Man High is a celebrated work for film and live music created by composers Stephen Deazley and Martin Parker along with video artist Andy McGregor. It tells of test pilot Joseph Kittinger’s heroic leap from the edge of space in 1960, and his 14-minute fall to earth. Still the record holder for the longest ever freefall, not even beaten by Felix Baumgartner in 2012, Kittinger’s pioneering jump has become part of the 20th century folklore of man’s adventures into space.
Man High Film Score
In October 2013, Love Music and sound festival recruited young and emerging composers, sound designers and musicians to work with the artists and musicians who created Man High.
This creative course gave young composers and sound designers the opportunity to be mentored and challenged by professional musicians, composers and sound designers, allowing them to work together to create their own film scores, set to original US Air Force images of Kittinger’s fall to earth.
The pieces created were performed at sound festival alongside Man High on Saturday 2 November 2013 at The Lemon Tree in Aberdeen.
Man High Mixer
Inspired by each component of the music and film piece Man High, sound designer & digital artist Yann Seznec has developed an original software tool that allows people to create their own digital music score, set to a selection of pre-edited video extracts from the Man High projections. The software was designed to provide first time users with a simple yet powerful audio and video processor, allowing them to learn and discover new skills through play. Users could save their performances and share them with others.
The Mixer was trialled by young people at Glasgow City Halls on the 24th September 2011 as part of Glasgow Music’s Family Music Fun Day.
The Man High Mixer project is a Love Music – Glasgow Concert Halls collaboration and was made possible by a Creative Scotland Youth Music Initiative grant.