Sounds of Toronto – 6:00 AM

Posted on by

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)

Posted on by

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 

Sounds of Toronto – Chinatown

Posted on by

We’ve been collecting your Toronto sound suggestions over the past weeks, and we’re pleased to announce that the submissions are rolling in!  Many of you may still be wondering which sounds are right for the project, but remember that any sound is welcome and encouraged.  Thanks to Jorge Ayala from  Soundstreams and his personal collection of Toronto sounds, we’ve compiled a wide range of examples on our Soundcloud account for you to listen to and take inspiration from. Take a listen, post comments, and then submit your own–the project can’t move forward without your help!

Here’s one that jumped out at us, sounds from Chinatown in Toronto.

Sound Inspirations via NPR

Posted on by

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.

Next task: A Toronto Sound that’s unique and original

Posted on by

Thanks to all who sent suggestions and audio recordings in response to my first challenge. Quite a few people mentioned the three-tone Toronto subway chime as a signature sound of the city. Listen:

[media link=http://soundcloud.com/harmony-line/audio-torontosubwaychime]

Now I’d love it if people would really open their ears, stretch their imaginations and think of a sound that’s both unique and unusual, something no one else will have thought of. Can you send it to me by next Wednesday? Once we have enough sounds, I’ll schedule a live Twitter session to talk about the sounds and answer your questions!

– Tod

“A Toronto Symphony” at ideacity 2012 (Video)

Posted on by

Here’s the video of the formal launch of our project at the 2012 ideacity conference, capped by a terrific performance by Toronto Symphony Orchestra musicians of music that we created together.

Media coverage of our launch

Posted on by

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

Send us your first Sounds of Toronto

Posted on by

Let’s get started! I would love for you to send me a sound so unique to Toronto that people will be able to recognize it right away. All the better if it’s a sound no one else will think of, but which will blow everyone away the moment they hear it because it’s so obvious, so specific, so Toronto.

Here are ways that you can “capture” your sound:

  • Make an audio recording and upload the mp3 to Soundcloud or YouTube.
  • Record a video and upload it to YouTube.
  • Write a vivid text description of the sound.
  • Take a photograph or make a drawing of the sound and save it in a digital format.

Then, share your sound in one of the following ways:

  • Post it on our Facebook page
  • Share the text or links in the comments section for this post
  • Or send your file in an email to tod@tso.ca

I look forward to getting your sounds and seeing your comments about one another’s discoveries!!

– Tod