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Stef Veldhuis, 2021 Music by Oceans 2017-2020
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Music by Oceans - Stef Veldhuis, 2021

Mar 19, 2023

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Page 1: Music by Oceans - Stef Veldhuis, 2021

Stef Veldhuis, 2021

Music by Oceans2017-2020

Page 2: Music by Oceans - Stef Veldhuis, 2021

MUSIC BY OCEANSIs there music in the behavior of our oceans and how does it sound? Does it have a magnificent quality or is it chaotic and alienating? Does the Atlantic Ocean sound different from the Indian Ocean? And how does music manifest itself when its creation depends on an external, natural influence?

Music By Oceans uses oceanographic data as a source from which new music is created. Collaborating with professors Erik van Sebille and Will de Ruyter of Utrecht University, artist/composer Stef Veldhuis created an array of new compositions based on data measured by Argo floats. The concept sprouted multiple different side projects listed in this overview.

Page 3: Music by Oceans - Stef Veldhuis, 2021

Throughout the world’s oceans, thousands of probes are constantly collecting data for use in weather forecasts and climate models. These Argo probes float a kilometer below the surface, and re-emerge every ten days to transmit the data they have collected via satellite.

“More than 90% of the excess heat absorbed by the Earth since the 1970’s is stored in the oceans owing to the high heat capacity of water compared to air, the ocean’s large volume, and its ability to transport heat from the surface to the deep ocean. This makes the ocean […] an ideal place to identify long-term warming trends in our climate system. With its high-quality sensors, global spatial and temporal coverage, and large depth range, Argo is well-suited to monitor year to year fluctuations and long term trends in ocean heat content.” (https://argo.ucsd.edu)

Oceanographer Erik van Sebille uses the Argo float data in his research. “At the moment, we mainly use illustrations and infographics to make sense of it. But is it possible to interpret the data using our other senses as well? Can we perhaps hear something that we cannot observe with our eyes?”

Page 4: Music by Oceans - Stef Veldhuis, 2021

Different methods were used to distill musical material from the ARGO data. The first experiments connected movement to pitch by placing a grid on top of the float’s trajectory. Each open square held one of the notes of the twelve-tone row (c-c#-d-d#-e-f-f#-g-g#-a-a#-b). Following the trajectory resulted in a melodic material that has been used in an unaltered way (composition 1901728), or accompanied by harmonic interventions, made by the composer (composition 6900741).

After these first two compositions, experimentation started with different methods of collaboration between human and ocean. Inviting the non-human other into the composition process proved to be a fruitful way to broaden the musical and artistic frame of mind.

It was important to break away from the limits of direct data-sonification in which the resulting music can sound robotic. The goal of the project was to use acoustic sounds to interpret the digitalized abstraction of oceanographic behavior. From the natural, to the digital and back again.

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Page 5: Music by Oceans - Stef Veldhuis, 2021

To do so, music was reduced to its most basic elements; pitch, harmony, rhythm, dynamics and tempo, and divided between the ocean and composer. This new method resulted in a more integrated partnership. One where nature would always be the leading factor.

Each division created a new method of translation. In the composition 5902339 for example (see the map on the right), the ocean is responsible for the pitch of the cello melody as well as the harmonic accompaniment, whilst the composer was in charge of the dynamic and rhythmical elements.

Music by Oceans has been presented as a performative lecture on multiple occasions, including the Music by Oceans symposium, Expeditie NEXT, the Volvo Ocean Summit, the World Harp Festival and at Tivoli Vredenburg.

Page 6: Music by Oceans - Stef Veldhuis, 2021

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Page 7: Music by Oceans - Stef Veldhuis, 2021

Performance at the Maassilo, Rotterdam

Page 8: Music by Oceans - Stef Veldhuis, 2021

MOVEMENT BY OCEANSAfter the Music by Oceans symposium premiered, Stef was invited on a two week residency aboard the Pelagia; a Dutch research vessel that sailed around the Dutch Caribbean as a part of the Netherlands Initiative Changing Oceans (NICO) expedition. For two weeks he accompanied the scientists along the Saba Bank whilst they researched the composition of the ocean floor sediment, the nutrient levels in the water, and deep sea coral reefs.After this residency, collaboration started with choreographer Julia Heider to form the Movement by Oceans performance in which dance and music are based on Argo data measured in the Arctic Ocean. The melody was written by the oceans movement, and structured in a strict set of seven measures with an ascending amount of notes in each measure. This structure is based on the 18th century assumption that waves come in series of seven, in which every new wave is bigger than the former, until the seventh and biggest one resets the cycle. An excerpt of this 9 minute composition can be found here.For the choreography, the dance notation system of Rudolf von Laban was used to connect ocean data to movement. The temperature dictated the intensity of movement whilst the float’s trajectory determined the position of the dancers in relation to one another.

Page 9: Music by Oceans - Stef Veldhuis, 2021

SOUND OF THE NORTH SEASound of the North Sea (SotNS) was commissioned in 2018 by Rijkswaterstaat (the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management), with research support by the NIOZ and Informatiehuis Marien. Because the North Sea is a relatively shallow body of water, with an average depth of 90 meters, no ARGO floats are deployed there. Instead, data was used regarding the temperature of the water, and the cod population; both key datasets in the monitoring of water quality. Using these different datasets prompted the use a diptych structure. Part one uses data on the cod population measured between 1963 and 2018. The second part uses data on the water temperature measured 10, 100, 135 and 175 kilometers off the coast of Terschelling. Techniques like circular bowing were used to capture the ephemeral quality of the water, whilst descending melodies were interwoven in different tempi to resemble the hypnotic pattern of waves and swell. Sound of the North Sea was composed for string quartet, piano and organ, and has been recorded at the Geertekerk in Utrecht.

