Abstract

An anemometer is an instrument that measures wind velocity. This piece is exploring the Babel Table’s reliance on the velocity of compressed air to make a sound. Initially, the piece explores the fragile space between where air becomes sound before the gradual introduction of all it’s instruments and eventually ‘pulling out all the stops’ as one would with an organ with it at it’s full power in the finale.

This piece can be performed ad libitum, without the acknowledgement of the timeline as a solo piece, but it can also be performed with a quadrophonic soundtrack that brings into perspective the force and power of wind. Wind and air are forces that we cannot see unless this force is influencing and manipulating another object – this may be balloon membranes for the Babel Table, but that could easily be the wind rustling the leaves of a tree. This invisible elemental force can be gentle, so gentle it is unacknowledged or so powerful that it can destroy buildings and capsize boats.