Mon Oct 1 — Unit 1: The Sonic Object/Organized Sound
Ancient life was all silence. In the nineteenth century, with the invention of machines, Noise was born.
Luigi Russolo - The Art of Noises (1913)
Did 1900 sound different to, say, 1800? If so, how?
Let us cross a large modern capital with our ears more sensitive than our eyes. We will delight in distinguishing the eddying of water, of air or gas in metal pipes, the muttering of motors that breathe and pulse with an indisputable animality, the throbbing of valves, the bustle of pistons, the shrieks of mechanical saws, the starting of trams on the tracks, the cracking of whips, the flapping of awnings and flags. We will amuse ourselves by orchestrating together in our imagination the din of rolling shop shutters, the varied hubbub of train stations, iron works, thread mills, printing presses, electrical plants, and subways.
Luigi Russolo - The Art of Noises (1913)
Whereas in the past, the point of disagreement has been between dissonance and consonance, it will be, in the immediate future, between noise and so-called musical sounds.
John Cage - The Future of Music: Credo (1937)
How do we distinguish between "musical" and "non-musical" sounds? Is the distinction interesting? Is it useful?
What are the implications for musical composition if musical material can be said to consist in "the entire field of sound" (Cage)?
Luigi Russolo - The six families of noises of the futurist orchestra
1. Roars, Thunderings, Explosions, Hissing roars, Bangs, Booms
2. Whistling, Hissing, Puffing
3. Whispers, Murmurs, Mumbling, Muttering, Gurgling
4. Screeching, Creaking, Rustling, Humming, Crackling, Rubbing
5. Noises obtained by beating on metals, woods, skins, stones, pottery, etc.
6. Voices of animals and people, Shouts, Screams, Shrieks, Wails, Hoots, Howls, Death rattles, Sobs
An excerpt from the score of Risveglio di una citta.
John Cage - Williams Mix
Cage's six sound categories for Williams Mix (letter designations (ABCDEF) are as they appear in the score):
A. city sounds
B. country sounds
C. electronic sounds
D. manually-produced sounds, including the literature of music
E. wind-produced sounds, including songs
F. small sounds requiring amplification to be heard with the others
Sounds were further categorized by the predictability or unpredictability of their frequency, timbre and amplitude. These parameters could be "controlled" (predictable) or "variable" (unpredictable). So: Acvc = city sound, controlled frequency, variable timbre, controlled amplitude.
A page from the score of Williams Mix.
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Mikrophonie I
Stockhausen's 68 sound types for the 33 "moments" that comprise Mikrophonie I:
ÄCHZEND: groaning, creaking; BELLEND: baying, barking; BERSTEND: bursting; BRÜLLEND: bellowing, bawling; BRUMMEND: growling (low buzzing); DONNERND: thundering; FAUCHEND: hissing, spitting; FLÖTEND: fluting; GACKERND: cackling; GELLEND: yelling; GERÄUSCH: noise; GRUNZEND: grunting; HAUCHEND: exhaling (like a breeze); HEULEND: howling; JAULEND: wailing; KLÄNGE: pitched sounds; KLAPPERND: clacking; KLATSCHEND: clapping; KLIRREND: clinking, jingling; KNACKEND: cracking; KNALLEND: banging, clanging; KNARREND: grating; KNATTERND: chattering, flapping; KNIRSCHEND: crunching, gnashing; KNISTERND: crisping, crinkling; KNURREND: grumbling, snarling; KRACHEND: crashing; KRÄCHZEND: cawing; KRATZEND: scratching; KREISCHEND: shrieking, screeching; LÄUTEND: pealing, tolling; MURMELND: murmuring; PFEIFEND: piping, whistling; PIEPSEND: cheeping; POSAUNEND: tromboning; PRASSELND: spattering, jangling; PRELLEND: slapping, rebounding; QUAKEND: croaking, quacking; QUIETSCHEND: squeaking, squealing; RASCHELND: crackling; RASSELND: clashing, clanking; RATTELND: rattling; RATTERND: clattering; RAUSCHEND: rushing, rustling; REIBEND: rubbing; RÖCHELND: choking (rattling in the throat); ROLLEND: rolling; RUMPELND: rumbling, thumping; SÄGEND: sawing; SCHARREND: scraping; SCHLÜRFEND: shuffling, slurping; SCHNARCHEND: snorting, snoring; SCHNARREND: twanging, rasping; SCHWIRREND: whizzing, whirring; SINGEND: singing (whining); TÖNEND: ringing, resounding; TOSEND: roaring; TRILLERND: trilling, tinkling; TROMMELND: drumming; TROMPETEND: trumpeting; TUTEND: hooting; UNKEND: keening (or mourning with "u"-timbre); WINSELND: whimpering; WIRBELND: whirling; WISCHEND: wiping, swishing; WISPERND: whispering; ZIRPEND: chirping; ZUPFEND: plucking.
