Henry J. Lyons
Site Visit - Reference Photos (Focal Length 25mm - Oneplus 6T)
Site Visit - Notes, Comments, Questions
FINDING MY WAY HOME
Inspire Gallery - Exhibition Opening June 25th
"Arriving Home" picture by Monica Boyd
"FINDING MY WAY HOME"
INSPIRE GALLERY - EXHIBITION OPENING JUNE 25TH
Finding My Way Home; consisted of one month of a musically driven bicycle trip that travelled from location to location, invading the homes of random wonderful people, asking them to play an instrument, click their fingers, tap something, laugh, cry or make some noise with me. All sounds were recorded, both through audio and also visual, with a vision of uniting them all at the end of the trip. The result; a music soundtrack! Each person was asked to consider what they considered to be music and also what they didn't. A major part of my mission was to concentrate on the idea of random sounds or noise that occupy our daily lives. I was always ready to listen and discuss the value and feeling that various noises had for different people.
I think it is important to say that none of these people knew each other. They lived on average, 80km away from each other. Like in the days of George Melies, I wanted to produce a type of magic by taking all of these individual recorded sounds or noises and unite them together. A type of free-flowing randomised conducting, all tied together into a presentation of one soul packed contemporary, feature film length music score soundtrack! After approximately 2300km of pedalling, the result; I collected both audio and video recordings from over 40 random people, from over 18 countries. Over 50 different instruments and over 50 extra sounds were captured. Would you have let me into your home and joined the project?
Ingredients; One creative, pale-skinned, long-legged, semi-ignorant, always curious Irishman (Me). Transport; Bicycle (Molina). Many creative people along the journey. Assorted items; audio gear, a basic smartphone (LG G3), one pair of runners (wearing), two pairs of shorts, two t-shirts, toothbrush, jar of camping gas, two spare tubes, a survival foiled hot and cold blanket, helmet, watch, some Allen keys, rain jacket, an extra large blue poncho and some hope. Location starting point; Hlubocepy Prague, Czech Republic. Date; 1st of July. Time; 7 am. Duration; One month. Destination; Co.Monaghan, Tattyreagh North, Ireland...Home.
Title: Finding My Way Home
Date: 28th - 30th of May.
Tickets: 7euro. (Limited spaces available).
Inspire Gallery , Dublin, Ireland
Welcome to Finding My Way Home. The picture above; 'Arriving Home' was captured by my lovely mother, Monica Boyd. With 'Happy Birthday' red and yellow balloons hedge fastened, the runway was clear. My sunlit, stained concrete stage was ready! She stood, tablet armed, waiting to retrieve evidence of her son's, until now, 'dead on a bicycle in Europe child'. With her usual but not simple determination, she wrapped her arms around me and simply squeezed....''You made it, well done''. Tattyreagh North (The Home of Champions), Monaghan, Ireland, I did make it! On instinct, my most natural reaction was to deliver a roar towards the sky. There is something very special about a roar. This is an experience that you can imagine but only realize through experience. That evening I arrived in Tattyreagh North, I have a new look in my eyes. I reached a type of breaking point that I never knew was inside me.
"The First Map" drawn by Barnabus Cousely.
Finding My Way Home was an approximate 2300 km cycle (Czech Republic to Ireland) in which I collected audio and video recordings from random people playing instruments or making noise. The idea behind collecting these noises? An attempt to make a feature length music score. Exciting!
Here is a small breakdown of how I approached realizing this idea:
- Meet people who love listening/playing music, amateurs, professionals, alternative styles etc! If you have passion for music and being creative, I wanted you in the project!
- Record (audio and visual) of them playing their instruments (including voice).
- All sessions were improvised. Everything recorded had to be original, meaning no covers of songs.
- Together we will try to create/add samples, layers, patterns, melodies together. These ideas are influenced by the previous people and act like building blocks for future participants along the trip.
I described the project to my good friend Joe LaCorte, a fantastic guitarist from New York and this was his response; ''Dig the idea man. I can't comprehend what kind of a piece of music you'll have by the end but it's already got my mind buzzing..a somewhat instrumentally cohesive suite/avant garde multi textural piece of sound art/aural equivalent of a travelogue. Limitless possibilities.''
My plan from the start; explore something so beautifully, stupidly, simple...noise and see where it brings me. My thoughts while cycling on some of them tearfully hot roads during July; if I am stopped by the police, can I say; I was under the influence of 'Cage'?
