After Rob Mackay's visit to the Tuesday Peter Scott Gallery talks, I began to think even more about the 'behaviour of sounds'. This is something I started to think about in the module last year when I composed the graphic score for the seascape ecology piece. Through a struggle of how to visually depict sounds, this was something I arrived at as a way to visually problem solve, but it also helped my to problem solve sonically. In line with deep listening practices, this seemed like a further step to help myself to do more than listen to sounds, but begin to understand a sound; by that I mean what is the make up of a sound, why does it sound the way it does, what is it interacting with it within the environment  that is making it sound in such a way, does the sound have a shape etc etc.

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Speaking with Rob after the talk, he helped me understand the concept of spectromorphology, a concept coined by Dennis Smalley. I've been thinking a lot recently about using concepts/theory/philosophy in my work, and I've been trying my best to be careful about appropriately using theory with art, careful to not mis-appropriate or use for the sake of, but this idea seemed very useful - it actually aids understanding rather than complicating it. And after all it's a concept that NEEDS to be put into practice to be understood, so essentially it would be learning through experience - which is what I'm trying to do more rather than sitting at a desk spending hours revising a theory. hmmmmmmm