Taking measure of the sound and vibe of this place

SEAMUS ’25 brings five days of concerts to Purdue, The Spot and TAF in an academic conference dedicated to technology, engineering and soundscapes … and attention for a new Department of Music

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SEAMUS: TAKING MEASURE OF THE SOUND AND VIBE OF THIS PLACE

How do you measure and capture the vibe of a place?

A conference featuring soundscape research and performances along experimental edges will explore that question during five days of concerts and workshops in Purdue’s halls and at a pair of Lafayette venues.

The SEAMUS National Conference, opening Friday and running through Tuesday, also will serve as a way to introduce Purdue’s Department of Music, created in 2022, to a broader academic and community audience, Tae Hong Park, chair of both the department and the conference, said.

“People have come every year for years from all over the world to present and to perform and to experience at SEAMUS,” Park said. “This is all about sound and technology, engineering and innovation. What better way to showcase all the things we’re doing and creating at Purdue with the Department of Music?”

The conference is an annual affair of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States, a nonprofit organization of composers, performers and teachers. This year, work blending traditional and custom-made instruments with live-processed electronics and AI will center on a theme of “Spaces, Places, Traces” to, as conference materials put it, “explore how sound reveals the essence of environments and bridges physical and virtual realms.”

April 33 — Lucia and Maria Ahn and Tae Hong Park — perform ‘Gamyeon III’ during a recent performance in Milan. (Photo via Tae Hong Park)

Here are excerpts of a conversation with Park ahead of a conference that will include performances at The Spot Tavern and The Arts Federation in the coming days.