Transcribing
Two Performers (laptops/keyboards, amplification, and projection)
Open Duration
2017
Created for the Parkinson/Saunders Duo
About
Transcribing is a piece for two typists. During the performance, both typists transcribe (audio → text) the same archival audio material. Though they each only listen to their own audio track, the audience hears both layered on top of each other. Because the act of transcription involves pausing and rewinding the material to accurately type it, the audience hears a stratified, looped, fragmented, and stretched version of the original audio recording that gradually reveals the source material.
This piece was originally developed for the Parkinson Saunders duo for BBC’s ‘Hear and Now’, and has been recorded in three different versions using different source materials. The video on this page features Alex Mah and James Saunders, and was recorded at the Bath Spa University TV Studio as a part of Open Scores Lab. The video was cut together by myself, and features archival material from www.archive.org and a found cassette from Sweet Thunder.
Performances
- July 2018, Luke Nickel and Jennie Gottschalk, MonkeySparrow (online)
- January 2018, Alex Mah and James Saunders, Bath Spa TV Studio (recording)
- October 2017, Parkinson Saunders Duo, BBC Hear and Now at the Wellcome Collection (London, UK)