"Silence is one of contemporary info culture's rarest commodities." -DJ Spooky
"If a tree fell in the middle of a forest and no one was around, would it make a sound?" -some kid

In regards to the first quote above, I'd have to agree with DJ Spooky. Sound is always around us. It's in the way we speak, made from the things we do, and produced by the slightest bit of motion (even if it's not audible to the listener), prompting me to think of the second quote above. Science says yes, but it's the age old argument of "if you're not there, then how would you know?".

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Not every sound may be the most pleasing to each person's ears, but I think those sounds that we find pleasing and pleasurable to listen to come from experiences, or the lack thereof, that we all have. It makes me think of how when I listen to music in a foreign language, someone may connect to that music due to its lyrics, whereas I find enjoyment in the lyrics themselves becoming part of the music, of the rhythm in the background, as I don't focus on the sound of the words and their meaning now but the sound of the words against the rhythm, if that makes any sense. Without being able to attach a relatively concrete meaning to the music from the words, I receive a different perspective on how the piece sounds.

"The basic idea of how we create content in our minds is so conditioned by media" -DJ Spooky
"We are shielded from new sound experiences." -John Cage

Life w/ Technology & In Through the Out Door

An Introduction, or My (Ambiguous) Life with Technology
Steve Reich

The author of this article, Steve Reich, seems to have meticulous ideals for his creations. From ideation, to execution, and ultimately the final product, his methods and philosophy stray greatly from conventional music composition. When asked to compose an orchestra piece, Reich's thoughts were, "I don't need 18 first violins - I need one, amplified. I always knew there must be something I could do instead of conventional opera, but I just didn't know what." This contrarian attitude towards traditional music indicates how important it is to Reich that his compositions remain consistent with his own ideologies.

Interestingly, Reich also mentions taking several breaks from technology over the years, and expresses a recurring need to step back and forth between technologically engineered sounds, and more organic music ("...in 2002, I felt I needed a few years of just instrumental vocal music before I was ready for another trip back to the lab"). Go goes on to say, "We've always thought of our brains in terms of our latest technology. At one point our brains were steam engines...telephone-switching networks...digital computers...We probably haven't gotten it right yet." This perspective may indicate that although Reich is very steadfast in his ways, he also believes in the evolution of technology and that it will never truly end.

In Through the Out Door: Sampling and the Creative Act
Paul Miller

Throughout the article, Miller draws conclusions about humanity's current relationship with the origins all things, from technological advances, to various sounds that he has encountered. He says that "civilization isolates all of us, ideologically and physically, from the source of all life - nature." From this statement, it is reasonable to assume that Miller's belief about the aforementioned relationship is that it continually dissolves as technology evolves.

Near the beginning of the article, Miller also alludes to the idea that silence is rare. I believe that this claim is meant to not only be taken literally, but to also imply that our world today is constantly bombarded with noise in the form of ideas, words, social constructs, physical objects, etc.

Continually in his article, Miller writes about relationships. He notes that, "buildings in architecture are nothing more than correspondences between relationships - presence and absence, form and formlessness." Here we can see that even in instances of physical objects, Miller's primary interest is relationships.

The Future of Music

"You can literally use any sound at any precise (or not so precise) point in time." - DJ Spooky

"Silence is one of contemporary info culture's rarest commodities" - DJ  Spooky

"I felt I needed a break from technology" - Reich 

The three quotes above, I pulled because they all stood out to me to be true today, and in a way, they all coincide with each other. 

I can make the connection between them by using technology as a central theme. Everyone is always on some type of electronic device

it seems like. Because of this, it is even harder to find silence than ever before. There is the clicking of the keyboard, the buzzing of cords, 

phone's vibrating. There is always a sound to hear. This relates to what DJ spooky says in reference to being able to use any sound at any 

moment. Because of technology, now, all types of sounds are available at our finger tips. We can record them with our phones, download 

them from the computer, stream them; the options are endless. But, with all this, we also become overwhelmed with technology, and

while this is not what Reich means when he says he needs a break from technology, it is relatable in a sense. 

We've learned that any sounds compiled together can make "music", even if they don't sound charming to us. I think after reading these 

pieces it becomes even more obvious the lack of silence there is, and even when listening to music I like, instead of only hearing what is  

intended to be heard, my focus shifts to random noises in the background of the songs that I may not have recognized otherwise, and often

times I can connect the sounds to what they are in the real world. 

