Faculty/School

Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice

Topic status

We're looking for students to study this topic.

Research centre

Supervisors

Mr Anthony Brumpton
Position
Lecturer in Technical Production
Division / Faculty
Faculty of CI, Education & Social Justice
Dr David Megarrity
Position
Senior Lecturer in Drama
Division / Faculty
Faculty of CI, Education & Social Justice

Overview

Erstwhile is an interdisciplinary research project led by creative practice. It focusses on writing songs about places and recording them in those places, exploring the connection between site, sound and song.  It explores the influence of unusual antique spaces on composition, playing and recording, and how accounts of how the music was made may frame the music for the listener. Songs written about particular places will be recorded onsite (as audio/video) in that same space, by two award-winning songwriter/musicians (Dr David Megarrity and Samuel Vincent) and Aural Scenographer/Recording Engineer (Tony Brumpton)

This project combines genuine compositional and technological engagement with space, but also a kind of impression management that presents musical processes and products in particular ways. This combination of song writing, site-specific recording practices generated in the field and project documentation “invite the listener to suspend disbelief – to imagine that they are in the place where the recording was made.” (Gallagher 2014:275). Gallagher further suggests that “When research uses audio in a way that seeks to reproduce sonic qualities of place, the effectiveness of the illusion of presence created may be a useful criterion.”(Gallagher 2014:280)

Research engagement

The aim is to create a number of video and audio artefacts framing site-specific songwriting.

Research activities

Your involvement in this interdisciplinary project may include technical and artistic dimensions of audio and video documentation, literature review, survey design and data collection, site visits,  shoots and sessions, location scouting and fieldwork.

Outcomes

Creation of a number of  video/audio aretfacts in addition to online surveys

Skills and experience

Active participation in planning, literature survey,  onsite assistance and follow-up research activities. There’ll be creative learning here for filmmakers, musician/songwriters, and audio technician/sound designers.

Start date

4 November, 2024

End date

21 February, 2025

Location

QUT Kelvin Grove campus, and fieldwork within 100km of Brisbane.

Keywords

Contact

Dr David Megarrity

d.megarrity@qut.edu.au