Page 10: Music by Oceans - Stef Veldhuis, 2021

Over the last century, the abundance of cod in the North Sea appears to have changed considerably. Up until 1960, the stock size was probably relatively constant around 400kt, but in the subsequent decade the survival of young cod increased dramatically, resulting in increased stock size, a buildup of fishing effort and increased catches. Since then, the stock size has again declined and has recently reached a historic low (Daan et al., 1994).

The reasons for these changes are difficult to disentangle, since they probably include environmental effects such as changes in shelf-sea circulation, primary and secondary production, multispecies interactions as well as the impacts of changes in fishing pressure. Nevertheless, recent studies have demonstrated that since the start of systematic sequential population analyses (1963), interannual changes in the abundance of 1-year-old cod in the North Sea appear to be inversely related to sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the previous spring.

(Excerpt from “North Sea cod and climate change – modelling the effects of temperature on population dynamics” Global Change Biology, 2003)

Page 11: Music by Oceans - Stef Veldhuis, 2021

Still from the SOTNS live recording session

Page 12: Music by Oceans - Stef Veldhuis, 2021

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Page 13: Music by Oceans - Stef Veldhuis, 2021

The experience of music is highly dependent on the environment in which it is heard. What will happen when we listen to music in a non-human environment like water?

In collaboration with the Embassy of the North Sea, further research into the SotNS project resulted in the creation of an installation in which the music is played inside of an aquarium filled with North Sea water.

Experiencing the artwork requires submerging ones head, thus transforming the viewer from passive onlooker into an active performer. The ritualistic motion of kneeling before the basin, focussing on the breath, and bowing into the water, imbues the installation with spirituality. Because of factors like the length of the composition, stamina, light, and noise, the encounter in the aquarium is completely unique for every participant. The experience underwater is a tranquil one. Water, being an excellent conductor of sound, creates an auditive sensation in which the music seems to be omnipresent. The sound does not have a clear source or direction. You are inside of it.  

Page 14: Music by Oceans - Stef Veldhuis, 2021

The installation was created to facilitate a conversation on anthropogenic sound pollution in the North Sea. By experiencing the all-encompassing nature of sound underwater, the participants can comprehend the devastating effects of unwanted and deafening man made noise.

From whales beaching themselves to escape the constant barrage of underwater explosions, to dolphins suffering from decompression sickness as a result of their frantic efforts to escape military sonar, forms of sound pollution cause the deaths of hundreds of marine animals around the world. Seismic surveys, sonar and marine traffic are some of the most significant culprits.

The Sound of the North Sea installation has been shown during the Ambassade van de Noordzee manifestation at the beach in Scheveningen, as well as during the group exhibition “Swimming in the Anthropocene” at Het HEM. In 2021 the basin will be shown at the MAAT in Lisboa as a part of the AQUARIA exhibition.

Page 15: Music by Oceans - Stef Veldhuis, 2021

SotNS at Het HEM, NL

Page 16: Music by Oceans - Stef Veldhuis, 2021

Music by Oceans was created by:Erik van SebilleWill de RuyterStef Veldhuis

Musicians:Sarah Lynn HuizingCecilia van BerkumMiriam OlssenJuriaan KlapwijkTeresa JarveGied van OorschotSponsors and collaborators:Utrecht UniversityRijkswaterstaatNWO NIOZAmbassade van de Noordzee Satellietgroep Den HaagInformatiehuis Marien

Dancers Movement by Oceans:Merel FranxIsa HoornsmanNikki RasingFemke VerbetenElena Lachininoto

Recording engineer:Folkert Blom, Mass Audio

Film by:Hannah van Tassel

Additional research partners:Joost BackxHan LindeboomFleur den DuylSerge Rotteveel

Performances and lectures:SotNS installation - MAAT (PT), 2021Music by Oceans - World Harp Festival New York (USA), 2020 Music by Oceans (lecture only) - Yamaguchi University (JP), 2020Music by Oceans - De Lieve Vrouw, 2019Music by Oceans (lecture only) - Plastic Soep in de Eem, 2019SotNS installation - Het HEM, 2019SotNS installation - Ambassade van de Noordzee manifestatie, 2019Music by Oceans(lecture only) - Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2019Music by Oceans - Tivoli Vredenburg, 2019Music by Oceans - Noordzeedagen, 2019Music by Oceans - Expeditie NEXT, 2019SotNS - Geertekerk, 2019Music by Oceans - NIOZ Symposium, 2018Music by Oceans - Volvo Ocean Summit, 2018Movement by Oceans - Festival de Oversteek, 2018Music by Oceans - Boekmans Stichting, Singelkerk Amsterdam, 2017Music by Oceans - MbO Symposium, 2017

Copyright © by Stef Veldhuis, 2021

Contact:Stef [email protected]+31 6 402 18 499www.stefveldhuis.com