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Spatialization

Performance
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The use of different locations in a room or stage to organize a poem’s voices or ideas. It makes meaning through space.

Detailed Definition
Spatialization turns the performance area into part of the poem’s form. A poet may assign separate places to contrasting speakers, memories, time periods, or emotional states, allowing the audience to hear and see relationships among them. Moving between positions can make an internal argument feel external or dramatize distance between people. This technique is especially effective in narrative, documentary, and multivoiced poetry where location helps clarify shifting perspectives.
Example
Example in poetry:
During a poem about migration, a performer can direct the opening lines toward one side of the room and the arrival lines toward the other; In a poem with several remembered voices, the reader can place each voice in a different imagined location onstage; A poet can turn toward the back of the room for a line addressed to an absent ancestor, making absence physically felt; For a poem about a crowded city, the performer can sweep their gaze across the room as if mapping streets and people around them
Additional Notes
Use separate stage areas to represent different speakers, times, or ideas. Returning to a location can help an audience track recurring voices or memories.
Also Known As
Sound Spatialization Spatial Sound
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