Get Involved: VCAMbient
Details
The Hurford Center and VCAM invite proposals for VCAMbient, a weekly curated series in which music–played live or via recordings by members of the Bi-Co community–will play at low volume Wednesdays at noon this spring in VCAM.
In 1978, musician and composer Brian Eno released Ambient 1: Music for Airports. Eno conceived the term “ambient music” to refer to compositions that add tint to, rather than overpower, a sonic environment. Since then, ambient as an approach has been applied to a variety of music: techno, New Age, even pedal steel guitar instrumentals.
In his foundational essay on the genre, Eno writes: “whereas [the intention of muzak and ‘background music’] is to `brighten’ the environment by adding stimulus to it (thus supposedly alleviating the tedium of routine tasks and level-ing out the natural ups and downs of the body rhythms) Ambient Music is intended to induce calm and a space to think.”
How it Works
Now in its third year, VCAMbient is an opportunity for students, staff, and faculty to fill the cavernous space of VCAM with their favorite sounds–at a volume that permits the ongoing business of teaching, learning, and working in the building. Make a playlist, or better yet, bring an instrument, start playing/streaming, and see what happens. Previous sessions have focused on femininity and introspection in Rap, the music of Ryuichi Sakamoto, R&B from the 70s to the present, and sci-fi film soundtracks, among many other genres, and generated contemplation and conversation in the VCAM Lounge.
This is a call for submissions for VCAMbient. You can propose to play someone else’s music, or (even better) your own. You can play live or play a recording–as long as the volume level is kept low.
Contact Gus Stadler at gstadler [at] haverford.edu or James Weissinger at jweissin [at] haverford.edu with your proposal for a VCAMbient session.