FLOODTIDE - Music from the Tide brings the sounds of Walney Channel to the masses.

Staged on Saturday, July 19 (2pm), a submerged sensor in the Walney Channel at Barrow’s Dock Museum will gather information from tidal flow that is converted into musical notation and read from screens or mobile phones by musicians.

The resulting sounds will be transformed into music live at the Dock Museum.

With software written by composer and trumpeter John Eacott, Music from the Tide has been put together by Octopus Collective, a sound art and new music organisation based in Barrow.

Besides algorithmic work Floodtide, John recently composed the score for the critically acclaimed Fortune’s Fool at the Old Vic (2013/14), and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Taming of the Shrew. In the 1980s he worked with industrial noise makers Test Dept, and with jazz band Loose Tubes who reformed for a week’s residency at Ronnie Scott’s this May.

Floodtide is looking for acoustic musicians and singers to take part in the performance and composer John will give a talk on Floodtide as part of Octopus Collective's Machine Music weekend.

For further information visit www.octopuscollective.org/events/floodtide.

John's Floodtide piece has been performed at venues, including Royal Observatory Greenwich, Thames Festival, Southbank Centre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Ensembles have included classical musicians, taiko drummers, and members of groups such as Tomorrow’s Warriors and Voice Lab. No performance of Floodtide is the same, with the music being constantly affected by environmental factors such as wind, air pressure, rain, and even passing boats.

John explained that as a composer and yachtsman he creates music from tidal flow in order to listen to the predictable but infinitely variable musical shapes that emerge.

He added: “I am delighted to have the opportunity to sonify the local tide of Barrow-in-Furness with local musicians as part of Octopus Collective’s Machine Music programme.”