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1. Listening to History / Histories of Listening
2. Histories of Sound and Technology
3. Acoustic Archives
Why are historians now beginning to listen to the past?
• Listening to History• Aural history
And how are they listening?
Why are historians now beginning to listen to the past?
• Listening to History• Aural history
And how are they listening?• Histories of Listening
Why are historians now beginning to listen to the past?
• Listening to History• Aural history
And how are they listening?• Histories of Listening• History of aurality
Listening to History / Histories of Listening:
1. Bells, identity, 19th Century French village (Corbin)
2. The soundscape of modernity (Thompson)
3. Feminist historiography of electronic music (Rodgers)
“In the nineteenth century, at least in the countryside, bell ringing defined a space within which only fragmented discontinuous noises were heard, none of which could really vie with the bell tower.” (p. 185)
• Marking territorial identity• “Sacral recharging of the surrounding
space” (p. 185)
The functions of bells in the 19th century French countryside:
• Marking territorial identity• “Sacral recharging of the surrounding
space” (p. 185)• Orientation
The functions of bells in the 19th century French countryside:
• Marking territorial identity• “Sacral recharging of the surrounding
space” (p. 185)• Orientation• Prophylactic virtue
The functions of bells in the 19th century French countryside:
• Marking territorial identity• “Sacral recharging of the surrounding
space” (p. 185)• Orientation• Prophylactic virtue• To ‘rarefy’ the air (p. 189)
The functions of bells in the 19th century French countryside:
• Marking territorial identity• “Sacral recharging of the surrounding
space” (p. 185)• Orientation• Prophylactic virtue• To ‘rarefy’ the air (p. 189)• Temporal marker
The functions of bells in the 19th century French countryside:
“Through bells an individual was better able to apprehend the identity of the group to which he belonged. They helped him locate himself in space and time. They audibly proclaimed to him the order of the society within which his life unfolded, and made manifest the power of the constituted authorities” (p. 200)
Thompson’s definition of soundscape:
“I define the soundscape as an auditory or aural landscape. Like a landscape, a soundscape is simultaneously a physical environment and a way of perceiving the environment; it is both a world and a culture constructed to make sense of the world. The physical aspect of a soundscape consists not only of the sounds themselves, the waves of acoustical energy permeating the atmosphere in which people live, but also the material objects that create, and sometimes destroy, those sounds."
(p. 116)
Thompson’s definition of soundscape:
“I define the soundscape as an auditory or aural landscape. Like a landscape, a soundscape is simultaneously a physical environment and a way of perceiving the environment; it is both a world and a culture constructed to make sense of the world. The physical aspect of a soundscape consists not only of the sounds themselves, the waves of acoustical energy permeating the atmosphere in which people live, but also the material objects that create, and sometimes destroy, those sounds."
(p. 116)
• The American soundscape underwent a particularly dramatic transformation in the years between 1900-1933
• Sounds became signals - a new criterion by which the evaluate them - located in the new electrical technologies
• The opening of Symphony Hall in Boston (1900)
and the opening of Radio City Music Hall in New York (1932) frames the period covered by the book
The Soundscape of Modernity:
Thompson describes the emergence of a new, modernist sound. Define it:
• An object of scientific scrutiny
Thompson describes the emergence of a new, modernist sound. Define it:
• An object of scientific scrutiny• Controlled (a "good sound”)
Thompson describes the emergence of a new, modernist sound. Define it:
• An object of scientific scrutiny• Controlled (a "good sound”)• Non-reverberant
Thompson describes the emergence of a new, modernist sound. Define it:
• An object of scientific scrutiny• Controlled (a "good sound”)• Non-reverberant• Many different places begin to sound
alike
Thompson describes the emergence of a new, modernist sound. Define it:
• An object of scientific scrutiny• Controlled (a "good sound”)• Non-reverberant• Many different places begin to sound
alike• Easy to understand
Thompson describes the emergence of a new, modernist sound. Define it:
• An object of scientific scrutiny• Controlled (a "good sound”)• Non-reverberant• Many different places begin to sound
alike• Easy to understand• Efficient
Thompson describes the emergence of a new, modernist sound. Define it:
• An object of scientific scrutiny• Controlled (a "good sound”)• Non-reverberant• Many different places begin to sound
alike• Easy to understand• Efficient • Had little to say about the places in
which it was produced and consumed
"...if most of sounds of the past are gone for good, they have nonetheless left behind a rich record of their existence in the artifacts, the people, and the cultures that once brought them forth. By starting here, with the solidity of technological objects and material practices of those who designed, built, and used them, we can begin to recover the sounds that have long since melted into air. Along with those sounds, we can recover more fully our past." (p. 125-126)
Rodger’s historiography:
• Origins stories (e.g. Russolo’s Art of Noises) tend to normalize hegemonic cultural practices
Rodger’s historiography:
• Origins stories (e.g. Russolo’s Art of Noises) tend to normalize hegemonic cultural practices
• The tools for making electronic music are not innocent
Rodger’s historiography:
• Origins stories (e.g. Russolo’s Art of Noises) tend to normalize hegemonic cultural practices
• The tools for making electronic music are not innocent
• Cagian silence
Rodger’s historiography:
• Origins stories (e.g. Russolo’s Art of Noises) tend to normalize hegemonic cultural practices
• The tools for making electronic music are not innocent
• Cagian silence• The logic of reproduction
Rodger’s historiography:
• Origins stories (e.g. Russolo’s Art of Noises) tend to normalize hegemonic cultural practices
• The tools for making electronic music are not innocent
• Cagian silence• The logic of reproduction• Works by women electronic musicians
suggest different, more imaginative ways to navigate this history
For Thursday: Link the listening practice, acoustic experience, or sound object you are writing about in your autobiographical essay to one of the historiographies we are studying this week:
• Bells, identity, and 19th Century French Village life (Corbin)
• The Soundscape of Modernity (Thompson)• Feminist Historiography of Electronic Music
(Rodgers)
Post on class blog as your discussion questions for this week.