Howzat: An Appeal for Nature

Ecology and nature conservation view sound as an intrinsic component of the landscape. With this idea in mind,’Howzat: An Appeal for Nature’ is a soundscape composition that studies the rural soundscape of Atherton Wildlife and Nature Meadow, Lancashire, UK. The piece brings attention to how soundscapes continuously transform through space and time. Seen as a complex ‘entity’, the soundscape presents the listener with significant temporal and spatial variation. Each particular environment reveals temporal variations that relate both to biological and human rhythms of activities, while spatial variation mainly reflects land-uses in the landscape. The conservation of the soundscape is now seen as an integral part of urban and rural infrastructure. Monitoring and decoding the sonic activities help us understand how sound imparts and informs our own existence.

‘Howzat: An Appeal for Nature’ consists of sound recordings captured over the course of a day from the surrounding area of Atherton meadows, Wigan, Lancashire. The rich diversitification of recordings have been sonically transformed using custom built computer algorithms into a musical composition. A performance will take place at the ‘Arts for Nature’ event, Atherton Cricket Club at 15.30 on Monday 25th August 2014.