The Sensuality of Low Frequency Sound Cat Hope

The Sensuality of Low Frequency Sound Cat Hope Introduction When people describe the physical effects of sound frequencies, it is usually about the experiences of extremes: a piercing high tone, or a pounding low beat. However, sustained low frequency sound has the capacity to induce what could be considered a sensuous listening experience, created by the conscious sensing of vibrations in the body. Studies have shown that very low frequencies can be experienced through our skin in addition to the ears (Yamada et al 1986, 21), providing an opportunity to re-evaluate listening and its relationship to our bodies. The effects of low frequency sound have been engaged in music throughout history. Drumming in passage graves in the Neolithic age generated extremely low sounds as a technique to alter consciousness (Devereux 2001, 45), and some large concert organs feature pipes that emit low frequency sounds intended to stir congregations during hymns into feeling closer to God (Angliss 2003, 139). The low-pitched instruments of the classical music tradition, such as the cello and double bass, were used to reinforce and stabilise harmony. More recent developments in electronic music have revolutionised our experience of low frequency sound by amplifying ranges previously inaudible to the human ear. This has seen these sounds used to boost effects in movies, reinforce beats in dance music, and create the ubiquitous ‘drop’ in recent commercial music. However, some artists are manipulating low frequency sound in music compositions to create ‘vibration-sensation’ (Trower 2012, 9), where audiences can experience a more embodied listening experience. This chapter will examine musical works that feature electronically produced low frequency sound in order to produce a unique, sensuous responses in listeners. How these concepts are rendered and received are discussed in the works of three artists working across music performance, installation, and composition: Thembi Soddell (Australia), Marina Rosenfeld (United States of America) and myself (Australia). Each of us engage a distinctive and unique approach to employing low frequency sound as a way to extend the listening experience toward a more physical and embodied experience for audiences. The engagement of very low frequency (VLF) sound in the works is discussed from the perspectives of composition, performance, and reception. Keywords – music composition – music performance – sound studies – sensuality – low frequency sound Low Frequency Sound and the Sonic Body A very low frequency is considered to be below 200Hz, including the so called ‘inaudible’ range of infrasound, which is below 20Hz.1 It is a frequency range most often discussed in the context of acoustic science, when addressing noise control and sound pollution in wind farms and traffic (Leventhall 2003), urban myths (Swezey 1995), and weaponry (Goodman 2012, English 2016). In music, VLF is discussed in the context of popular dance music, usually in terms of its role in reinforcing of the beat, or as the foundation of high-volume amplification 1 Infrasound refers to sound beyond the range of human hearing. However, infrasonic frequencies can be heard at high amplification levels (Hope 2009). experienced in raves or outdoor concerts where the bass frequencies can often be heard much further away than other frequency ranges (Jasen 2016, Fink 2018). When VLF sound is in the infrasonic range, the nature of the sound changes: a note played as a long smooth tone will be heard as ‘rough’ and irregular to some degree (Yeowart 1976, 41). A closer examination of VLF in broader music contexts is only just starting to appear, as electronic music continues to develop, and the effects of VLF sound on the body are now well documented. VLF can vibrate parts of the body, creating physical effects other frequency ranges do not. Specific examples include unconscious vibration in eyes, causing vision blurriness and apparitions (Tandy 1998, 321). It can create vibration of internal organs and bones, with vibrational therapies that use VLF claiming health benefits (Ruan et al 2008). Yet a more subtle approach to the reception of VLF also occurs when VLF is experienced in the body by ‘listening’ through the skin. This offers a different physical reception to sound in music, to that only experienced via the ear. Julian Henriques (2003) uses the term ‘sonic body’ in an attempt to theorise this sensory experience of bass, where the body acts as a sensate actor between nature (our bodies) and culture (music). Kendall Walton uses the term ‘somatic perception’ to explain the way VLF sounds ‘not only come to us, but are experienced as being inside us’ (Walton 2012, 124). These frameworks provide an opportunity to create sensation orientated responses to music where VLF is present. These responses can be applied via compositional approaches, performance, and playback techniques. The term ‘sensuous’ is often used when discussing the phenomenology of sound, applied across listening experiences considered to be erotic (Trower 2002, Craig-McFeely 2016,) and embodied (Voegelin 2010, Eidsheim 2015). The sensuous represents a level of attention toward the senses more broadly, taking ‘it all in’ (Lynne 2019). Psychologist Alphonso Lingus says that ‘sensuality is an irresponsible responsiveness to pleasure and