Re: [microsound] [ot] freeways and bridges

[Glenn Bach <gbach@xxxxxxxxx>]

Kim Cascone wrote:

> but there was someone who created an entire piece from the sound of car
> tires going over a section of road on an overpass which sounded very
> hypnotic...any other road music suggestions?
> there was also a composer who composed a piece (James Tenney?) of the s=
ound
> of his car tires going over the Brooklyn Bridge way back in the 60's...

Not quite the same thing, but back in 1997 when I lived in NYC, I wrote a=
 piece
based on the Williamsburg Bridge.  I lived in Williamsburg, and walked th=
e
bridge on my way to work at a temp job at a life insurance firm on Wall a=
nd
Water Streets in the city.  One very sunny weekend afternoon, I took a no=
tepad
with me across the bridge and counted every single element in the pedestr=
ian
walkway: wood plank, metal plate, stone tablet, etc.  Three hours later, =
I had
a detailed map/catalog of the bridge walkay (including the exact midpoint=
 of
the bridge).  The idea was to assign a note or chord to each element, so =
that
the piece unfolded in the same time as it took to walk the bridge (a litt=
le
less than 20 minutes).  The piece was never actualized because I couldn't
figure out a way to assign all of those notes.  I may still finish it, wi=
th
sounds and field recordings from the bridge rather than pitches.

A few years ago, they demolished the old walkway and replaced it with a f=
ancier
metal walkway that runs alongside.  Too bad, because the old walkway had =
such
character--the graffiti ("fix riders do it best"), the sounds, the J trai=
n
clacking by, the view of the Manhattan skyline.

Ahh . . . heavy sigh . . .

G.

"The J train lights up the bridge like a calliope,
the factories and brownstones of Brooklyn
veiled in the grim slip of morning,
sweeping past as from arms=92 length,
a child=92s go-round,

and the river below murmurs
a Tourette=92s libretto of rust,
where I skip stones that sink
down to their silty beds."

--excerpt from my longer poem, "jaywalking"

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