Acoustics

Quarries and ravines, repurposed industrial facilities and world-class auditoriums: music occupies an incredibly diverse range of spaces in Finland. How are these needs shifting with technological and social changes?

"I am currently exploring ways of ensuring the audibility of a specific instrument in orchestral texture before rehearsals even begin." This column is part of the series "On my music and beyond", where composers and other music makers write about their music.

In recent years, concert hall research has been raised to a new level with a method developed at Aalto University in Finland. This enables the authentic auditing of concert hall acoustics in a laboratory.

"Studying the acoustic responses measured has also allowed conclusions to be made about what kind of sound field leads to a specific kind of observation by listeners. This translates into a better understanding of what kind of architecture supports music best and, above all, conveys the orchestra’s performance of the music to the audience in the best possible way."