discomfort’ where ‘someone presents [themself] disarmed, denuded, needing nothing from me, surrenders [themself] to me’ (Lingus 2007, 2)2. This points to a giving over of the body to physical sensation designed by a composer or performer. When listening involves the body, this sensual attention becomes part of the musical listening experience. The presence of VLF sound in music can turn the listeners’ focus away from an intellectual or emotional response engaged directly through the ear to the brain, to one where the physical sensation and attention via the skin and core of the body is a more active aspect of the listening experience. The body can then respond to music as both a ‘surface of intensities and an affective field’ (Braidotti 2011, 24). These concepts provide an opportunity for a truly sensual experience of music, where the sound’s interaction with the body is part of musical experience. VLF sound can be engaged in a broad range of unique compositional approaches in both acoustic and electronic music. Acoustically, VLF sound is audible at very low volumes, often as a sub harmonic of a note as the result of an extended performance technique, and is unlikely to stimulate an identifiable physical response. For example, instruments such as the double bass, piano, and bass clarinet can create VLF in their lower ranges, and it is the timbre of these ranges, rather than their physical impact, that could be described as sensual. However, once these sounds are amplified, a physical response can come into play, and extended frequency ranges can be discovered and experienced. Electronically produced VLF can provide much longer, uninterrupted durations than acoustic instruments, that are characterised by natural decay and the requirement of breaths or bow changes to sustain ongoing sound. Further, synthesised electronic sound can reach even lower ranges of audible sound with additional amplitude. This requires appropriate amplification equipment such as powerful amplifiers - and appropriate speakers such as large sub woofers. The amplification of VLF sound does not necessarily result in very high volumes - rather, it enables the sound to be received in the human hearing range (Hope 2009, 51). High levels of amplification can create sudden and 2 This quotation has been slightly altered, from ‘himself or herself’ to ‘themself’ to reflect a more up to date approach to pronouns. intense dynamic contrasts, and when used to power VLF can result in radical sensorial alterations for listeners. Just as with any other audio range, VLF can be used singularly or as part of a more complex combination of frequency ranges applied to varying timbres and musical ideas. Every application has the capacity to supplement auditory perception in critical ways (Walton 2012, 125). Large amplifiers and speaker stacks can be thought of as the new great organs: enormous generators of powerful sound designed to transport congregations of listeners. The listeners’ sensate ‘responsiveness to pleasure and discomfort’ is realised, and composers and performers create music that can physically caresses their listeners at one turn, and startle them at another. What follows is a discussion of three artists’ methods for engaging VLF sound in a range of different works across compositional and performance approaches. Power induced sensuality in the work of Thembi Soddell Australian sound artist Thembi Soddell (born 1980) works with large amplification systems in solo live performances and installations experienced in complete darkness. This darkness erases the physical presence of the performer, encouraging listeners to focus on the sound - not the performance - of the music. This creates an experience for listeners that sits between live performance and installation, drawing a strong connection between the two forms in the artist’s output. Soddell’s installation works Window (2008) and Held Down, Expanding (2018) are listening booths, where participants enter a dark world that leads them to focus on how sound interacts with their personal space, intensifying a sensate reception to it. As in the installations, the stage is removed in Soddell’s live performances, leaving only a few LED lights flickering on the amplifiers or sound card, the audience massed together. Yet the performance is still key: it provides a gateway to access these large amplification systems and listening spaces where these sounds can be heard at their best in a collective listening experience that embraces the ephemeral energy of performance. Soddell’s music is characterised by dramatic changes in volume: sharp dynamic cliffs where a very loud sound seems to leap into the air, rumble beneath or suddenly disappear to reveal a quiet, thin, and fragile sound beneath. As a listener at these events, I have found myself suddenly exhaling involuntarily in these moments. Gradual introductions into audibility using extremely slow evolving crescendos and textural complexity make these ‘sonic shocks’ within the consistent stream of sound all the more powerful. Suddenly stripping sounds back to sparse worlds, or suddenly intensifying them, creates a dramatic listening experience that Soddell uses VLF ranges to define. The listener’s body feels very present in the walls of sound that fill the entire space. VLF ranges are used to create important contrasts with very quiet sounds, often in conjunction