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My May 2023 recital was programmed around a piece I wrote called Meditations in Lo-fi. The composition was inspired by ideas about lo-fi soundscapes presented by R. Murray Schafer in his book, The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World.

 “In a lo-fi soundscape” Schafer writes, “individual acoustic signals are obscured in an overdense population of sounds… Perspective is lost. On a downtown street corner of the modern city there is no distance; there is only presence. There is cross-talk on all the channels, and in order for the most ordinary sounds to be heard they have to be increasingly amplified.” (p. 43)

He later writes, “The modern lo-fi soundscape possesses no perspective; rather, sounds massage the listener with continual presence. As the population of sounds in the world increases, soloistic gestures are replaced by aggregate textures.” (p. 158)

In our lo-fi soundscapes, the “noise” of the modern city prevents us from being aware of sounds anywhere besides exactly where we are. Precisely because we cannot attend to the sounds of anywhere else, we are allowed to exist fully immersed in our soundscape if we choose. 

While Schafer laments, in many cases, the sonic consequences of industrialism, I find that in many ways they gently encourage us into our present moment. Meditations in Lo-fi is intended to give an opportunity to reflect on these ideas and draw awareness the sonic textures that often go unnoticed.

The remainder of the program was comprised of pieces that capture the spirit of the first piece in one way or another. The recital involved about 15 performers and I’m incredibly grateful for their contributions and the occasion to play with so many cherished friends.