The Soundscape by R. Murray Schafer

Author:R. Murray Schafer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Destiny Books
Published: 2011-09-16T16:00:00+00:00

But this will not do. Too many misunderstandings and distortions lie along the edges separating these compartments. Interfaces are missing. Let us follow through a few specimen sounds to understand the nature of the problem. Consider first the sample pair of sounds in the following table.

There are apparently no problems here. The two sounds are physically quite different and they accordingly have different meanings and draw forth different aesthetic responses. But even here the context can produce divergent effects. Thus, without altering the physical parameters of the sound, the meaning of the alarm bell could change if, for instance, it was only being tested. Knowing this, the listener would not be impelled to drop everything and run. Or, without changing the physical character of Bach’s flute sonata, the aesthetic effect could be quite different if the listener did not like the flute or did not care for the music of J.S. Bach.

When we get discrepancies such as these, our reliance on automatic across-the-board equations falters, and we become aware of the fallacy that a given sound will invariably produce a given effect. Let us consider some more discrepancies. Two sounds may be identical but have different meanings and aesthetic effects:

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.