with high frequency extremes. This very low sound – and its removal - gives many of these sudden high volume and density shifts their power. Soddell describes these extremes as tensions: “These experiences are ones of extremes and emotional intensities; the tensions between horror, beauty, rage, desire, confusion, love and perceptual annihilation.” (Soddell 2018) Tension is often discussed in the theory analysis of tonal music, as an opposing force to the release of dissonance in cadential harmonic movement (Munday 2012, 86). However, Soddell’s music evokes tension - and release - with the new dynamic means afforded by high powered electronic music, putting the importance of harmonic movement into the background. This creates a dramatic listening experience: the music reaches out and grabs you; it is confronting, but enthralling. Whilst Soddell outlines the compositional imperative as driven by emotion, the reception is largely physical, creating a state that ‘extends the possibilities for how we are embraced and engulfed by the acoustics we encounter’ (English 2018). Soddell creates sensate experiences for listeners as a way to control the reception of the emotional intensities used to design them. Audiences inhabit a languishing, velvety pool of sound that makes a sudden cut or escalation all the more exciting, creating a sensual experience that traverses an intense warmth in one moment, and a sudden exhilaration on the other. Repeat listening leaves one waiting on edge for the next shift, but still getting caught out whilst honing in on the texture of the almost inaudible opposite. Soddell collects recordings of performances of vocal, electronic and instrumental sounds as materials from which to build compositions. These are made specifically for the project at Soddell’s request and are manipulated in a way that renders them mostly unrecognisable in the final work. It is an approach that creates an interesting, subliminal loop back to instrumental performance in these somewhat abstract electronic works, and they facilitate the creation of unique timbres for each composition. For the works on her album Love Songs (Room 40 2018), contributing artists were approached to perform a ‘perceptual collapse’ on their instrument for their contribution to the album, a concept Soddell adapted from mental health advocate Mark Henick, with the aim of creating an emotional tension in the work. These fragments do not all engage VLF sound ranges in their original form, and this becomes part of the treatment undertaken by the composer in a process of sampling and manipulation, further nuanced in live performance. The videos created for tracks on the Love Songs album reinforce the sensual nature of these works. Created by Vanessa Godden, the videos feature intense close ups of the lower half of a face. In the video for Erasure, black goo oozes from a mouth in a frame where only mouth, the nose, and neck are visible. This physical material appearing to come from inside the body highlights the sensate internalisation of sound, almost illustrating a removal of the sound from the body. It emerges as a continuing, dark mass - reiterating the slow, dark and amorphous nature of much of Soddell’s work. Figure 1 Video still from Vanessa Godden’s video for Thembi Soddell’s track Erasure, from the ‘Love Songs’ album. This notion is also part of a rare notated work by Soddell, Your sickness is felt in my body (2014). This twelve-minute composition for acoustic instruments and a fixed media part is created using the compositional approach of collecting materials. Each of the six musicians is asked to send Soddell a recording in response to a phrase provided by the composer. The work’s structure comprises one consistent, slow crescendo mirrored in an escalation of textural density. Together with the fixed media part that consists of VLF sounds as well as higher range, continuous noise, this creates an evolving source of tension that builds consistently. The unamplified acoustic instruments are eventually completely subsumed by the powerful amplified playback produced through an amplification system featuring a large subwoofer speaker to ensure attenuation of VLF sounds. There is a sudden cut at the end, revealing a small, eerie yet delicate sound tail lasting for some seconds, performed on the bass flute. The airy, empty sound is almost a statement of its futility, whilst simultaneously reminding us of an alternate sensuality in the human breath as it peters out. The sonic similarity of the breathy flute sound to the gentle movement of air generated by the activated subwoofer speaker cone can be heard with careful listening. As a performer of the bass flute in the Decibel new music ensemble premiere of this work, I experienced the loud, built up sound as exhilarating and strangely chilling, highlighted by the contrast created when it was removed to reveal to lone flute part. This is in line with some experiences ascribed to VLF, such as chills and tingling (Van den Berg 2008, 235). This work features a compositional approach that mirrors the Love Songs discussed above, with acoustic instruments featured live in the performance itself, creating specific fine details that are eventually subsumed by the electronic playback part. The volume differences between the electronic and acoustic sound worlds remind us simultaneously of the power of