I am Sitting in a Room is created by Alvin Lucier. Lucier was trained as classical composer but he started to experiment different way to work with sounds as he lost interested in contemporary music. He try to use the scientific method to work with sound-piece. The first sound work he did was called Music for Solo Performer in 1965 which he amplified the brain wave and send it to the durms. In 1969, he created the I am Sitting in a Room which he called it as ‘preliminary’. Afterwards, he recorded different versions of this piece. The ‘preliminary’ last about 15 minutes and 40 minutes long in 1980’s version which has 32 repetition. He recored his voice, which is the description of the piece, and recored the playback from a loudspeaker. As he kept repeating this process, ‘the acrostic property of the room become a filter’ and it amplified and dim the curtain frequency. As a result, it became the abstract patten of sound.
One of the reason why I choose this piece is because the minimalist element where it is so simple but powerful. The actual process is simple, record the looping of voice over, but it created the infinity mirror like effect which reflect sound and time rather light. The piece can literally keep going endlessly. Also the piece created the interesting phenomenon which is reversing the relationship between languages and sounds. We usually add meaning to a sounds piece by using language to explain it, such as your intention or idea behind it. However, in I am Sitting in a Room, it is begin with the clear voice description of the works, in which, for me, it is revering the process of interrupt the piece. After all, it is inspirational for me.
Bibliography:
Vandsoe, A. (2012) “I am Recoding the Sound of My Speaking Voice. Enunciation in Alvin Lucier’s I’m Sitting in a Room”, SoundEffects – An Interdisciplinary Journal of Sound and Sound Experience, 2(1), pp. 96–112. doi: 10.7146/se.v2i1.5175.