, that weaving other people’s ideas into a meaningful whole is possible.

Interested in learning more? Post your questions and comments here!

– Tod

Join Me for A Toronto Symphony

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Welcome to the A Toronto Symphony project. Over the coming months, I am inviting you – the citizens of Toronto – to collaborate with me to compose a new symphony which will be premiered by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra on March 9, 2013, at the New Creations Festival. Some of the music will be by you, some by me, and some shaped by us together. My hope is that we will create something that neither you nor I could have done without each other, and that will be surprising, stimulating, and beautiful, a musical portrait about – and by – Toronto.

Take a look at the intro video and see below for how to participate. Scroll down for the latest postings about our activities and ways for you to get involved. Please subscribe so that we can send you alerts. (See links at right to subscribe via email, RSS, Facebook or Twitter.)

Thank you so much for taking an interest. Let’s get started!

– Tod

There are many ways to get involved!

Connect and collaborate! Our Facebook community page is where we will all share our creations, ask questions, and form groups to collaborate and create new sounds.
Subscribe to me on YouTube Share your video of what Toronto sounds like!

  1. Upload your video to YouTube (you’ll need an account)
  2. Post your video on the community Facebook wall
  3. Or send a link to your video to tod@tso.ca
Share your sound recording of what Toronto sounds like!

  1. Upload your audio recording to Soundcloud (you’ll need an account)
  2. Post your recording on the community Facebook wall
  3. Or send a link to your recording to tod@tso.ca

A Graphic Score by Peter Torpey

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Most pieces of music have a score, which shows musicians what to play or helps listeners to listen. For A Toronto Symphony, my colleague Peter Torpey and I have created a score which will help us all to compose and to imagine the shape and sections of the piece that we are creating together. This score tells the “story” of the piece, shows what the sections or “movements” will be, and describes the basic way that we will collaborate to make the symphony.

Here’s the graphic score of A Toronto Symphony, and below the picture is a description of how I imagine each section. This may evolve as we share our music and discuss the project, as a medieval cathedral evolved from blueprint to reality based on the contributions of every sculptor, stonemason and bricklayer. Off we go:

And here is my description of the sections that are shown in the graphic score:

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