Some notes towards a project I’d like to do. I think turning our paths through the world into collaborative auditory maps would be a wonderful thing.

Exploring links between music and mathematics in a networked mobile system

This project would develop software capable of analysing the positions of a group of learners relative to each other and streaming music generated computationally using the qualities of the group’s shape back to each learner, allowing members of the group to receive auditory feedback on the shape of the group, and to manipulate the audio stream through positioning their bodies differently in space.

For example, five learners, each with a mobile device capable of broadcasting its location (through GPS, network triangulation or similar), might be the vertices of a five-sided polygon, as imagined from above. Qualities of this shape – the interior angles, the length of the sides, the regularity of the shape, the surface area it covers, the length of time the shape has persisted – could map to musical features – dynamics, frequency range, degree of polyphony, range of instruments, different thematic material, degree of harmony – that could be used by software in generating a musical response.

The software would be designed to enable the precise nature of the correspondence between geometric quality and musical feature to be set by users themselves, allowing learners and teachers to explore the connections between the shapes made in space and the ways they can be analysed to an appropriate degree of complexity, and to represent the relationships between shape and harmony in the way they feel is most appropriate. Regular shapes might lead to more harmonious music; shapes sustained for a longer period might be louder than those that persist only briefly; serendipitous figures might be rewarded with specially-chosen vocal samples; learners might be guided towards target shapes through more attractive or moving musical forms; basic musical rules might be used to chart the stochastic movements of students travelling home, producing auditory geographies of familiar territories: a school song might be written by the movements of a victorious sports team during their final match.

The pedagogic value of this system might lie primarily in the capacity for supporting cross-curricular exploration, the participatory design of learning activities by learners themselves and the opportunities it presents for learning across age groups, with more able or older students preparing geo-acoustic systems for younger students to experience, or technologically more fluent students realising other students’ ideas about the relationships between shape and music.

Additionally, from a research perspective, the embodied nature of learners’ interactions within the geo-acoustic system is modally distinct from more usual forms of interaction with these subjects and presents an interesting and novel set of questions around the ways in which intellectual understanding relates to physical bodies, as well as being an opportunity to foreground current issues in education debates, not least perhaps the opportunity to explore more rigorously popular notions of “kinaesthetic intelligence” and to promote physical activity within an educational context. The nature of the activities designed by teachers and learners might well resonate with current interest in the potential educational value of pervasive and augmented reality gaming.

Despite this interdisciplinary focus, there are a number of traditional subject areas addressed in the development and use of such software. The following list is indicative rather than comprehensive.

• Geometry — understanding the ways in which practical geometry abstracts shape from the physical world and the language mathematicians use to describe geometric shapes and relationships
• Acoustic theory — models of synthesis, tone and timbre
• Music — composition, generative approaches to music creation, music theory
• Computer science — understanding networks, representing and manipulating variables using programming languages
• Psychology of perception — making sense of the world through auditory cues, proprioception and mental schemata
• History of science — Pythogarean notions of order and harmony, and how far these relate to current ideas about the way we understand the natural world to be ordered

Additionally, exploring the possible activities that this software might support could lead to explorations of the ways in which information can be presented through sound (sonification) and the various groups in society who might find this approach to sharing information about their environment beneficial, as well as supporting conversations about sound design in media, noise pollution, the ethics of location-aware software and the ways in which people’s individual actions contribute to larger effects.

(or, the harpbeat of the city: some notes on a game for igfest).

Look at the wires radiating from a telegraph pole: imagine what chord would be struck if they each sounded as an aeroplane flew behind them.

Two people are ends of a string: they agree on a sound and when something passes between them, they each make the sound. If the obstacle dwells between them for a while, the sound could be long. If it moves on rapidly, the sound might be short. Both ends of the string should make the same sound (though perhaps once players are adept they might be able to be the ends of several strings, having to keep watch on more than one connection: another game).

The string could move itself, being plucked by stationary objects as the two ends race past them (so a pair of players could pass either side of a series of lamposts or pillars, varying their speed to produce different rhythms), but I think a more rewarding experience would be given when the ends are stationary and something outside the players’ control plucks them: a boat, a convoy of buses, a crowd of people.

So that’s the basic mechanic: two people making a noise when the line between them is broken. What can you do with that?

I don’t think it would be practical to assume any confidence in pitching a note, or in musical theory, or even in singing in tune, at least to begin with. So perhaps the first game is just to stand in a line, each string choosing (or being given) notes of a recognisable tune, or even a scale, and the game co-ordinator walking along it at different speeds, to give everyone a chance to practice.

Once that’s lost its novelty, perhaps the game is for a group of strings to arrange themselves in a way that means a third party plays them: watching for someone walking purposefully across the square and taking up appropriate positions in time for the song to be heard. This isn’t a winning game: the satisfaction comes from having created something together, in having used the constraints of the game (sing this note, don’t voice until something external plays you) to produce a melody.

That’s one game on its own: perhaps there’s an igfest theme, a tiny music of five notes (think windows startup or the Close Encounters motif) that people can perform, listening to each other as they look for a walking plectrum in the crowd.

If we’re assuming no particular musical talent, though, for us to be able to use different notes reliably we need a cue, some kind of pitch-pipe. Perhaps one on people’s phones? Could be an mp3 on phones, could be an app generating tones.

Once they know what note to sing people can do chords! If you find people with tshirts/markers that match yours, you can get together and sing your notes only to discover that together you are Jazz and do-wop all rolled into one amazing creative ball.

There’s another possiblity: planning a sound, if the urban activity near you is regular enough. Take an afternoon to decide on your sound, then place your strings so that when people move they play you: turns a singing/performative game into one with some strategy and planning.

It’s late: time for bed. Sure there’s something in here to uncover.

By which I mean, who can name the tiny musics in this clip?

The percussive noises in the background come from the birds of Hyde Park, in Perth, where this monolith hovers (around its foot frolic tiny ape-creatures, dancing to Strauss). I guess all of them are corporate. I only recognise a few, though – any clues?

Bonus points if you can spot my favourite one.

It occured to me that I tend to talk a lot around here, and while it’s true that no-one else is going to do it for me, it might get a bit monotonous. So I made something to change the tone a bit.

If you can make one that’s less scary you could let me know.