Speeches are one of the most important tools for gaining and maintaining political power. They generate attention and emotion and can mobilize and influence huge gatherings of people. A key role is played by the style employed by speakers. Their timing, emphasis, tone, use of pauses, and rising and falling intonation are all part of unique rhetorical compositions.
The parallels with music and similar mechanisms which affect people are fascinating, and so I examine and analyse political speeches in terms of their composition. I’m interested in the translation of speech into music and the resulting process of abstraction, in which the framework is liberated from the content and becomes audible. Using a special computer program, I therefore convert politicians’ speeches into sheet music which musicians can play on their instruments.

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Kunst Haus Vienna