Music from the Metaverse: 3D Illusory Immersive Soundscape “The Spirit of the Giant Tree”
Program Note
Can a tree feel? What kind of consciousness does a tree have?
One day I saw a giant tree, with its rough bark and trunk and I wondered about its existence. I decided to explore possible answers by composing a piece of music about such a tree.
This musical work depicts the growth of a giant tree, starting from a seedling, growing a rough, barky trunk, and all its life experiences of blooming, decay, and finally rebirth. No matter the environment, this tree puts all its energy into growing and stretching. The music is composed in an ambisonic system, surrounding the audience with the notion of a tree and its journey. It then plays in the first person conveying to the listener what the giant tree feels.
In the middle of composing this work, I suddenly realized that the giant tree was more of an extension of Earth’s consciousness, with an even longer life. When I closed my eyes and felt the music, I felt a primitive throbbing of the forests and could sense the ancient spirit of Earth and its power to recover and persevere, even though humans have brought her such harm.
In this drastically changed 21st century, with new technologies and COVID-19, people are excited about the future, but cannot eclipse the feeling of eschatology. Meditating on this, I realized that the vitality of the earth will always be incredibly powerful and outlast humanity and other species. She gives life, which will always come and go, with eternal love.
This work has been selected by international conferences including ICMC 2022 (Ireland), IRCAM Forum (New York, USA) 2022, SICMF2022 (Korea), and Atemporánea 2022 (Argentina).
There are two listening format of this work:
1. binaural, (Please use headphone to enjoy)
https://soundcloud.com/yi-chenglin/the-spirit-of-the-giant-tree
2. immersive stereo (Please use stereo speakers to enjoy)
https://soundcloud.com/yi-chenglin/the-spirit-of-the-giant-tree-for-speakers-immersive-stereo