Post by petrolino on Jun 30, 2020 22:29:40 GMT
Vibrations : 5 Descriptive Snapshots From Time
"Mimetic artistic practices are now at the heart of much electroacoustic music, and soundscape composition is one of the most explicit ways that reality is evoked and represented in current music. Truax’s writing on the subject reveals the implicit “truth-‐telling” aspect of ecology to be a parallel with the “truth-‐telling” of 19th-‐century literary realism and reveals how the environmental agenda at the heart of Acoustic Ecology affects the theory behind Soundscape composition.
According to Truax, soundscape composition must maintain a “neutral, plausible representation” of the recorded environment, preferably by taking walks in the recorded environment before recording in order to judge what is a “reasonable” representation of the environment. As we have observed in mimetic thought in multiple artistic media from Aristotle to Barthes, effective mimesis is contingent on the social conventions of representation in a given era.Therefore, while Truax defines soundscape composition as one possible musical approach to evoking reality, it is clear from this study of mimesis that the "reasonable representation" of a given soundscape is based on the assumed conventions of representation of the current day. There is, in fact, no “neutral” representation of a recorded environment—this is the same argument that Adorno and others made against the implicit truth-‐telling of realist literature of the 19th-‐century. The simple recording and diffusion of a field recording communicates one’s value system as well as a perspective on what constitutes reality; in the case of soundscape composition, this value system is a critique of post-‐industrial society in favor of naturalism and compositional “neutrality.” However, in a different set of criteria for soundscape composition, Truax softens his stance on the level of neutrality that is acceptable for the genre. Specifically, Truax describes how it is possible for the “transformation of environmental sounds to come into play, with an inevitable increase in abstraction” with the intent to “reveal a level of signification inherent within the sound. . . without obliterating the sound’s recognizability.” This means that, as a major theorist and practitioner of soundscape composition, Truax now considers more “abstract” compositions that utilize field recordings to be Soundscape compositions as long as they don’t “obliterat[e] the sound’s recognizability.”
The question of soundscape composition as a genre then becomes: is it even possible to “re-‐integrat[e] the listener with the environment in a balanced ecological relationship” through a musical composition? Certainly listening to field recordings of any place can “enhance our understanding of the world. . . and [influence our] everyday perceptual habits,” but this is different than an attempt to rebalance the listener’s relationship with a given ecology. Despite the contributions of soundscape composition to artistic practices of mimesis in music, the ideological environmental perspective of Acoustic Ecology and the attempt to be “neutral” at a technical or aesthetic level in soundscape composition are problematic in light of the history of mimesis in the arts.A field recording is not necessarily a mere documentary of its recorded context because it contains a network of open and ambiguous meanings that may be understood in a variety of ways by different listeners based on their personal history, level of familiarity with the source context,and familiarity with sonic arts in general. Truax situates soundscape composition within a continuum of practices relating to the evocation of reality: “Sonification <________> Phonography <_______> Virtual Soundscapes.” Truax’s continuum ranges from data sonification at one end, or “art in service of science,” to recognizable soundscapes, then to abstracted soundscapes, and to imaginary or virtual soundscapes at the other end. Truax argues that any manipulation of field recordings beyond “transparent editing or mixing” causes a given work to move from that of a documentary to that of an “abstracted” representation of the real."
