Cultivating Sound: Experimental Music Conservatory

Abstract

This thesis examines the link between sound and perceptual space via the mechanism of the body, through an exploration of experimental music and the design of a conservatory expressly dedicated to its techniques. The use of poché space -- here defined as the space between major components of a specific program -- is critically considered, and ultimately turned on its head to provide the kind of spaces that support experimental music education and its processes. This new poché space is further linked to circulation, both of the students and faculty as well as the general public. Through the use of these circulation and experimental-space elements, combined in the poché, a new kind of porous field-object is inserted into the landscape of the city of Atlanta, specifically tuned in to its existing cultural spaces, that cultivates experimentation and participation to create entirely new forms of music.