Lithomarga - Visiting the Wall

After choosing the egg-shaped amulet as my museum artefact, I knew I wanted to record my composition at Housesteads fort on Hadrian's Wall, the location at which it was discovered. I thought that being able to compose my piece at its historical home would inspire an authentic connection to the landscape.

A short train ride brought me to Bardon Mill where a five kilometre uphill hike awaited me. Failure to collect the H5 microphone I had booked from SACS meant bringing my own recording equipment - a microphone, stand, laptop, audio interface and numerous cables. Paired with my guitar, this made for a deceptively heavy cargo that needed to be hauled 200 metres up Northumberland's hills! 

During my hour's trek, I chose to listen to an album that I have always associated with a "Roman" sound - Argus by Wishbone Ash. Something about the guitar harmonies, dark chords and natural and ancient imagery in its lyrics evokes a sound I'd like to recreate in my own piece. As I was listening to the music, I began to notice the wind as I increased in elevation. Anticipating its interference with my recording, I spent some time looking for a suitable "crater" or sheltered nook within eyeshot of the fort that I could record in. Using my jumper as a makeshift wind-shield, I was able to manage the effect of the wind on my recording.

I spent two hours developing a harmonic backdrop for my composition, using descending and dissonant intervals, creating a main theme. There are sections of the piece where the harmony brightens while still remaining tense, which I used to instill a sense of hope into the progression. This shift of tone is intended to reflect the hope brought by the bringing of new life in a place of war, linking back to my amulet artefact. The piece begins with a "marching" sound which I have tried to replicate on my guitar by muting the strings and playing staccato. Again this is to instill the imagery of the region as a strategic military location where hope may have been hard to come by.

To be in the presence of such an important local ruin really helped me to channel the heritage of my chosen artefact. The harmony I ended up creating has great potential for the addition of more melodic, harmonic and percussive elements to form a richer arrangement. Using some other sounds I have recorded in nature, I can use some concepts of musique concrete as well. I plan to add a bass track, as this is my primary instrument and one which gives me much creative freedom. I also want to experiment with lead parts which harmonise with melodic elements of my guitar track.