Workplace Diary

Davies, Maxwell

Abstract

Workplace Diary translates actions of people and indigenous sounds of an office-like place of work into music. It is autobiographical, and seeks to make something of the 'ordinary' that we always take for granted.

Physical actions represented are languid walking, climbing stairs, opening and closing doors and turning things on, as well as the more prescriptive tasks of a specific job: sorting out piles of paper, stapling and hole punching, scanning documents, and typing, for example. Some of the indigenous sounds imitated are: a computer starting up, a kettle boiling, and the phone ringing.

The characters portrayed, through use of leitmotifs, include someone who blows up at the slightest provocation, such as the phone ringing, only for a calm façade to reappear when the requirement to be professional returns; an incessantly unhappy person who mostly groans, an excessively happy and excitable person, a person who struggles with complex tasks and conversations, and a person who’s speech is constantly interjected with the phrase “this, that and the other.”

Spatial layout of the place is also considered. Written from the perspective of someone in a fixed position for much of the day, sounds are in a constant state of flux. Ways in which their quality changes are: as doors open and close, as people move closer or further away, as people change from normal conversation to gossipy whispering, to name but a few. An example of how this is articulated in music is by employing techniques such as sul ponticello to create a muffled sound, as if it were happening in a different room.

• Other Type: Composition
• Publication Date: Jan 7, 2011
• Deposit Date: Nov 8, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 9, 2022
• Keywords: Composition, Music performance, String Quintet
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10129417