[no subject]

>i have always enjoyed when one listens to a loop, even  if it is the same
>sound, that doesn't physically change.. the perception of the sound
>changes, depending on when your focus begins..

Two days ago I visited la monte young's dream house here in new york where 
his sound installation basically deals with this idea.  The piece  consists 
of several sustained tones played on a rayna synthesizer coming through 
several speakers into a large empty room with carpeting and some throw 
pillows (which basically suggests that  you should get comfy and hang around 
for awhile).

It takes awhile for your ears to adjust but after awhile as you move your 
head or other people walk around the room the sound begins to change, you 
begin to hear new patterns and rythmic combinations. I'm sure there are good 
physical reasons for this change but I believe a lot of it has to do w/ 
perception, the where and when of how you choose to listen. As taylor 
mentioned, its what the listener brings to it that makes the piece work.

There's  also a fair amount of music theory involved with this piece but it 
all goes way over  my head... (to give you an idea, the name of the piece is 
  'The base 9:7:4 symmetry in prime time when centered above and below the 
lowest term primes in the range 228 to 224 with the addition of 279.... and 
goes on and on) As I understand it, there are lots of overlapping tones and 
only after sustained listening do you begin to hear how they play off one 
another, find new relationships, etc.

In the literature from the installation young writes about the "drone state 
of mind" and how continuous frequencies set up a "drone state in the nervous 
system, establishing periodic patterns which are the internal 
representations of the external air"

This piece has been around for about seven years (so this might be old hat 
for some of you). the dream house is located about a block from the knitting 
factory on church st. so if you're going to see a show  you should pop in 
before or after. It's open on thursdays and saturdays from 2pm to 12pm.

Also, although it's not exactly this listy, the sack & blumm album out on 
tom is really really good and well worth tracking down...

adios,
doron


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