Dere kan allerede glede dere til høstsemesteret er i gang igjen – den 9. august inviterer vi til høstsemesterets første digitale lunsjforedrag med Zorana Đorđević fra Universitetet i Barcelona som i augustmåned skal fordype seg i lyd fra middelalderens kirkesteder i Norge.
Mapping the Sounds of Large Percussion Instruments in Medieval Europe: Preliminary Results of the CULT-AURAL Project
The CULT-AURAL project explores the sacred soundscapes of medieval Europe. The sounds of bells and other large percussion instruments, such as the matraca and semantron, were the heartbeats of monastic life, reverberating across the landscape and deeply connecting medieval people to their surroundings. Played at regular times of a day, these sounds marked daily routines, summoned congregations for prayer, and informed communities of important events. To understand their reach, it is crucial to map how their sound propagates across the landscape. This mapping is based on onsite measurements of background noise and recordings of the instruments. The collected data is then utilized in ArcGIS via the Sound Mapping Tools plugin to explore sound propagation for each frequency. In this talk, I will share insights from fieldwork in Catalonia and Serbia, and highlight the challenges encountered in sound mapping of large percussion instruments. As I prepare for fieldwork in Norway, I look forward to your feedback and suggestions.
Zorana Đorđević is a dynamic researcher with a unique blend of expertise in architecture, archaeoacoustics, and the history and philosophy of natural sciences and technology. She earned her MA in Architecture in 2008 and her PhD in 2016, both from the University of Belgrade, Serbia. Her research passion lies in uncovering the historical interplay between sound and sacred sites in medieval Europe, with a particular focus on the archaeoacoustic exploration of medieval churches and monastic landscapes. Currently, she is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) postdoctoral fellow at the University of Barcelona, Spain, where she leads the innovative project Aural Culture: Decoding the Sacred Soundscapes of Medieval Europe (CULT-AURAL). For a deeper dive into her work and publications, visit her profiles on ORCID and Research Gate.