I’ll be right on chime for clock
A unique project is recording a thousand voices to create what will become the new Curzon Street Station clock in 2026. Kirsty Bosley warmed up her vocal chords for a timeless performance
WALKING to the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, I passed Curzon Street Station, its handsome face a little dirty and worn-looking after weathering the east side of town since 1838.
But the huge edifice, the world’s oldest surviving example of this period of railway architecture, will have its day in the sun again when the brand new HS2 station opens next to it in 2026.
And I almost burst with pride to think that I was about to contribute to the sound of the singing Station Clock that will sit right by the historic landmark.
That’s why I was going to the Conservatoire in the first place.
This week, Brummies have been invited to go and sing a note that will eventually be played through speakers on a £2m art installation clock.
When the station opens, everyone who arrives or leaves the city via this station on the hour will hear Brummies marking the time, a collaboration of 1,092 individual voices.
Forget Big Ben’s ding dongs – our clock is going to be alive.
The clock will be a sound sculpture, designed by Turner Prize-winning artist Susan Philipsz.
Made up of 12 speakers placed in a circle, it’s an aural clock that will play 12 tones sang by locals from the chromatic musical scale.
It will sound on the hour, every hour, seven days a week.
Philipsz’s design won the Birmingham Big Art Project competition in 2017, a contest created by the Birmingham Big Art Foundation charity to find an internationally significant landmark public artwork for our city.
I couldn’t resist when I had the opportunity to take part, so I went to the Conservatoire to sing my note.
Meeting with composer and producer Andy Ingamells, I headed into a recording studio. I blasted out a bit of Bruce Springsteen to warm up, before Andy asked me to ring out an F, playing it on a keyboard for me to follow suit.
I tried it and sounded a little wobbly. Andy didn’t seem to be interested in perfection, which might have been my favourite thing about the experience.
It was our authentic voices that he seemed to want. Just right for the job, just as they are.
He asked that I belt out a big,
hearty F for my daytime note, and a more gentle F for early morning. The F, he said, would be played at 5am or 5pm, once a week, my voice playing out with four other Brummies.
One solo C sharp will sound at 1am on a Monday, followed by two different voices at 2am, three at 3am and so on, until there’s a loud chorus of 12 voices come midday.
Andy has been recording individuals, community groups and schools as part of the project.
He played me two examples: a heavy metal vocalist and a very sweet-sounding baby, their voices now committed to the clock.
Companies can take a slot too, but they have to pay £1,000, with that money going into the construction of the selffunded civic artwork.
I’m not sure what my life will look like in 2026 when the station opens, but I love the idea of heading to the HS2 station at 5 o’clock to hear 2022 me singing a slightly wobbly F alongside other people that adore this city. I may not be on the train, but I feel like I have arrived!
I love the idea of heading to the HS2 station at 5 o’clock to hear 2022 me singing a slightly wobbly F