In the readings and listenings for this week, we encounter a variety of different music/art/noise/communication forms. I’d like to present and discuss some of these forms in attempt to better understand what the authors are saying and to better understand the roles these types of communications play in our worlds.
Below are some clips of people performing Steve Reich’s pendulum music to give you a visual/audible perspective:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhVC9_e2hzQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca4JERTjJw0&feature=related
Interestingly, but not surprisingly, Steve Reich is also known for clapping music, in which his goal was to make music only by using the human body. This clip is an example of a clapping performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhhIZscEE_g&feature=related
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1) One of the main points of the readings this week seems to be that we can listen to our worlds, and everything can be music worthy of paying attention to. The chapter “Listening” made the most sense to me this week. The very first paragraph caught my attention and prompted my thinking with the statement that the world “is not legible, but audible” (3). So, we don’t really read the world, but listen to it and interpret based on those listenings. Like Sabrina, I’m not very familiar with sonic culture, but I can relate to music. There is definitely a solid connection today between music and money, and perhaps that is why the sound of music is unavoidable (3). Even though music has invaded our lives, how simple or difficult would it be to ignore or function without? Would other sounds of our world be more centralized if music did not have such economic power?
We let music interpret for us – it has power, and even though we relate to it and use it to express ourselves, I have to wonder how we would go about making connections and expressing ourselves without it sometimes . Oftentimes, a list of lyrics comprises my favorite quotes. We hear music in our cars, in elevators, while exercising, and many of us have ear buds in or near during most parts of the day. Do we miss the natural music of the world because of this reliance on music? Perhaps. But, I’m pretty much alone, I feel like I need music…in my office, in the car, at home…I like having those sounds as the background to my world. Surely, we all could function without music, but how would our lives be affected? It might not even matter. We’d probably be more in tune with nearby footsteps, cars, children playing, a pen dropping, and other sounds that allow us to take in and eavesdrop on the daily occurrences of life around us. Nevertheless, what would be lost if we got rid of music? Some people would lose out on a lot of money, that’s for sure.
I think it’s important to recognize how much we value music/sound/communication in terms of property as well. Birds use sound to mark their boundaries (“Listening”). Musicians mark their boundaries, too. They try to mark their images, their lyrics, and their melodies. They profit from all of this. This reading mentions Bob Dylan, and being such a fan, I can’t go without making some commentary on the topic of him. Intellectual property is an important facet of music and creativity in general today, that sound also has territories. Dylan is best known for his songs of protest and social commentary. He is an example of a musician interpreting the politics of the day, and he’s also an example of a musician whose music is sometimes believed to be more noise than “music” or art. The Seth MacFarland clip below parodies this idea and alludes that communication via sound can exist without language, per say. (A commercial parodying Priceline Negotiator commercials with William Shatner precedes the clip.) In a way, the clip reminds me of some of the sounds heard in “Language Removal Service” where we hear sounds and breaths, but no words.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ4ZXsyqsWo
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2) Reading Burrough’s, I kept thinking of the many times I’ve been in theme parks and heard sounds of things like wildlife or spaceships while waiting for a ride. Looking around, I finally find the hidden speakers in the nearby plants or other scenery. The sounds are important to the experience, though, and the sounds help prepare customers by helping them not only visualize the theme but also hear it and submerse themselves into that adventurous world for a few minutes. Recordings of visuals and sound are extremely important, and it’s interesting to think of the reactions people would have if we did what Burrough’s suggests and set up recordings of cut-ups to play in the streets. I think it’s a far stretch to say that the person recording and/or playing back the recording becomes a god (11), but I definitely think power is involved. How much power and how influential can the people who control media, like sounds and visuals (thinking of the Funcke article that discusses the Indian government showing art and technology like video to rural populations (9-11)) impress upon our culture and affect what we perceive as life?
The answer seems like an easy “yes,” but these impressions from those in power really do influence our lives in terms of what we perceive as art, music, soothing sounds versus screeching noises, etc. It’s why it’s accepted for Bob Dylan to be considered art and good music but some contestants on American Idol garner laughs and harsh critique. Nevertheless, I think it’s our job to challenge popular ideals and ourselves to see all of the sounds of our world as life and art examine them, at least in terms of purpose, even if we may not be the biggest fan.
If art can be anything, Dylan’s wordplay with these store signs can be art, too. Check out the link below to see the Poet Laureate of Rock ‘n Roll at work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eiASBBuFso
*And to end with more love for Bob – a bird singing another bird’s song – my current, favorite YouTube artist, Fretkllr, who doesn’t show his face, but only lets you hear the music from his mouth and see the music he creates with his guitar because he’d rather go unidentified.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YjKnXy5GcE&feature=channel_page
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