My most memorable and transformative experience with sound was in the Sound Art course I took during a pre-college summer program at SMFA Boston. I had no idea what to expect from the course, and had no knowledge of what "Sound Art" even was. One day we listened to John Cage's 4'33". Many people consider this piece four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence, but for me it was so much more than that. During the performance of this work musicians would sit with their instruments and would be instructed to sit and not play for the 4'33". It made me aware of all the sounds of my environment that I took for granted or payed no attention to. It also made me aware of the notion of "silence" that I previously held was misinformed. There is never true silence, even in a vacuum (without the sounds of our environment) our bodies still make sounds. This awakening to the sound of my environment inspired me to keep a "sound journal". I keep a small recorder in my bag and record the different sounds of my changing environments when something gets my attention or interests me. Through this experience I feel that I have become much more aware of my enviornment and how much sound affects our daily lives.Here are some links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcHnL7aS64Y&feature=related
http://www.rosewhitemusic.com/cage/texts/WhatSilenceTaughtCage.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUJagb7hL0E&feature=related
just for fun Nicolas Cage 4'33":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKdeNv3Rlv0&feature=youtu.be
great post, and we'll get to Cage eventually later in the semester. There have been some great rememberances of him and his work in the past week or so because of the 100th anniversary of his birth. I posted an NPR one, and I also read another in the NYT the other day-
ReplyDeleteJohn Cage's Music of the Unquiet Mind.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/01/music-of-the-unquiet-mind/
I'd love to talk with you more about the course you took.
And-- the Nicolas Cage 4'33" was hilarious. Thanks for sharing.