amplification, and the fragility of low acoustic sounds. The tensions and contrasts enhanced by Soddell’s compositional engagement of VLF ascribes different dimensions to the sensuality of the listening experience, where the low frequencies create a definite physical response using sculptural compositional techniques – where walls of high volume materialise and vanish from softer fragile pools of sound, creating a ‘state of heightened vulnerability and bodily awareness’ (McIntyre 2012, 50). The gravitas, disorientation, warmth, and exhilaration of Soddell’s music goes beyond the tropes of ‘noise’ and ‘discomfort’ often associated with the experience of VLF, to a more complex and sensuous relationship with sound. The delicate sensuality of low frequency in the work of Marina Rosenfeld Marina Rosenfeld is a New York based artist with an expansive practice that includes turntablism, installation, and art music composition. Perhaps best known for her work with teenage girls in pieces such as Sheer Frost Orchestra (1993) and Teenage Lontano (2008), Rosenfeld maintains a unique sensitivity to low frequency sound, evident in her installations and turntablism in very subtle, understated compositional ways. As a turntablist, Rosenfeld often utilises dub plates for source material. A dub plate is an acetate LP record used by studios to test recordings prior to making a full run of vinyl. Artists in jungle, reggae, grime and dubstep music scenes often use these collectable records in their music, sought after for inclusions not found on commercial releases. In Rosenfeld’s performance The Accompanists (2007), the crackle of static and needles shifting across unstable grooves characteristic of turntablism are present. However carefully controlled, intermittent low tones of the recorded tracks, and low thuds created by deliberate nudging of the turntable itself and the stylus arm have a strong presence. These sonic features create a thread of soft VLF sounds through the work, highlighting what she calls the dub plate ‘singularity and fragility… and their responsiveness to acoustic conditions” (Rosenfeld n.d.). Rosenfeld’s live turntable performances have a wonderful delicacy and deftness of touch in direct contrast to more mainstream turntablism approaches. Her manipulation of the LPs, the turntable and associated components create a playful, fleeting manipulation of VLF sound that disrupts the more conventional role of low frequency as a heavy, dramatic, or beat reinforcement tool. Rosenfeld also performs the turntable as an instrument in chamber music ensembles. I performed bass flute in the 2011 performance of WHITE LINES (2003-) with the Decibel ensemble, alongside bass clarinet, viola, cello, guitar, drum kit, and Rosenfeld on turntables. The soft, whispery VLF sound emitted by the light bowing of the strings occupies a surprisingly similar sound world to that of record static, and Rosenfeld drew these sounds out of the instruments in this performance. Her slowing down of records on the turntable mirrors the glissandi on acoustic instruments, and often descends into inaudible VLF ranges. Subtones created by the multiphonic effects possible on the wind instruments meld with Rosenfeld’s low taps of the turntable, as do gentle taps on the bass drum. These similarities between the turntable and its acoustic counterparts operate in the acoustic volume range, without amplification of these instruments, creating a low frequency parameter on the cusp of audibility. Similar approaches are used in Rosenfeld’s live turntable performance on the CD release theseatheforesthegarde (Charizma 1997, Room40 2020) which opens with a very quiet, steady low hum, creating a unique frame for sounds laced with the static, skips, and crackles characteristic of turntable performances. Just as Soddell manipulates contributions performed by others, Rosenfeld de-identifies original material by manipulating it into her own sonic designs, with VLF sound providing a subtle yet important compositional tool. Rosenfeld’s most significant exploration in VLF sound reproduction is Cannons (2010), a three-movement work composed for four large, resonating ‘bass cannons’ and ensemble (percussion, viola, cello and the composer on turntables) in a resonant space. The cannons are custom made for the piece from steel pipes of one, three, five, and seven meters long, fitted with subwoofers at one end and installed in a large space alongside two full range speaker horns that are used to amplify the turntables. The cannons are capable of reproducing VLF with fidelity, even in the infrasonic range, and create vibrations that can be experienced in the bodies of the audience members and the performing musicians alike. Rosenfeld amplifies sounds specifically composed for the work through these pipes, creating a sparse, delicate, and playful spatial work. Like her turntable performances, Rosenfeld’s Cannons does not feature exclusively low frequency sounds, but when they are at the fore, they are warm, round and often playful. Sounds often descend in long, smooth glissandi, sliding through the hearing range and landing briefly into sensate ranges - a compositional tool mirrored in the acoustic instrument parts. Contrasting with these instruments, the cannon sounds seem strangely more natural - whilst also otherworldly - often in playful conversation with the acoustic instruments. The