“I think your voice would suit an F sharp. So that will be six o’clock,” said composer Andy Ingamells as he listened to my feeble attempts to sing Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5, my go-to karaoke song.
He is in the process of recording the voices of 1,092 ordinary people from across Birmingham and Solihull so they can be immortalised in the chimes of a singing station clock, which will be placed in the centre of the HS2 railway station being built in the city.
The large-scale aural clock, designed by Turner prize winner Susan Philipsz, will sound every hour and each chime will be represented by a musical note, starting at 12 o’clock with C sharp.
Birmingham Big Art Project, which is gathering the voices, says no singing experience is required and it has recorded volunteers aged from three to 93.
“So many of the people who have come in said they can’t sing,” said Ingamells.
“But everyone can make a sound with their voice. We’re going to have a real mix of different colours and timbres, and I think that is what makes this project different – we haven’t just used trained singers where the voices would blend more easily.
“We don’t want the voices to be anonymous. These are real people and these are their real voices, so it’s important that comes across.”
Gavin Wade, director of Eastside Projects, which is the commissioning agent for the project, said the team tried hard to avoid a conveyor belt of recording sessions.
“We wanted to get people from all the wards across the city, all walks of life, all ethnicities – bring everyone together through this – but to do it with depth and sincerity, and to connect to people genuinely,” he said. “And people have been fascinated by it.”
The recording process, in a booth at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, was simple. After I demonstrated my (limited) vocal capacity with my chosen song, Ingamells guided me in sounding out long F sharp notes – some sung softly, some loudly.
These will then be combined with many other F sharp notes to make up the sixth chime as part of an aural composition that builds to a vibrant chorus every day at noon.
“We’ve already filled our quota of Cs and Bs, so we’re trying to challenge people to try other notes,” he said.
In the recording studio, Ingamells played a sample chime taken from previous recordings. It starts with the piercing note of a heavy metal singer and ends with the soft sounds of a child’s voice.
Recording for the clock started in 2019 but was hampered by the pandemic, which led to strict restrictions on singing.
By the time it is installed in the newly built Curzon Street station, which is anticipated to be in 2028, the clock will have become a time capsule for those who took part.
“We’ve recorded some elderly people who are no longer with us, and young children who will have become teenagers and sound completely different,” said Ingamells.
Some of his fondest memories of the project so far include the teenage boys who came in and rapped their own lyrics to warm up their vocal cords and the little girl who was at first too shy to sing, and whose voice they captured from the final note of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
“For a lot of people, it’s been their first time in a recording studio. It’s been really nice to see people come in and see that the records they listen to every day, the music on the radio, this is how it’s made,” he said.
The finished result will be a large sonic sculpture, the biggest piece of public art in Birmingham, with speakers for each note spread out in a large circle representing the clock and possibly a plaque showing the names of each singer.
“We wanted to create something new and unique in the world,” said Wade.
“Something that only Birmingham has that tells the story of the city and creates a brand-new experience that people will come to visit.”
