Hildegard Westerkamp facts for kids

Hildegard Westerkamp (born April 8, 1946, in Osnabrück, Germany) is a Canadian composer, radio artist, teacher, and sound ecologist. She is famous for her work in a field called acoustic ecology. This field studies how sounds affect our environment and us. She also helped create "soundscape composition" and "soundwalks."

Hildegard was a big part of the World Soundscape Project in the 1970s and 1980s. She has written many articles about her ideas for different magazines and meetings.

Westerkamp first studied music, like flute and piano, in Germany from 1966 to 1968. Then, she moved to Canada to study at the University of British Columbia. She earned her music degree in 1972. While she was a student, she met Barry Truax and R. Murray Schafer.

In 1973, she started working with Schafer on the World Soundscape Project at Simon Fraser University (SFU). Later, she went back to SFU as a student. She earned a Master of Arts degree in 1988. Her main project was about "Listening and Soundmaking: A Study of Music-As-Environment." She also taught about sound and communication at Simon Fraser until 1990. In 2024, SFU gave her a special award, an honorary doctorate. This was to celebrate her important work in acoustic ecology and music.

Hildegard became a Canadian citizen in 1975. In 1972, she married Norbert Ruebsaat, a Canadian writer. They worked together on some projects. Later, she had a long-term relationship with Peter Grant. Her 1997 music piece, Talking Rain, is dedicated to him. Peter Grant passed away in 2014.

Exploring Sound and Music

Creating Music with Sounds

Many of Westerkamp's music pieces are about the sounds around us. This way of making music is called soundscape composition. It means using sounds from the real world to create a musical piece.

As part of her work with the World Soundscape Project, she listened to and organized many recorded sounds. Since then, most of her work has been about layering and changing these recorded sounds.

She also made the idea of soundwalking very popular. A soundwalk is when you go for a walk, and your main goal is to really listen to all the sounds in the environment around you. Her piece Kits Beach Soundwalk was inspired by this idea.

Working with Others

Hildegard also worked with film director Gus Van Sant. They both explored similar ideas in their work. One writer, Randolph Jordan, said that her music helps show how young people in Van Sant's movies might feel a bit separate from the world. But they might also be showing new ways to be aware of their surroundings.

Early Work: 1973–1991

From 1973 to 1980, Westerkamp was a researcher with R. Murray Schafer at the World Soundscape Project at Simon Fraser University. Her work helped Schafer write his book The Tuning of the World. In 1974, she also started working at CFRO (Vancouver Cooperative Radio) as a producer and host.

Through her work with Schafer and radio, she became very interested in noise and the sounds of our environment. This greatly shaped how she made music. After this time, she started to try recording, changing, and mixing sounds from the environment in a studio.

Westerkamp was also part of other research projects about noise, acoustic ecology, and music. From 1974 to 1975, she researched noise reduction for the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation in Vancouver.

In the 1980s, she became interested in making music for live shows. She also created "composed environments" and sound installations for specific places. Sometimes she worked with others on these projects. In 1982, she researched women in music at Simon Fraser University. She also helped start the World Forum on Acoustic Ecology (WFAE).

Later Work: Since 1991

After 1991, Westerkamp spent more time composing, giving talks, and writing. She shared her music and ideas at concerts and conferences. She was the editor of The Soundscape Newsletter from 1991 to 1995. In 2000, she joined the team that edits Soundscape: The Journal of Acoustic Ecology for the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology.

She has also created music for radio plays and movies. Her music has been in films by Gus Van Sant, like Elephant (2003) and Last Days (2005). She worked with Jesse Zubot on the electronic music for Koneline (2016).

Some of Westerkamp's works are connected to feminism. In 1990, she created "École Polytechnique." This piece was a response to a very sad event in 1989 in Montreal, Quebec, where many women were killed.

Recordings and Works

Discography

Here are some recordings that feature Westerkamp's music, listed by year:

• (1989) Kits Beach Soundwalk
• (1990) Anthology of Canadian Music: Electroacoustic music
• (1990) The Aerial 2
• (1990) Électro clips (empreintes DIGITALes, IMED 9004, rereleased 1996 as IMED 9604)
• (1994) Radio Rethink - art and sound transmission
• (1995) Der Verlust der Stille
• (1995) Klang Wege
• (1995) Transmissions From Broadcast Artists, Radius #4
• (1996) The Vancouver Soundscape
• (1996) Transformations (empreintes DIGITALes, IMED 9631)
• (1997) 1977-1997, 20 Jahre Osnabrücker Komponisten
• (1998) Harangue I (Earsay, ES 98001)
• (1998) Harangue II (Earsay, ES 98005)
• (1999) The Dreams of Gaia
• (1999) This Place is Dreaming (Kraak, K047)
• (2000) Radiant Dissonance
• (2002) Into India (Earsay, ES 02002)
• (2003) Musique inpirée et tirée du film Elephant
• (2003) S:on
• (2022) Breaking News (Earsay, ES 22001)
• (2023) Klavierklang (Earsay, ES 23003)

List of Compositions

• Whisper Study (1975–79)
• Familie mit Pfiff (Theme and Variations) (1976)
• Fantasie for Horns I (1978)
• Fantasie for Horns II (1979)
• A Walk Through the City (1981)
• Cool Drool (1983)
• His Master's Voice (1985)
• Harbour Symphony (1986)
• Cricket Voice (1987)
• Moments of Laughter (1988)
• Kits Beach Soundwalk (1989)
• The Deep Blue Sea (1989)
• Breathing Room (1990)
• École polytechnique (1990)
• Beneath the Forest Floor (1992)
• India Sound Journal (1993)
• Sensitive Chaos (1995)
• Dhvani (1996)
• Talking Rain (1997)
• Gently Penetrating Beneath the Sounding Surfaces of Another Place (1997)
• Into the Labyrinth (2000)
• Attending to Sacred Matters (2002)
• Like a Memory (2002)
• Breaking News (2002)
• Liebes-Lied/Love Song (2005)
• Für Dich-For You (2005)
• MotherVoiceTalk (2008)
• Once Upon a Time (2012)
• Beads of Time Sounding (2016)
• Klavierklang (2017)
• The Soundscape Speaks - Soundwalking Revisited (2021)
• The Soundscape Speaks - A Remix (2022)

Composed Environments and Sound Installations

• Cordillera (Music from the New Wilderness Festival, Western Front Gallery, Vancouver, Feb 1980)
• Zone of Silence Story, with Norbert Ruebsaat (Zone of Silence Project, Museum of Quebec, Quebec City, Dec 1985–Jan 1986
• Coon Bay (1988)
• Türen der Wahrnehmung (Ars Electronica '89, Linz, Austria, Sept 1989)
• Nada – An Experience in Sound, in collaboration with Savinder Anand, Mona Madan, and Veena Sharma (Mati Ghar, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts Janpath, New Delhi, India, 10–25 Dec, 1998)
• At the Edge of Wilderness, in collaboration with photographer Florence Debeugny (Industrial Ear, Vancouver, Sept 8-16, 2000; Whyte Museum, Banff, 11 Oct, 2002 – 19 Jan, 2003; Victoria College of the Arts, Melbourne, 19–27 March 2003)
• Soniferous Garden, rev. of Part 4 of Nada (Engine 27, New York, 7–15 Nov, 2000; Sound Practice [first UKISC Conference on Sound Culture and Environments], Dartington College of Arts, UK, Feb 2001; CCNOA, Brussels, 2–9 Feb, 2003; x-tract Sculpture Musicale, Podewil, Berlin, 1–12 Apr, 2003)

See also

• Music of Canada
• List of Canadian composers