Griffith Park hikers, listen up: ‘Ellen Reid Soundwalk’ is a GPS-enabled musical map

February 18, 2021

Presented by the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, Ellen Reid's "Soundwalk" is a free public art project that blends music, nature, and technology. Hikers in Griffith Park can download the app "Ellen Reid Soundwalk" and tune in to Reid's tailored compositions that change with the environment.

The “Ellen Reid Soundwalk” app has the geocoded musical accompaniment for walks in Griffith Park. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

"A dirt trail leading up to the Griffith Park Observatory is alive with sound this afternoon. There’s the steady crunch of sneakers on gravel, the whipping wind in the trees; there’s a toddler’s distant squealing mixed with intermittent trilling from sparrows.

Then there’s the orchestra.

Composer and sound artist Ellen Reid has scored this trail carefully, geocoding her original music to exact locations in the park, where visitors can access it on an app.

The soundtrack to this particular spot on the Fern Dell Trail is soothing and gentle, with viola and cello strings leading the way along a shady, forested patch. Farther up, on the East Observatory Trail, a jazzy drum solo kicks in, punctuating each switchback with a thump-ding-and-wire-brush swoosh, heightening anticipation around every corner.

As the trail gets steeper, the jazz riff gets faster and anxious-sounding. The whining trumpet and angry drums seem to animate the ragged-edged cliff, burned treetops and bustling cityscape below.

“The environment sets the tone for our listening,” Reid says on a recent test run of the app. As she reaches the observatory lawn at the top of the trailhead, the music suddenly opens up and a synth track kicks in. “I wanted the sound here to feel coated in something that was very smooth and white, like the architecture,” she says. “This just felt like Griffith Park to me.”"— Deborah Vankin, Feb. 18 2021

This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the Los Angeles Times website.

Stay engaged. Use #UCLAarts to stay connected.