tones often break up somewhat, identifying them as being in the infrasonic range, and other times they sneak in and out of audibility. The VLF generates some similar effects to that experienced in Soddell’s work. Sometimes, the air movement generated from the speaker is audible, resembling whispers, creating a surprising intimacy. At certain points, the acoustic instruments become consumed by the electronic sounds produced by the cannons, and at other points the cannon VLF melds with acoustic sound to create new timbral qualities. Again, low tones are never used as percussive or harmonic support, but as an integral and sometimes even melodic part of the compositional fabric. Using a similar approach as taken in WHITE LINES, the turntable bridges these timbral connections. Rosenfeld’s approach differs from Soddell’s in that her engagement with VLF ranges is more slippery and elusive. However, both engage VLF ranges to invite close listening, rewarded with sensual outcomes across tentative, suggestive sound worlds that innovate the way that VLF ranges are manipulated in compositional processes. Whilst Soddell engages large amplification systems to enable her VLF sound propagation in live performance, Rosenfeld designs her own bespoke system for the electronic sound transmission in Cannons. Both reflect the requirement for facilities beyond a standard ‘concert’ amplification provision for the VLF propagation. Soddell uses a stadium size amplification system for her performances, and Rosenfeld presents bespoke systems as part of the installation design. Both approaches enable a broader distribution of the VLF sound, which tends to be much less directional than other frequency ranges, thus intensifying the audience experience. Figure 2 A performance of Rosenfeld’s Cannons, in installation, Midland Railway Workshop, Western Australia, 2010. Photo Cat Hope. Timbral Sensuality in my own compositions My own work traverses notated composition and improvised performances where the exploration of VLF sound is a central concern. My notated compositions engage VLF sound both sonically and conceptually. In the literal sonic sense, I have a series of works that feature VLF sine tones alongside acoustic instruments in chamber music works. Often used in acoustic measuring tests, sine tones are often referred to as ‘dead tones’ (Goeyvaerts in Sabbe 2002, 244). My works aims to demonstrate that these tones have their own timbral and sensual application that is highlighted when combined with acoustic instruments. The tones are always below 100Hz, and I call them subtones. Compositionally, they are treated as another instrumental part in the ensemble and are balanced in volume to acoustic instruments during performance - using a subwoofer speaker to ensure VLF audibility. The compositions explore the way we experience the timbre of subtones in various acoustic ensemble configurations. Works such as Shadow (2016) for two string instruments and subtone, see the acoustic instruments weave in, out, and around the subtones, with the aim of creating new ways to experience the colour of these instruments when foregrounded by this warm, low, oscillating tone that is experienced physically by the listeners. The subtones thread in and out of the acoustic sounds across very long durations - the piece progressing slowly, simply, and quietly the subtone and acoustic colour becoming increasingly similar despite the difference in frequency range. The string players are asked to play without vibrato and to make bow changes as unnoticeable as possible, to mirror the uninterrupted electronic subtone. These long durations of sound draw the listener into a focus on the colour and detail of the sound itself, where the absence of pulse obscures the passage of time, and the quality of the sound becomes the focus of listening (Demers 2010, 95). This listening focus reveals a warm, sensual exploration of the sound foregrounded by these durations and the subtle glissando movement that provide the only pitch movement in the piece. The rich harmonic overtones created by the bowing of the strings coalesce into the subtone, in a similar way that occurs in the performance of Rosenfeld’s WHITE LINES. In Tone Being (2016) for tam-tam and subtone, the acoustic instrument can reproduce sounds closer in frequency range to the subtone. The tam-tam physically swings after being struck, it’s slow movement back and forth mirroring the pulsating waves created by combined subtones emitting from the subwoofer speaker placed nearby. This is a compositional attempt at a physical mirroring of sound waves, bringing elements of installation into the live performance of this notated work. The deep ring and shimmer created when the instrument is struck with a soft mallet decays quite quickly, leaving the core sound of the instrument to be subsumed into the subtone. The electronic sound continues on well after the decay of the tam-tam has faded away. This is a reversal of the process Soddell applies at the end of Your sickness is felt in my body. It is difficult to hear exactly when the tam-tam sound stops, as its timbre becomes similar the subtone during this process of its volume decay, confusing the identity of the electronic and acoustic sounds. The vanishing high frequency shimmer fades away to unveil the interplay of low acoustic and electronic sounds, the sensual experience gradually