“When I talk about music, it finally comes to people's minds that I’m talking about sound that doesn’t mean anything. It is not inner, it is just outer. And they say, these people who understand that, they say; you mean its just sounds? Thinking that for something just to be a sound, to be useless, Whereas I love sounds, just as they are and I have no need for them to be anything more than what they are and I don’t want them to be psychological, I don’t want a sound to pretend it's a bucket or its a president or its in love with another sound, i just want it to be a sound.”
John Cage
Sample
Here are 3 (out of 39) samples of different people I met along the way. There is one sample of a German tunnel as an example of a different type of noise I was collecting. I recorded it because the build up of drone sensation within that tunnel was simply amazing (on second thoughts, I question if I was allow to be in there).
"Finding My Way Home"
Finding My Way Home; consisted of one month of a musically driven bicycle trip that travelled from location to location, invading the homes of random wonderful people, asking them to play an instrument, click their fingers, tap something, laugh, cry or make some noise with me. All sounds were recorded, both through audio and also visual, with a vision of uniting them all at the end of the trip. The result; one-hour long music soundtrack! Each person was asked to consider what they considered to be music and also what they didn't. A major part of my mission was to concentrate on the idea of noise. Like an alert dog, my ears were perked. I was always ready to listen, to try and understand, and more importantly; discuss the value and feeling that various noises had, for different people.
I think it is important to say that none of these people knew each other. They lived on average, 80km away from each other. Like in the days of George Melies, I wanted to produce a type of magic by taking all of these individual recorded sounds or noises and uniting them together. A type of free-flowing randomised conducting, all tied together into a presentation of one soul packed contemporary, feature film length music score soundtrack!
After approximately 2300km of pedalling, the result; I collected both audio and video recordings from over 40 random people, from over 18 countries. Over 50 different instruments and over 50 extra sounds were captured. Would you have let me into your home and joined the project?
Ingredients; One creative, pale-skinned, long-legged, semi-ignorant, always curious Irishman (Me). Transport; Bicycle (Molina). Many creative people along the journey. Assorted items; audio gear, a basic smartphone (LG G3), one pair of runners (wearing), two pairs of shorts, two t-shirts, toothbrush, jar of camping gas, two spare tubes, a survival foiled hot and cold blanket, helmet, watch, some Allen keys, rain jacket, an extra large blue poncho and some hope. Location starting point; Hlubocepy Prague, Czech Republic. Date; 1st of July. Time; 7 am. Duration; One month. Destination; Co.Monaghan, Tattyreagh North, Ireland...Home.
Process Breakdown:
- Meet people who love listening/playing music, amateurs, professionals, alternative styles etc! If you have a passion for music and being creative, I wanted you in the project!
- Record (audio and visual) of them playing their instruments (including voice). We will concentrate on certain keys; B Minor and G Major.
- All sessions were improvised. Everything recorded had to be original, meaning no covers of songs.
- Together we will try to create/add samples, layers, patterns, melodies together. People could listen to or be influenced by the previous person I had recorded. This direction acted like building blocks or guidance for the future participants if needed along the trip. I described the project to my good friend Joe LaCorte, a fantastic guitarist from New York and I couldn’t resist including his response. I feel it really highlights the tone of the project:
''Dig the idea man. I can't comprehend what kind of a piece of music you'll have by the end but it's already got my mind buzzing..a somewhat instrumentally cohesive suite/avant garde multi textural piece of sound art/aural equivalent of a travelogue. Limitless possibilities.''
Samples
This is just one sample of Agu, Pascal and Guillaume. They all played/performed up to 5 improvised pieces. Each participant, once they got started, really enjoyed creating for the project. Before each piece we would sit down and discuss a certain direction. For example; with Agu, we talked about the power of the sea. We throw the notion of the voice travelling over the sea. Thoughts of drama should enter at some stage (seagulls coming in land from the storm).
"The German Tunnel" is an example of one external sound captured. There are over 50 of these sounds. I really liked the drone of the tunnel and had to stop to record it. I waited for 25mins to get silence and finally the long truck appeared to produce an amazing drone sound.
‘Collaged Orchestra’ An example of a focused motif being played between 5 of the participants'
‘Tattyreagh North; My Arrival Home'. Picture by Monica Boyd