Noise

In today’s busy, fast-pace world noise is inevitable to escape.  We live in a culture that never sits still and never stops.  Whether you live on an isolated farm in Mississippi or a high rise in Time Square, sounds are prevalent 24 hours around the clock.  Steve Reich explains the concept of noise as, “When I talk about the crowded spaces of info-modernity- I’m talking about a world filled with noise, and if there’s one thing we learned from the twentieth century, it’s this: noise is just another form of information.” John Cage and Steve Reich discuss their fascination with noise through the absence of sound and looping sounds.
 Cage describes his fascination with everyday sounds as, “Wherever we are, what we hear is mostly noise. When we ignore it, it disturbs us. When we listen to it, we find it fascinating.”  I do have to disagree with this statement.  First, how do you ignore noise? It’s impossible. The more you try to “ignore” sounds the more you focus on the sound, the more you hear the sound, and the more you are annoyed with the sound.  When you are not focused on “ignoring” the sound your brain subconsciously allows the sound to exist/pass without consciously processing the noise.  However, the longer I sit here and try to focus on pure silence, the more I hear the ice machine growl, the neighbor’s dog barking, the air conditioning humming, etc.  All of these noises I was not aware were even around me seconds before but as I focus on silence, the sounds become aware.  Second, ‘when we listen to it, we find it fascinating’ applies to only some sounds.  I cannot say I necessarily enjoy all sounds, naturally or artificially made.  The video we listened to last class (do not remember creator) looped recording, recording more recordings that eventually turned into the most horrific sound that I could not stand for longer than ten seconds.  If I were to rewrite his statement, I would prefer to say: when we try to ignore sound, it only disturbs us more.  When we listen to select sounds, we find them fascinating.

The Future of Music & Introduction... / In Through the Out Door

Naturally, I thought of the Velvet Underground because I've always confused John Cage and John Cale. Whatever, the connection works this time. The Velvet Underground & Nico was released thirty years after Cage's text was written and demonstrates the prescience of Cage's ideas. While melodic at times, the album can be quite... noisy. It took me quite a few listens to appreciate and even enjoy the occasionally cacophonous work, but just imagine how grating it must have been for 60s listeners attuned to the dulcet tones of The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and the like. It's almost a paradigm shift, how society's sonic palette can develop over time and what is considered "music" broadens in definition. Now, there are entire genres that span from noise rock to minimalist ambient installations.

Either way, I really hope Cage got to go to New Zealand.

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I wish I knew what Reich was talking about. It's kind of a drag to hear the development of his artwork without having a reference. Oh well. Some interesting ideas though: how our ideas develop alongside technology. Similar to the idea that our thoughts are only as good as our language. The difference is whether or not you accept these new technologies and integrate them into your work. Reich has preferences, but acknowledges the benefits of being open to new avenues of expression and adapting. It's always good to adapt.

I wish I knew what DJ Shadow was talking about. He's very well-spoken and I didn't really give the time to effectively read his words. Oh well. I've always thought about the whole civilization vs nature issue. Romanticism is over 'cause there are chimney stacks as far as the eye can see. Sorry Coleridge. But is this inherently bad? I'm not sure. It's unnatural, but is that consequently immoral? Humans are part of nature and so aren't our acts, by extension, natural? Even if they harm other nature? Either way, yes, there's too much information in the world, it paralyzes people, and causes crippling boredom - go postmodernism!

Thoughts on writings by John Cage and Steve Reich

“THE PRINCIPLE OF FORM WILL BE OUR ONLY CONSTANT CONNECTION WITH THE PAST. ALTHOUGH THE GREAT FORM OF THE FUTURE WILL NOT BE AS IT WAS IN THE PAST”…

I found the statement above to be sort of a general theme between both writings. I think music today has lost in a sense its form and its purpose. It feels to me like every song has a similar rhythm and melody and underlying meaning, and that is what Cage is saying. Music today cannot compete and does not reflect the great form that the music is the past brought us. And although I enjoy music within the past couple decades more, it is important to understand the origin from which our music today has evolved from.

The organization of sound is something that we don’t appreciate today. When we watched “It’s Gonna Rain” in class I actually felt terrified, it felt so demonic to me. I’ve come to realize that I hate sounds, cars driving by, hair dryers, the vaccum running, the lawn mower, the dump truck picking up trash every Tuesday, all these sounds are so disturbing to me. I’ll have to disagree with Cage when he claims that when we listen to noise, it fascinates us. But I do strongly agree with his statement “when we ignore it, it disturbs us,” because that is spot on. I think we all have a form of selective hearing, and for me, the sounds I hate, I seem to hear the most of and at a higher frequency.