revealing itself to the listener. The use of sine tones in modern compositions is not new (see works by Chiyoko Szlavnics, Manyanne Amacher, Alvin Lucier, La Monte Young and others). However, an exclusive focus on subtones across multiple chamber music configurations is unique, providing new insights into the way different combinations of acoustic instruments can integrate into electronic sound to create sensual listening experiences. Whilst tones may well be used in compositional aspects of both Rosenfeld’s and Soddell’s work, they are not presented in such explicit and exposed ways. Figure 3 Score excerpt from Cat Hope’s’ Tone Being’ (2016). My solo improvised electric bass noise performances use large, powerful valve bass amplifiers driving multiple fifteen-inch subwoofer speakers in the production of the sound. In conjunction with a range of effects pedals, this creates a specific timbral palette focused on the VLF aspects of the bass guitar sound, as subwoofer speakers do not produce other, higher frequency ranges produced by smaller speakers. These amplifier/speaker combinations create a very different, noisier ‘colour’ that those used in concert settings, as a result of amplifier build and design. Elongated VLF sounds are again a feature of these performances, created using sampling and looping effect pedals. The bass guitar tone is coloured by the effect pedals, using a range of different distortions, delays and an octave shifting effect - effectively overlaying the bass guitar sound with a ‘synthesised’ version of itself, operating like the subtone in the works above, melding into a complex but singular sound world. These performances subvert the role of the bass guitar by removing it from its standard engagement with a percussion section to reinforce the beat or foundational harmonies. The performances generate VLF sounds that fill the room in a similar way to Soddell’s sounds, the timbral qualities of the bass highlighted and exposed without other instruments around it. The guitar itself is recontextualised soloistically, as is the music itself. Feedback is an important element of these performances, created and controlled as a melodic device alongside heavy distortion, growling sounds, and droning bass interrupted by percussive attacks. A double bass bow is used to create sustained tones from the strings, and the use of a small handheld a.m. radio with inbuilt speaker, held over the guitar pickups, creates a low, uninterrupted, sustained sound of untuned static. The foundational harmonic structure of the instrument is extended – both lower in frequency but more adventurous in its colour range, creating a ‘sensory overload’ (Radio Static n.d), that includes the sensual experience created by the VLF ranges themselves. In these notated and improvised works, the compositional focus is firmly focused on the colour of the low frequency sound and how it interacts with other frequency ranges. Improvisation enables the performer to follow ideas and sound qualities that emerge as the work unfolds, whereas compositions provide reconsidered approaches to similar elements. The amplified low frequency sounds – as subtle caresses in the quiet composed works, or the all-consuming, vibrating waves of the solo improvisations, create sensual listening experiences facilitated by the VLF experience. Conclusion The focus on VLF in composition and performance practices reminds us of how the experience of music remains firmly rooted in the senses (Austern 2002, 1). A focused and deliberate control of VLF sound in composition creates new ways of thinking about sensuous listening worlds. The stark cliffs and visual void of Soddell’s live electronic performance, the playful gurgles and murmurs of Rosenfeld’ dub plates and cannon speakers, and the timbral explorations of my own chamber music and solo bass guitar performances provide different exemplars of this approach. Each of these projects produce sensual results, where VLF enables this music to be experienced as a sensory listening experience, where the entire body becomes the mechanism for understanding the musical material. These are musical ideas that snap us alert, wash over us, caress and weave around our other senses. They demand attention from the listeners’ body, and they consume it. Whilst the power of electronic amplification enables sounds that would be impossible to experience otherwise, acoustic instruments can interact with these sounds to foreground and combine with sounds that create innovative new sound worlds. A sensuous sonic body is an integral part of a new way of engaging with music and its rewards. Bibliography Artists Institute, The. “Marina Rosenfeld,” 2019. 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Yeowart, Norman S. “Thresholds of Hearing and Loudness for Very Low Frequencies.” In Infrasound and Low Frequency Vibration, edited by W. Tempest, 37-64. London: Academic Press, 1976. Author’s Bio Cat Hope is an artist, scholar, and academic whose research interests include animated notation, Australian music, gender and music, low frequency sound, digital archiving, as well as artistic research. She is the co-author of ‘Digital Arts – an introduction to new media’ (Bloomsbury Academic, 2014) and an active composer and performer. She is currently Professor of Music at the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia http://www.cathope.com