What are the differences and similarities between the criteria used by Russolo, Cage, and Stockhausen to arrive at their classification schemes? Do they categorize their sounds by origin/source, a qualitative/phenomenological description, or a combination of both? What are some other criteria that could be applied to categorize a collection of sounds?
Luigi Russolo - The Art of Noises: Futurist Manifesto (1913)
Audio Culture: 10-14
Edgard Varèse - The Liberation of Sound (1936/39/59/62)
Audio Culture: 17-21
John Cage - The Future of Music: Credo (1937)
Audio Culture: 25-28
Luigi Russolo - Risveglio di una citta (1913) *
George Antheil - Ballet Mécanique (1924)
Edgard Varèse - Ionisation (1931) *
John Cage - Williams Mix (1951-3) *
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Mikrophonie I (1964-5)
1. Winselnd—Jaulend (whimpering—wailing)
2. Raschelnd (Rattelnd)—Murmelnd (crackling (rattling)—murmuring)
3. Pfeifend—Flötend (piping, whistling—fluting)
John Cage in 1992
Wed Oct 3 — Unit 1: The Sonic Object/Organized Sound
...technical reproduction can put the copy of the original into situations which would be out of reach for the original itself. Above all, it enables the original to meet the beholder halfway...
Walter Benjamin - The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1935/36)
Steven Schoenherr - Recording Technology History
Recording technologies problematize the relationship between "source" and "sound": the "sonorous object"—the object of aural perception—is effectively dislocated and disembodied from its originating mechanism. What are some implications for composers working with "concrete" media? What are some implications for listening?
"Concrete" and "abstract" musics.
Schaeffer's solfège of sonorous objects: ubu.com.
A 3-dimensional schema for the classification of sonorous objects - from Pierre Schaeffer - À la recherche d'une musique concréte (1952)
In listening to sonorous objects whose instrumental causes are hidden, we are led to forget the latter and to take an interest in these objects for themselves. The dissociation of seeing and hearing here encourages another way of listening: we listen to sonorous forms, without any aim other than that of hearing them better, in order to be able to describe them through an analysis of the content of our perceptions ... Deliberately forgetting every reference to instrumental causes or preexisting musical significations, we then seek to devote ourselves entirely and exclusively to listening, to discover the instinctive paths that lead from the purely "sonorous" to the purely "musical."
Pierre Schaeffer - Acousmatics (1966)
To what extent are we able to deliberately forget the original cause of a sound when listening to a recorded version? Do certain recorded sounds, or classes of sounds, lend themselves more easily than others to a forgetting of their sources? Are we more likely to forget the sources of recorded sounds over repeated listenings? As listeners, can we practice "deliberate forgetting?"
Schaeffer thought the acousmatic situation could encourage reduced listening, in that it provokes one to separate oneself from causes or effects in favor of consciously attending to sonic textures, masses, and velocities. But, on the contrary, the opposite often occurs, at least at first, since the acousmatic situation intensifies casual listening in taking away the aid of sight.
Michel Chion - Audio-Vision (1994)
Passive and active listening; reduced and indicative listening.
My view is that in order to recreate the sense of danger you have to make the listener into the performer. The listener has to take an active part in the experience in fundamentally different ways than in live performance, and in order to do this I think that it's necessary to compose elements into the music that are non-linear, sometimes random, sometimes noisy and not discursive in the ways that a lot of traditional music is. I want the music to challenge the listener anew on each hearing, so that identical sounds will end up sounding different depending on the performance the listener creates in his own mind or ear ... The essence of the music doesn't lie as much in its details as in the act of trying to understand them.
Paul Lanksy, on Notjustmoreidlechatter
How can we make pieces that require a listener? What's the difference between composing music and "composing listening" (Chris Mann)?
...Lansky strikes a balance between familiarity and strangeness, in which listeners instinctively "squint" their ears, as Lansky puts it, in an attempt to understand what is being said. ... This is a canny compositional strategy, for it not only encourages attentive listening but also addresses the problem of repeatability. Even the most careful scrutiny will not reveal the text, but with every successive hearing the listener cannot help trying to extrapolate meaning from these verbal scraps. Here Lansky exploits the human tendency to fill in missing or unclear information to form whole structures.
Mark Katz - The Uncommon Parlance of Paul Lansky
Pierre Schaeffer - Acousmatics (1966)
Audio Culture: 76-81
Mark Katz - The Uncommon Parlance of Paul Lansky
Capturing Sound: 142-144
Pierre Schaeffer - Etude Aux Chemins De Fer (1948) *
Pierre Henry/Pierre Schaeffer - Prosopopée - from Symphonie pour un homme seul (1950)
Hugh Le Caine - Dripsody (1955) *
The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows (1966)
Paul Lansky - Notjustmoreidlechatter (1988) *
Ted Coffey - Georgia, etc. (2003) *
Matmos - Lipostudio...And So On (2001) *
Fri Oct 5
Stephan is visiting Dartmouth as part of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company residency at the Hopkins Center.