This week the lecturer was absent and we were given a lecture by a nervous dr.Rachel Mcclure (who did very well) .... im saying all this because what we were taught seemed very out of place, more so than usually, but itll fit in in the end, dont worry.....or so im told
After all we were warned at the start some classes would seem odd but start to come together round week 6-7, this was deffinitly a stand alone class.
Sound, to be honest when you think of it, its loud, its noise its vibration, its not silence.
John Cage is an american composer and has a different theory on that though, he believes silence doesnt exist.
Which makes sense, theres always noise around, there cant be true silence, there can be quiet but silence is impossible because even if you made a completely sound proof room..... you body still makes noise.
He is most famous for his composition from 1952, where he presented a four minute piece of silence.
In those days that was an outrage, you can just imagine the audiences confusion and anger, they paid to see this big musical performance from him and an orchestra and ended up sitting through what would seem forever, Mr Cage just sitting at the piano doing....nothing. No sound, the only movements were him turning the piano sheets.
At first im sure the were confused, or worried, but then when he finally stood, bowed and left I'm sure they were enraged, especially when he explained that it was
Heres the link, Its a bit awkward the first time you see it, especially if i hadn't spoiled it for you, show a friend an watch their reaction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTEFKFiXSx4
He created this piece not to enrage, but to show the world there is no such thing as silence, its impossible to achieve, watch the link, you can here coughs, whispers, small movements, even traffic at one point i think.
He encouraged everyone to listen to the world around them, each time they would hear a different sound, which is something you cant achieve with a piece of music, as it would sound the same everytime.
Something interesting that was mentioned among all this Silence talk was, If you had the choice to lose your sight or your hearing that majority would vote to kept their sight everytime. and to be very honest im one of them. we had a goo few minutes silence to think on this, and i cant imagine not seeing, i can easily imagine not hearing which apparently may very well happen to the majority of this generation, music, headphones and concerts are destroying our hearing, but thats besides the point here.
In eastern Europe they would quicker lose their sight, in order to keep their hearing, as they believe nothing is real until you see it and touch it.
The discussion moved on to Dr McClures Thesis piece.
Inspired by such people like luigi russolo and Amnette, and a simple question Dr. McClure asked herself
'why call it sightseeing? we use senses whilst on holiday, we judge a society by its sound arts and festivals'
A key to how she came to this thesis idea was to keep an open mind, valuable advice to everyone,we hear it all the time but never actually act upon it.
The purpose of this project was to sight see without actually going to the place, in my opinion it would be a great souvenir or maybe a tourist guide, like see hear the place before you actually go.
She discussed the soundscape (sound of everything around you) keynotes (the environment) sound mark (unique to that community) hifi and lowfi sounds (distinct noises to a rural area, ambiance and such)
Keeping all these aspects in order, Dr McClure recorded a sound of every area in Northern Ireland.
She then wanted to do more with this, and wired these sounds to a large map of Ireland, that you can walk on, and every step you are in a new town and county, and youd think aw such a small place, they all sound alike, every village sounds alike, but no.
Derry and Belfast are two very different cities, ones rural and the other is towering over you,and the accents in the background, the mass of people are different, the strengths in shops and traffic would be different.
Then theres mountains, different villages, including coastal towns. All these places sounded so different but i never wouldve imagined, because im always there and these are background noises i tune out.
She successful created a snapshot of that place and time and transported the listener to the time and place, sounds simple enough, but i was amazed at how professionally it was done.
Her parting words summed up 'Instead of hearing LISTEN!'
To quickly relate it to everything else ive rambeled about so far i made a tweak ofan adjustment, remember all those images you dont see everyday, i encourage you to Instead of looking, SEE!
Claire
After all we were warned at the start some classes would seem odd but start to come together round week 6-7, this was deffinitly a stand alone class.
Sound, to be honest when you think of it, its loud, its noise its vibration, its not silence.
John Cage is an american composer and has a different theory on that though, he believes silence doesnt exist.
Which makes sense, theres always noise around, there cant be true silence, there can be quiet but silence is impossible because even if you made a completely sound proof room..... you body still makes noise.
He is most famous for his composition from 1952, where he presented a four minute piece of silence.
In those days that was an outrage, you can just imagine the audiences confusion and anger, they paid to see this big musical performance from him and an orchestra and ended up sitting through what would seem forever, Mr Cage just sitting at the piano doing....nothing. No sound, the only movements were him turning the piano sheets.
At first im sure the were confused, or worried, but then when he finally stood, bowed and left I'm sure they were enraged, especially when he explained that it was
Heres the link, Its a bit awkward the first time you see it, especially if i hadn't spoiled it for you, show a friend an watch their reaction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTEFKFiXSx4
He created this piece not to enrage, but to show the world there is no such thing as silence, its impossible to achieve, watch the link, you can here coughs, whispers, small movements, even traffic at one point i think.
He encouraged everyone to listen to the world around them, each time they would hear a different sound, which is something you cant achieve with a piece of music, as it would sound the same everytime.
Something interesting that was mentioned among all this Silence talk was, If you had the choice to lose your sight or your hearing that majority would vote to kept their sight everytime. and to be very honest im one of them. we had a goo few minutes silence to think on this, and i cant imagine not seeing, i can easily imagine not hearing which apparently may very well happen to the majority of this generation, music, headphones and concerts are destroying our hearing, but thats besides the point here.
In eastern Europe they would quicker lose their sight, in order to keep their hearing, as they believe nothing is real until you see it and touch it.
The discussion moved on to Dr McClures Thesis piece.
Inspired by such people like luigi russolo and Amnette, and a simple question Dr. McClure asked herself
'why call it sightseeing? we use senses whilst on holiday, we judge a society by its sound arts and festivals'
A key to how she came to this thesis idea was to keep an open mind, valuable advice to everyone,we hear it all the time but never actually act upon it.
The purpose of this project was to sight see without actually going to the place, in my opinion it would be a great souvenir or maybe a tourist guide, like see hear the place before you actually go.
She discussed the soundscape (sound of everything around you) keynotes (the environment) sound mark (unique to that community) hifi and lowfi sounds (distinct noises to a rural area, ambiance and such)
Keeping all these aspects in order, Dr McClure recorded a sound of every area in Northern Ireland.
She then wanted to do more with this, and wired these sounds to a large map of Ireland, that you can walk on, and every step you are in a new town and county, and youd think aw such a small place, they all sound alike, every village sounds alike, but no.
Derry and Belfast are two very different cities, ones rural and the other is towering over you,and the accents in the background, the mass of people are different, the strengths in shops and traffic would be different.
Then theres mountains, different villages, including coastal towns. All these places sounded so different but i never wouldve imagined, because im always there and these are background noises i tune out.
She successful created a snapshot of that place and time and transported the listener to the time and place, sounds simple enough, but i was amazed at how professionally it was done.
Her parting words summed up 'Instead of hearing LISTEN!'
To quickly relate it to everything else ive rambeled about so far i made a tweak ofan adjustment, remember all those images you dont see everyday, i encourage you to Instead of looking, SEE!
Claire
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