PIerre Boulez, in his studio in IRCAM, the International Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics and Music. IRCAM is one of the world's largest public research centers dedicated to musical expression and scientific research.
IRCAM: Above: IRCAM's International Conference on Mathematics and Computation in Music, 2011. Pierre Boulez, and Alain Connes, with Gerard Assayaz overviewing the discussion. The relationship between mathematics, music, sound, architecture, and urban space were part of the Sound Urbanism / Sound Ecology course at the University of Cincinnati, Spring 2013.
The seminar looked at the writings on sound by Blesser and Salter. Above: Spelunkers, or people who explore caves, use aural signals to read the spaces that they investigate.
From Blesser and Salter: In the contemporary world, our sense of space as related to and read by sound, is disrupted by headphones.
Above: Professional musicians and acousticians us the 'hand clap' as a rough test for room acoustics.
Below: Cathedrals are fabulous spaces for experiencing sound, as the hard surfaces, with high ceilings, combine to create enormous reverberation times, and create overtones, also referred to as 'echoes'. It has been stated that in some cathedrals, there is so much reverb, that sounds can continue for ten minutes after an orchestra or choir have stopped performing.
