I am sitting in a room is one of composer Alvin Lucier's
best known works, featuring Lucier recording himself narrating
a text, and then playing the recording
back into the room, re-recording it. I am recording the sound of my speaking
voice and I am going to play it back into the room again and again until the
resonant frequencies of the room reinforce themselves so that any semblance of
my speech, with perhaps the exception of rhythm, is destroyed. What you will
hear, then, are the natural resonant frequencies of the room articulated by
speech. I regard this activity not so much as a demonstration of a physical
fact, but more as a way to smooth out any irregularities my speech might have.
The new
recording is then played back and re-recorded, and this process is repeated.
Since all rooms have characteristic resonance
or formant
frequencies (e.g. different between a large hall and a small room), the effect
is that certain frequencies are emphasized as they resonate in the room, until
eventually the words become unintelligible, replaced by the pure resonant
harmonies and tones of the room itself. The recited text describes this process
in action—it begins "I am sitting in a room, different from the one you
are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice," and the
rationale, concluding, "I regard this activity not so much as a
demonstration of a physical fact, but more as a way to smooth out any irregularities
my speech might have," referring to his own stuttering.
Lucier had
also specified that a performance need not use his text and the performance may
be recorded in any room. The composer himself has recorded the piece in at
least one room he found not aesthetically acceptable.
Ing - Form
1.
Ing – Form as a Gerund : i am sitting in a room.( As a verb, present proressive is placed after the auxiliary verb
to form a continuous
/ progressive tense).
2. Ing – Form as an Adjective : my
speaking voice.( as an adjective , speaking in this sentence is as an
adjective, voice as a noun).
3. Ing – Form as a Noun : The
new recording .( Here recording is a verb ending in –ing. At the same time it is the
subject of the verb is and
function as a noun. Such a form of the verb ending in –ing and used as a noun is called a gerund).
