Alys Sound presents music in new way

In celebration of Labor Day weekend, Alys Beach, in conjunction with Escape to Create, will host ‘Alys Sound’ from 4 to 6 p.m. Sept. 4 along the pedestrian path. In addition, live jazz will be performed by Sean Dietrich from 5 to 8 p.m. at Caliza, with artwork by Steve Penley at Caliza Pool.

Dr. Charles Norman Mason, creator of ‘Alys Sound’ and Escape to Create artist-in-residence teaches composition at Birmingham-Southern College and in the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. For a number of years, Mason has explored an area of interest he calls Music for Porous Architecture. He has written a number of pieces contemplating what it means to take into consideration the architectural space within which the work would appear.

“As we were walking down the street or pathway in Alys Beach, I noticed that there are many beautiful sounds,” said Mason. “From the dry wispy sound of wind blowing through the palm trees to the water gurgling from pet watering fountains, ‘Alys Sound’ will use those natural sounds to create aural beauty that complements the natural sound of the passageway and encourages pedestrians to slow down as they are walking the path so they might observe more of the visual and aural beauty.”

The concept of Alys Sound employs six musicians who will merge with pre-recorded music/sound from eight speakers. The live musicians will provide a beautiful, contemplative, sonorous sound that will naturally produce canonic textures as a result of distance. For example, if two musicians are performing the same music, but are separated by distance, the result will sound, to a listener, as if the distant musician is echoing the nearer musician. The pre-recorded portions will consist of music that interacts with the live musicians and create beautiful sonorities derived from local sounds such as waves, shells and wind.

Many of the ideas will have their parallel with architecture. For example, just as an architect uses visual space to affect the flow of people through a house, music will be used to affect the flow of people through a space. The music will also be used to draw people to special spots that they may overlook otherwise, or to define large spaces, just as a designer might use a sculpture at the end of each street to define the visual space.

Mason has received many awards for his compositions including the American Composers Orchestra “Playing it Unsafe” prize, the 2005 Rome Prize, the Premi Internacional de Composició Musical Ciutat de Tarragona Orchestra Music prize, and a National Endowment of the Arts Individual Artist Award. His music is published by Living Artist Publishing and is available on ten different compact disc recordings.