Before diving into technical issues, I wanted to explore the conceptual motivations behind this project. This post summarises my thoughts at an early stage in response to various acoustic ecology readings.
For interested readers, I particularly recommend these articles by David Dunn and John Luther Adams.
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Acoustic ecology - the study of our interactions with the world through and with sound - provides a rich set of perspectives for the composer. At it's most basic, it is an invitation to listen to the world around us more closely. Focussing attention upon environmental sound can reveal inspiring patterns and highlight broader characteristics, i.e cultural change, pollution, wildlife populations, etc (Truax, 1996; Schafer, 1994; Krause, 2008) Modern recording and computer technology facilitates this process, allowing composers to explore the inner complexity of sounds and exploit aspects suggesting musicality (Truax, 1996; Dunn, 2008).
Listening to the world ecologically also highlights our internal world; our perception of scenes as made up of distinct sonic 'streams', the distinction between 'foreground' sounds and fuzzy gestalts, and the qualities of sensation and perception themselves (Bregman, 1994; Feld, 1994; Truax, 1996; Adams, 2009).
Much ecologically-inspired music focuses on the beauty and power of natural forces or highlights the destructive effects of human civilisation. My approach differs by confronting the ubiquity of human noise and embracing it as a reflection of society and a flexible sonic resource to be manipulated. In a previous composition - Making Passers Buy (2016) - I recruited the ubiquitous broadband hum of a Sainsbury's fridge as a leading voice; filtering, transposing and enveloping a short sample to create diverse sonic patterns.
The everyday sounds of a modern city cannot help but highlight negative issues - traffic, pollution, cultural homogenisation, etc - yet they also provide clues about resistance to these forces, historical contexts and local identity. While all Western cities resound with the same engine roars and Facebook pings, the lilting of accents, industries and popular music create distinct sonic signatures.
In practical terms, it seems pointless to simply fetishise 'unspoilt' soundscapes or vilify human noise. The whole notion of a 'wilderness' is very much a recent human construction reliant on an artificial distinction between humans and nature, while wallowing in despair about the Anthropocene is unlikely to produce compelling or inspiring art (Warren, 2004; Dunn, 2001).
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Rather than viewing ecology as a subject of passing interest to composers, I'm inclined to the view articulated by Adams (2009) and Dunn (2008) that it represents a very modern development in our understanding of music.
Music reflects the preoccupations of the time. European Romanticism highlighted it's role as an expression of self or emotion. The rapidly changing 20th century saw composers explore myriad new ideas: the sounds of machines, formal processes, exotic spiritual ideas and scientific theories (Griffiths, 1978; Dunn, 2008; Ross, 2007).
Since the 1970s, understanding of our own relationship with the environment has shifted. The effects of our 'achievements' upon the planet have grown clearer. Slowly, people worldwide have begun to realise that imperialist notions of man vs. nature and perpetual economic growth must give way to a lifestyle based upon stewardship, sustainability and an awareness of the interdependent systems that make up our world.
Composers are not immune from this, as they sit reading the same newspapers through the same warming winters as everyone else. The sustained presence of ecological themes in contemporary music provides sounding evidence of an exploration and reevaluation of our relationship to the environment. As Dunn (2008) suggests: "If music in any way reflects the evolving human condition, then this is what we should have expected ..."
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Thus, while much as my attempts at soundscape compositions will not be emotive, self-expressive artefacts, they cannot help but reflect my unique perspective. Glasgow is the environment I interact with day-to-day. The city is simultaneously chaotic, sublime, violent and gleeful. Relics of imperial grandeur and the scars of deindustrialisation rub up against hyper-modern structures. As the largest population centre in Scotland, Glasgow displays the same hallmarks of diversity and homogeneity of any modern, global city (City Population, 2017). Yet it also possesses a distinctive culture which its inhabitants celebrate and nurture.
Even more personally, Glasgow is my adopted environment. Inevitably I view it through a different prism than a native; with the warmth of someone seeking its embrace, yet accompanied by a certain detachment and curiosity.
Recent political events concerning British and Scottish nationalism cause me to reflect upon my own identity and relationships to place. I am a resident of Glasgow, raised on a remote island culturally and geographically distinct from Scotland, by parents from the south of England.
Where am I 'from'? Can one belong to a place? If so, can they adopt it? Or will they always carry their past behind? Does it matter?
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References:
Adams, J. L., 2009. The Place Where You Go To Listen: In Search of an Ecology of Music. Middletown, CT, USA: Wesleyann University Press.
Bregman, A., 1994. Auditory Scene Analysis. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.
City Population [online], Accessed 19th May 2017. Available from: https://citypopulation.de/php/uk-scotland.php
Dunn, D., 2001. Nature, Sound Art and the Sacred in The Book of Music and Nature: An Anthology of Sounds, Words, Thoughts. pp. 95-107. Middletown, CT, USA: Wesleyann University Press.
Dunn, D., 2008. Acoustic Ecology & the Experimental Music Tradition. New Music Box [online]. Available from: http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/Acoustic-Ecology-and-the-Experimental-Music-Tradition/
Feld, S., 1994. From Ethnomusicology to Echo-Muse-Ecology. Originally published in The Soundscape Newsletter, No. 8, June 1994. Available from: http://www.acousticecology.org/writings/echomuseecology.html
Griffiths, P., 1978 (1994). Modern Music: A Concise History (Revised Edition). London, UK: Thames & Hudson.
Krause, B., 2008. Anatomy of the Soundscape: Evolving Perspectives. AES: Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, Vol. 56 (1-2) pp. 73-80. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257943187_Anatomy_of_the_Soundscape_Evolving_Perspectives
Roads, C., 2001. Microsound. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.
Ross, A., 2007. The Rest is Noise: Listening to the 20th Century. London, UK: Fourth Estate.
Thompson, P., 2004. Atoms & Errors: Towards a history and aesthetics of Microsound. Organised Sound, Vol. 9 (2) pp. 207-218. doi:10.1017/S1355771804000299
Truax, B., 1996. Soundscape, Acoustic Communication and Environmental Sound Composition. Contemporary Music Review, Vol 15. (1-2) pp. 49-65.
Warren, C., 2004 in Waterman, E., 2016. Witnessing Music from the New Wilderness. Contemporary Music Review, Vol. 35 (3) pp. 336-361.
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