An Introduction, or My (Ambiguous) life with Technology gave me a deeper understanding as to the process of Reich’s work, and made me appreciate the audio more because of the process of layering different audio’s and experimenting with different edits and synthesizers, ect. I think this will be a good starting point for our first project because it reiterates the fact that the importance of a piece like this one is the meaning and the purpose and the technology behind it, rather than what we are hearing. And I think Cage and Reich’s work is found to be so genius because they found a new way to think about something, to listen to something, and to create something.

“Noise is just another form of information”

“In our day and age, the basic idea of how we create content in our minds is so conditioned by media that we are in a position that no other culture has ever been in human history” aka we are screwed. I don’t think this can be reversed.

The Future of Music - "Silence" of the Library

As I read both of these articles I am sitting in the library. The library is supposed to be a place of silence, a place of concentration. I read the line "Wherever we are, what we hear is mostly noise. When we ignore it, it disturbs us." Now, all I can think about is all the little sounds, they are filling my brain. A cough, the turn of a page of a book, people typing, people opening backpacks. The noises are surrounding me. A flush of a toilet, a door opening. The harder I try to ignore them, the more prominent they become.

The concept that noise, when it is ignored, is almost more distracting then when you listen to it now fascinates me. I can easily do homework with headphones in and music playing. However, when I try to sit in silence, the pitter patter of the world around me swallows me up and distracts me more then any music ever could.

Now, as I sit here incredibly distracted and wrapped up in the noises around me I start to hear music. Cage's line "If this word "music" is sacred and reserved for eighteenth- and nineteenth-century instruments, we can substitute a more meaningful term: organization of sound." I am not listening to synchronization  I am not listening to instruments, I am simply listening to life and its continuous rhythm of the world moving forward. The perfectly imperfect rhythm of sound in the library really has made me acknowledge how powerful sound can be.

With technology forever changing, the power of sound and all its variations has evolved. Cage's concept of being able to create the sounds of a hundred person orchestra with your computer is fascinating. You now can synchronize and organize sound with one instrument... a computer.

 

 

The Future of Music/ Steve Reich and DJ Spooky

After reading these two articles I seemed to ascertain a parallel between how they seem to be calling for the same thing. A liberation from the "ideal" sound. What is this "ideal" sound? It seems to be years of the same 18th - 19th century instruments that have conditioned the average listener into being mere consumers of organized sound rather than a true listener of art.

In my opinion I find that this analysis is spot on. Sound isn't the only thing that we have allowed to condition us, as we are living in an Iron age that values a media which pumps us with over-sexuality and generally touts indulgence as acceptable. But focusing more directly on sound, there are infinite possibilities that we can expose ourselves too yet for some reason we tend to limit ourselves based on what society deems to be the most acceptable.

Although there is a certain level of cohesion in sound required to listen to what we typically claim as music, the individual sounds themselves need not be limited by what we have considered to be correct. For example, in hip hop we find that artists such as Run the Jewels have pushed the boundaries in not only what is acceptable to say but also acceptable to hear utilizing a wide array of distorted sounds to percolate into a aggressive symphony. Some may find their sound displeasing as it breaks the conventional definition of music, but it is this bravado that makes them so recognizable and unique.

In DJ spooky's article we find that he touches upon this concept of swimming with the current. We have made a religion out of going with the grain, where in fact if we are to truly experience sound as it is we have to do the opposite. I believe the same goes for every sense perception we experience in life. Who says what is accepted as beauty is actual beauty? Who says what is pleasant to smell or taste is actually that? These opinions are given value only when we accept them as fact. But I submit to you not all that is defined as sweet is sweet. What if I told you it is sour?

I found it refreshing to see how Cage touched upon how when we generally ignore sound it disturbs us, but we ignore it because we are seeking peace. We rarely ask ourselves what is it that is allowing us to hear in the first place, what is that fundamental principle sound from which all other sound generates and to which it merges back? That fundamental sound is a peaceful infinity, an eloquent silence. Why is it that we condition what fundamentally cannot be conditioned? If we have the courage to ourselves to ask these questions I guarantee we will experience sound unbound.