Chorale Corral: A Living Sound Library

Chorale Corral is a living sound library of found objects from the streets of Detroit in conjunction with a Dewey Decimal System style catalogue of sound-making possibilities for the content of the library. This collaboration between Alexa Dexa & Kevin McCoy provides a space for the public to approach routine items outside of their customary context by fostering the re-imagination and repurposing of abandoned objects as musical instruments. The library was born out of a vested interest in restoring value to items otherwise relegated to the trash while breaching conventional boundaries of traditional music-makers as informed by John Cage’s ground-breaking work with found percussion. Classified as a “Living Sound Library”, Chorale Corral allows each participant to become a momentary medium through which sounds are temporarily captured and released during a free and open sonic exploration.

Accompanying the living sound library are a number of interactive sound sculptures designed and crafted by Dexa & McCoy out of their collection of reclaimed Detroit objects. Among the sculptures are a shaker tree, canvas drums, a picture frame harp, a plastic “just married” toy car rolling along with comically large cans and ribbons, and a more difficult to describe amalgam of typical house-hold items arranged playfully for optimal sounding capabilities.

Debuted at the 2014 Sidewalk Festival of Performing Arts in Detroit, Chorale Corral is an active sound installation with a permanent home in Detroit and temporary showings at festivals and events where we invite you to check found items out of our sound library and to use the sound catalogue to discover sounding ideas for your object. We welcome you to open your ears to the experimentation of the frequency, resonance, and timbre of any given object and to catalogue your own personal sonic explorations in our sound catalogue.