Homework #2: SLOrkaeology

("SLOrk Archaeology")

Ar·chae·ol·o·gy • the study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts.

Choose and excavate any piece SLOrk has ever performed. Present (to your best interpretation) the main idea(s) of the piece, the technology involved, your critique of the aesthetics, the reason(s) you chose this piece for analysis, and any elements (sonic, theatrical, formal, technological...) that seem useful/interesting to you as tools to craft your own work.

Deliverable: SLOrkaeology Writing

Create a document/report/review of your findings.

“svn commit” the document in the SVN repo, alongside the files for the piece.
Create a new folder (if necessary) called “slorkaeology” inside the folder for the piece
Inside the “slorkaeology” folder, create another folder with the YEAR-YOURNAME (e.g., 2026-nick)
For example, if Nick is analyzing Perry Cook’s “Take it for Granite”, Nick would commit his written findings in SVN under the following directory: slork/users/prc/granite/slorkaeology/2026-nick/
Please cite your sources (including papers, youtube videos, webpages; primary sources: code, program notes, any artifacts by the original creator(s) of the piece)

Deliverable: SLOrkaeology Video

record a video: ~5-minute presentation of the above.

Feel free to “quote” videos and sounds you have found on the historical slork piece, and/or include your own experience in trying to run the piece.
Tell us something you like about the piece and something you learned.
Post video to YouTube or Vimeo; post link to Discord due by Sunday (to give everyone else a chance to view it)

Important Starting Points to “Unearth” Historical Slork Pieces

A list of all SLOrk concerts since inception can be found on our “Events” page
- https://slork.stanford.edu/events/
A vault of writings on SLOrk, many of these chronicle specific works
- https://slork.stanford.edu/readings/vault/
The SLOrk SVN repo!
- All SLOrk pieces are in the SVN so your easiest starting point is the scripts directory.
- Examine all the files for this piece in the repo: scripts, programs, scores, sound files, instructions…
- Try to make the script(s) work and try to figure out how to play the instrument(s)
Also try to dig up performance videos (youtube, video, our slork events page)