Shift Change: Sound Art/Music

Several times a day, a siren once signalled waking hours, shifts and crib (lunch) breaks for mine workers. Locals recall it fondly but imperfectly. How and when it sounded – and what it meant – varies from person to person. Those contested recollections and new inventions sang out regularly through the valley over four days. A study in sonic memory, Shift Change reinvented and unfolded a long-absent call.

Final works performed on the last day of the festival:

Shift Change was commissioned by the Unconformity Festival in Queenstown, Tasmania, Australia. The festival celebrates local heritage through bold, contemporary artistic responses to the environment and community. This work, based on memories of a siren that had been dismantled decades ago, investigated the problem of nostalgia and the fallibility of memory. The project inevitably grew as local input offered more and more knowledge …

1: Recreating the Sound

Andrew Callaghan recreating siren sounds with Noel Crossley (Photo: Carl Ross).

Local residents were invited to recreate the long-absent sound, collaborating with Andrew to produce a synthesised version that they felt was a fair impression of their memories. Andrew also asked questions about when the siren sounded and what it meant.

2. Archive Recordings

During the process, locals offered Andrew video recordings that included the sounds of mine sirens firing. These recordings were cleaned of background sound, and the sirens were sampled and analysed.

Harmonic analysis of a Mt Lyell Company Siren, archived from video footage.

3. A siren recreation!

One local, Noel Crossley, recreated the original siren, building a new one based on the schematics of the original.

4. Composition

Setting off the replica siren at Mt Lyell - approx. 128dB

A program was conceived around the original schedule for the sirens. As the festival progressed, the sounds gradually evolved into new musical works that grew through three constraints:

  • All musical sounds must be derived ONLY from the recreated tones or archive recordings.

  • The works must respond to the local’s interpretation of the sounds, or the sounds themselves.

  • The pieces must not embrace nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake.

5: Installation

Old tannoy speakers mounted in the Main Street of Queenstow

The works were finally presented by playing through old tannoy speakers distributed throughout the streets.