what inspired me to make Waves and Wonder

The main thing that inspired me to make this was the work of the sound artist Hildegard Westerkamp. In her compositions, sound artist Westerkamp frequently uses field recordings and natural noises to examine the relationship between sound and environment. The specific piece that inspires Waves and Wonder was the piece “Breathing Room”. “Breathing Room” is a field recording taken by Westerkamp in 1990, it was released as a part of the Électro clips album. what inspired me about this piece was the tranquil atmosphere of the recordings. the mixture of controlled breathing and the bird and water sounds in between. it very much relaxed me and weirdly made me feel safe. I wanted to portray this feeling with my piece. I didn’t want there to be an uncomfortable feeling in the listener, I wanted the same tranquil atmosphere.

another piece that inspired me was again by Westerkamp. “A Walk Through The City”. I don’t enjoy this piece on its own but I do enjoy looking at the acoustic differences between “Breathing Room” and “A Walk Through The City”. These two pieces for me create such opposite feelings, I feel unsafe listening to “A Walk Through The City” but comforted and safe during “Breathing Room”. I wanted to capture the contrasting sounds in my piece. I wanted both the tranquillity of the birds and the occasional hum of city life. I very much enjoy Westerkamp’s work and take her as a major inspiration for my style and motive when creating art.