I can not deny the impact Gerald Barry and his; ‘piano quartet no 1’ had on me. I had just taken up music as a leaving certificate subject when I first came across him. I had been playing the drums on and off for approximately a year before that. My dictionary of music was incredibly limited. My upbringing at home involved listening to the radio. It was never off, only when there was a wake. More often then not, the news was turned up and the music turned down. Music was deemed; not really useful and neither of my parents played any instruments. So needless to say, I was like a rabbit in headlights when my music teacher walked into the class one day and said; ‘today we have something a little different for you, his name is Gerald Barry’. It was madness. That’s all I could think about as we sat there and listened to it. Pure madness. ‘They’re not even playing properly’ exclaimed another student. I remember these words so clearly, mainly because I was thinking the exact same thing. But this day, was incredibly important to me. It marked the beginning of a greater curiosity towards music. 

I came across ‘4 minutes and 33 seconds’ by John Cage during my Art and Design degree. I was working on an installation piece that would allow the lights of a city landscape to be turned into a short piece of sound art, delivered through the piano. Cage’s piece and his general attitude towards sound are one of the more evident inspirations that I took along on this trip. I believe without his influence, I would never have undergone such a trip, mainly because of the technical consequences once finished. He allowed me to think simply about sound and consider it in relation to music.

Location; Prague. Time; approximately 3 years ago; ‘The Visitors’ by Ragnar Kjartansson. Sitting there in the dark space surrounded by many screens, all with individual people coming together to make this incredible piece of music, it began to thicken my concept. I came to the gallery 6 more times to see that piece. Each performance lasted approximately 54 minutes.

These are only some of the brilliant people who have inspired me to believe in this project. It seems almost shameful not to mention Glenn Gould, Sigur Ros, The Magnetic Fields or the amazing sound design created by filmmakers like Fritz Lang and Walter Murch. And there’s more! One of the main problems with a thank you list is; you don’t know when to stop because the influence was so great.  

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