Sound Organization

The article I chose was The Future of Music: Credo written by John Cage in 1937. This article interested me more than the others because it wasn’t all about drifting or telling you to listen to everything around you. I also liked the style the article was written in, with two things being said at the same time. It’s as though the author wants to bombard you with information like we are bombarded with sound everyday.

Cage begins the article by explaining how noise is everywhere all the time no matter where we are in all forms and of different asthetics. He claims that what we refer to as music can be termed “organization of sound”. He believes that the future of music will be made up of electrical instruments, instruments that have more capabilities than more traditional instruments such as piano or violin. We will also begin to move away from conventional hamonies and rhythm. He believes that this new experimental music will be the music of the future.

This is relevant to me as a media artist because I play around with sounds using the technologies of the new millennium. I can do so much more with sound than they could do back in the 1930s. It’s also important as an artist to try an experiment with new ideas and attempt to use new methods outside of the ordinary. I will be looking forward to the future of music as well as sound.

The first soundwalk

On Wednesday September 10th, 2008, I went on my first sound walk in a group of approximately 10 to 15 other indivuals. For those of you may not know, a sound walk is when you walk outside and listen and focus on the noises around you. I plan on taking recording equipment on a future walk, but I just wrote down the various noises I heard. We started our walk in Lake Park just off N Lake Dr. in Milwaukee, WI and continued through various side roads. It was difficult to make out a wide variety of sounds due to the close by traffic, there were moments on the side roads however where it did get rather quite and you were really able to listen to everything around you. I was unsure if I was really able to walk quietly, while I tried to, the noise of everyone else in the group walking masked any noise I my feet were making. We started the walk by plugging our ears to see what we could hear. For the most part the only thing I could hear was my pulse, a stretching noise (presumably the tendons in my hand), a stick breaking, and faint traffic (particularly diesel engines).
My list of things I heard on my walk is was follows:
• Boots Shuffling on Pavement
• A Motorcycle Engine Accelerating
• Truck Tires Squealing
• Sticks and Leaves Crunching
• A Brief Bird Chirp
• Leaves Blowing in the Wind
• Distinct Talking
• Walking in the Grass
• Soccer Ball Being Kicked
• Leaf Blown on Ground by Wind
• Airplane Flying Low to the Ground
• Laughter
• Noisy Muffler
• A Strange Noise to my Left, like a deep whistle
• Metal Bouncing
• Scraping Behind me (distant)
• High-pitched noise to my left
• Paper Shuffling
• Beeping
• Tripping
• Distant Dog Bark
• Crickets Chirping
• Water Running
• Faint Child Scream
• Mo-Ped Whizzing by
• Talking (distinct yet faint)
• Planks hitting Planks
• Kids Squealing (Close By)
• Hitting Hollow Plastic
• Dog Collar Jingling
• Table Saw Running
• Water Splashing
• Water Dripping
• Bike Spokes
• Loud Beeping
• Bus Letting Off Pressure
• Flags in the Wind
• Church Bells Ringing (distant)
After going on my first sound walk, I feel more prepared to attempt to collect sounds. I have a better idea how to open my ears and mind to the noises around me and I think that is going to help me a lot as a media artist in all forms of sound management. Collecting, editing, and general listening skills.