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Today we went on an excursion to the Grainger Museum. It was a collection of bits and pieces that depicted the life of composer Jeremy Grainger. It was much like an extended version of a memory box or time capsule. There were small trinkets that belonged to Grainger, the contents of his mothers handbag when she committed suicide and hand crafted instruments made by Grainger. I found the museum quite narcissistic, it was crossing the line between wanting to preserve your life and all things personal to you in order to leave a lasting legacy and wanting to immortalise yourself publicly to achieve fame and recognition. Some of the objects in the exhibition reflected ideas I have been contemplating for my piece about ‘non site’. The creator of the gallery explained that Grainger has an obsession with composing musical pieces that consisted of solid, fluid notes with no beat to them. We also saw his collection of musical glasses which is a sound that I would consider including in my final piece. I think having that constant, echoed sound creates a clear space for audiences to contemplate the visuals they are viewing. It is also appropriate when looking at ‘non site’ and places of ‘in between’ because they are places of stillness and isolation and having a solid stream of sound would help communicate this emptiness.

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