Smile: you’re in a “sound portrait”

The Quiet Treehouse

I took a day out to the Hampton Court Flower Show recently and stumbled across a group called Epiphany up in a “Quiet” Treehouse. The installation was exploring the availability of high-performance, low-noise technology including domestic appliances such as quiet kettles, fans and hair dryers. Part of the exhibit featured the band playing improvised music on “silent” instruments which we listened to via headphones (the type also used in the increasingly popular silent disco!).

Epiphany Sound Portraits

Epiphany are fond of a quote by Brian Beck which they were clearly working out in the “Sound Portraits” they were creating for audience members:

“Music has properties to heal, to cure, to dispose the spirit, to uplift, to liberate, to give a sense of being transported to another dimension in a different world.”

They created an entirely improvised sound portrait for me and what struck me was what a wonderful opportunity for a musician to have, ministering to those who climbed the steps of the treehouse (the lady enjoying the sound portrait before me was recovering from chemotherapy and was clearly very moved by the experience). Here’s the Sound Portrait they created for me – beautiful, improvised playing:

Sound portrait from Epiphany

You can read more about Epiphany and see more pictures of the treehouse on their Facebook Page or website.