Flood Tide by John Eacott

Flood Tide

This is awesome! The River Thames dictates musical notes to a band in the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. The vibraphone trills and tinkles, the flute sighs, the clarinet swooshes and the ‘cellos throb like an undercurrent. It is ambient music to sweep you away…

Jazz trumpeter and ‘Flood Tide’ composer John Eacott calls it a ‘sonification’ of the Thames. He explains that the tidal pull of the moon causes the tide to ebb and flow. So his sensors, placed in the river near Greenwich pier, detect the rising height of the water. And they track changes in its speed, temperature and direction of travel. All this data is beamed up to the laptops that sit on the music-stands instead of printed music. Each time a signal is received it corresponds to a set of notes on one of the instruments, so as the cursor washes over the dots on the stave it keeps the rhythm of the water flowing over that particular sensor and that is what we hear coming out of the instruments. Nature and music, science and art come together and the Royal Observatory is hosting the experimental concerts as part of the anniversary celebrations for forty years since man walked on the moon.

To be honest, it doesn’t always sound like water. It’s more like the sensation of being rocked in a boat – sometimes a cradle, sometimes a rollercoaster log-flume. The sound is ever-changing, and also soothingly similar from one hour to the next. John Eacott suggests that people listen for a while then go away and come back to hear how the turning tide has made subtle changes in the sound.

The tide of tourists ebbs and flows, some stopping to listen, others baffled and hurrying back to more familiar sights and sounds. They are missing a unique experience which affects me deeply. I can’t wait for the next performance, on September 12th as part of the Thames Festival. That will be even more impressive, with forty musicians rather than six and a sense of the river’s mighty power.

It’s at the Cottons Centre near HMS Belfast on the south bank of the Thames near London Bridge from 1400 with more details here.