About Grace McEllroy

One past project was a subtle, but compelling retelling of a traditional Christmas poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore. Horror elements were incorporated to warp the innocence of the original poem; the narrator begins with the well-known lines “’twas the night before Christmas…” as he relishes in the purity of the winter and quiet night, until Santa comes down the chimney, and he becomes inexplicably frightened. Santa is a ‘nightmare of an elf,’ and the narrator does not want this holiday’s gift.

This horror Christmas project is a multi-layered auditory storytelling, with small changes to the words of the poem, and blends music and sound to create a soundscape, both at once straightforward and gripping. The aim of this poem was to challenge the listener’s prejudice for a joyous poem.

Completed during her undergraduate degree, the project “Kawaakari,” is a fascinating example of data-sonification and demonstrates the artist’s grasp of programming; McEllroy collected public data about ships around the U.S. coast, including their speed, location, direction, etc. This data was then inserted into MAX, where a program sorted the data by ranges to convert those numbers into MIDI. These MIDI numbers then triggered specific chords to play, which were recorded and mixed to create a work entirely distinguishable from the original data. McEllroy masterfully incorporated natural sounds found near the water (waves, foghorn, thunder, etc.) to pay an homage to the original source of the music, while the instrumentation itself consists mainly of strings, choir, and harp. The entire piece last seven minutes, and has three sections created from separate lists of data.
 

Her most recent work is, “Detectives Drake and Darcy and the Noisy Clues,” featuring a ‘soundhunt’ that can be interpreted from multiple perspectives; the soundscape evolves over time to reveal the true source of the sound, allowing listeners to reconsider and dispute what sounds they associate with specific sources. Through deprivation of other senses, sound becomes a mysterious entity, compelling listeners to choose a familiar source. When McEllroy forces a different perspective upon listeners, the loss of control ensures deeper listening to reorient themselves in the changing soundscape.