‘Choir’ is an early version of the work that evolved into ‘Siren’. The installation performance ‘Choir’ took the rotating sirens that had been first developed in ‘The Theremin Lesson’ and ‘Spin’ and tested the idea of using a large number of them on their own as the basis of the work. In Choir, sixteen tripods were used and installed, filling the Upper Gallery at what was then The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford (now Modern Art Oxford). A series of short fifteen minute performances took place over one evening as part of the OX1 Festival. Limited speed control over the spinning arms was available and there was only one performer, however, the work showed the potential to be developed into a much larger project.

In Choir the fascination changed from the spinning of sound influenced by the textile factory context that the Theremin Lesson was originally developed, to the compositional effect of 32 separate tones rotating in space. The work exists within a clear harmonic framework. The electronic oscillators are tuned by ear to discernable modes and these are often emphasised by the addition of a root bass note drone to underpin the work.

Choir is in effect a dissembled organ played through an elaborate rotating speaker system. Choir makes the air move. The sound moves past you and the effect is of the room itself beginning to oscillate. The sound spins, the rooms appears to spin and when the arms begin to slow down and stop it is as if the air in the room has solidified. Such a physical sonic effect is a trade mark of Lee's work.

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