High School is one of the first environments a person will come in contact with in their young lives where they gain friends and cliques through shared interests. Personally, the group I got along with the most were the hip hop heads. Many of my friends and I would always rap freestyles in lunch to show off our skills to each other. Not only did we freestyle, but many of my friends were interested in creating their own instrumentals on their computer for themselves or to sell to others. About a year ago, my friend Giovanni invited me to his house and showed me his ,”Studio”, which was actually really impressive for it being a small corner in the back of his room. Specifically, he showed me all of the beats his software has and we actually created one together under an hour. Since I do not have much experience with this technology, he taught me how the rhythm, melody, and other factors that come along when producing a beat play significant roles in the process to perfection. I had always thought that it was the lyrics in a song and the message behind it were the catalysts to making a song successful, however Giovanni taught me that a song can be just as meaningful without lyrics and just sound.
In Alvin Lucier’s,”I Am Sitting In A room”, it first would appear to many as a man recording himself and repeating the same two sentences until his voice completely fades and even transforms into noise. When Lucier’s voice is comprehensible, he exaggerates his stutter and sibilance. It is not until his voice fades out that I noticed Lucier used those as techniques to create a melody. In addition, the melody becomes more distinct as Lucier’s voice fades to the point where it transitions to where it is mostly sound and there are little chunks of his voice. The sound also contains the same rhythm of his voice when he was speaking, however the noise goes through another transition towards the end and it suddenly sounds like soothing meditation music. What I found most interesting was how Lucier’s voice was sound and there was noise in the background due to the recording, and then towards the end of the piece the noise in the background became sound and his voice became noise. I believe Lucier’s piece demonstrates the value behind the words of his short speech; they are not meant to be interpreted as lyrics, but instead as instruments to the song he created. Evidently, Lucier’s ,”I Am Sitting In A Room”, emphasizes the value of sound and the significance it gives to words.
