Explore Cornwall’s Capital City Truro in a musical journey of your own making
Geography is a groundbreaking new project designed to explore music and location in a uniquely symbiotic way. With nods to past, present and future it is led by the music, by the pathways and topography, enabling listeners to explore Truro with fresh ears and eyes. Using their mobiles and headphones, listeners can decide and improvise journeys through a cityscape led by location-specific music. They can choose how the music unfolds as they wander through the streets of Truro.
The app, which is produced in association with Hall for Cornwall and supported by Arts Council England and The National Heritage Lottery Fund, sees music from renowned composer Graham Fitkin bring city exploration to life in a very different way – for locals and tourists alike!
Different tracks have been composed for different ‘pathways’ – be that roads, footpaths or pavements – through the cityscape. Depending on the decisions taken by each individual listener as they make their journey, these musical sections combine to create a linked composition with seamless synchronisation. Or they can experience the music remotely by taking their virtual human for a walk around the Truro map.
“I wanted people to explore and engage with their city environment not just with their eyes but with their ears too, led by what they hear as well as what they see and perhaps gain new perspectives on the place. It is designed so that wherever you go and regardless of the time you take on your journey, a homogenous audio work is created and each listener creates their own soundscape ‘mix’ unique to their journey.” Graham Fitkin, composer.
Julien Boast, chief executive and creative director of Hall For Cornwall, said: “We aspire to be at the cutting edge of creating new work, both in and out of the theatre, and are committed to supporting artists of all disciplines. So when the opportunity to combine working with Graham Fitkin and new app technology as part of our History and Heritage programme fused, it seemed to be a perfect blend.”
Alongside the ability to experience the music across hundreds of streets in infinite numbers of ways, you can also record your journey and listen again remotely and even share your compositions with friends across text, email and social media. Audio description is also available on city centre streets to assist the visually impaired.