Library Composition
I Am Sitting in a Room
Alvin Lucier's 1969 piece for voice and tape, recording and re-recording spoken text until only the room's own resonant frequencies remain.
Composed at Brandeis University in 1969 and first performed in 1970 at the Guggenheim Museum, I Am Sitting in a Room has Lucier record himself reading a short text describing the piece’s own process, then play that recording back into the room while re-recording it — repeating the cycle dozens of times. With each generation the room’s particular resonant frequencies reinforce themselves while others fall away, gradually dissolving Lucier’s spoken words (and his own stutter, which partly motivated the piece) into the room’s characteristic tone.