- Charles Francis Underriner IV, 'The Sound-Poetry Of The Instability Of Reality : Mimesis And The Reality Effect In Music, Literature, And Visual Art'
According to Truax, soundscape composition must maintain a “neutral, plausible representation” of the recorded environment, preferably by taking walks in the recorded environment before recording in order to judge what is a “reasonable” representation of the environment. As we have observed in mimetic thought in multiple artistic media from Aristotle to Barthes, effective mimesis is contingent on the social conventions of representation in a given era.Therefore, while Truax defines soundscape composition as one possible musical approach to evoking reality, it is clear from this study of mimesis that the "reasonable representation" of a given soundscape is based on the assumed conventions of representation of the current day. There is, in fact, no “neutral” representation of a recorded environment—this is the same argument that Adorno and others made against the implicit truth-‐telling of realist literature of the 19th-‐century. The simple recording and diffusion of a field recording communicates one’s value system as well as a perspective on what constitutes reality; in the case of soundscape composition, this value system is a critique of post-‐industrial society in favor of naturalism and compositional “neutrality.” However, in a different set of criteria for soundscape composition, Truax softens his stance on the level of neutrality that is acceptable for the genre. Specifically, Truax describes how it is possible for the “transformation of environmental sounds to come into play, with an inevitable increase in abstraction” with the intent to “reveal a level of signification inherent within the sound. . . without obliterating the sound’s recognizability.” This means that, as a major theorist and practitioner of soundscape composition, Truax now considers more “abstract” compositions that utilize field recordings to be Soundscape compositions as long as they don’t “obliterat[e] the sound’s recognizability.”
The question of soundscape composition as a genre then becomes: is it even possible to “re-‐integrat[e] the listener with the environment in a balanced ecological relationship” through a musical composition? Certainly listening to field recordings of any place can “enhance our understanding of the world. . . and [influence our] everyday perceptual habits,” but this is different than an attempt to rebalance the listener’s relationship with a given ecology. Despite the contributions of soundscape composition to artistic practices of mimesis in music, the ideological environmental perspective of Acoustic Ecology and the attempt to be “neutral” at a technical or aesthetic level in soundscape composition are problematic in light of the history of mimesis in the arts.A field recording is not necessarily a mere documentary of its recorded context because it contains a network of open and ambiguous meanings that may be understood in a variety of ways by different listeners based on their personal history, level of familiarity with the source context,and familiarity with sonic arts in general. Truax situates soundscape composition within a continuum of practices relating to the evocation of reality: “Sonification <________> Phonography <_______> Virtual Soundscapes.” Truax’s continuum ranges from data sonification at one end, or “art in service of science,” to recognizable soundscapes, then to abstracted soundscapes, and to imaginary or virtual soundscapes at the other end. Truax argues that any manipulation of field recordings beyond “transparent editing or mixing” causes a given work to move from that of a documentary to that of an “abstracted” representation of the real."
- Charles Francis Underriner IV, 'The Sound-Poetry Of The Instability Of Reality : Mimesis And The Reality Effect In Music, Literature, And Visual Art'
"The proper term is “programme music”. In English, this term also includes what one calls “musique descriptive” in French – which is, to me, more appropriate because "programme music" mainly implies other elements like instrumental music that "tells" a story based on a text (there is no article titled “Descriptive music” in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians).
The concept of “descriptive music” was already described by Aristotle. Descriptive music started as early as the 13th century and was very popular in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Many composers “transposed” the song of the cuckoo in their music. Let’s name just a few of them : Daquin, Frescobaldi, Pasquini, Biber, Kerll, Vivaldi, etc.
William Byrd’s “The Battle” is another example of descriptive music."
The concept of “descriptive music” was already described by Aristotle. Descriptive music started as early as the 13th century and was very popular in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Many composers “transposed” the song of the cuckoo in their music. Let’s name just a few of them : Daquin, Frescobaldi, Pasquini, Biber, Kerll, Vivaldi, etc.
William Byrd’s “The Battle” is another example of descriptive music."
- Moxhe, The Session
'Tougher Than The Rest'
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'Clocks' ("tick-tock ...") - from 'Gilding Bird' (1969)
'Sister's Coming Home' ("strings of anticipation ...") - written by Willie Nelson, featuring Tanya Tucker, from 'Blue Kentucky Girl' (1979)
'My Father's House' ("funereal keys ...") - written by Bruce Springsteen, from 'Thirteen' (1986)
'Heartbreak Hill' ("ascending & descending strings, slightly off balance ...") - from 'Bluebird' (1989)
'Where Will I Be?' ("cascading echo fills, military beats ...") - working with Daniel Lanois, from 'Wrecking Ball' (1995)
