[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: [microsound] math anxiety
Interesting, definitely different cultures have very different ideas about
music. What would be interesting to see is how Islam has effected music in
sub saharan Africa, as Islam (esp Wahabism) has a very conservative view
of music to say the least, in that music is simply a vocal call to prayer
and that's it, while traditionally music in african cultures is a
language. You can actually speak intelligably if you know say Yoruba and
play a talking drum. That's different than the European musical concept,
but ironically enough the European concept of music as math comes from the
Egpytians via Greece, so no matter how you look at music there's no way to
avoid that both the vocal and mathematical concepts originated in Africa.
On Mon, 22 Jul 2002, Beni Borja wrote:
> You caught my drift perfectly well. I would like to propose exactly this
> question: How music is used at this pont in history?
> In the last twenty years the ways/situations on which music is
> broadcast/performed and the state/ condition of the listener during the
> reception of the music changed dramaticaly.
>
> Most of my formative musical experiences where on a couch in the living room
> in front of big stereo speakers. I don't know anyone who listens to music
> regularly like that anymore. According to my research the car is the
> favourite place of most people to hear music these days, this certanly has a
> great impact on the way music is perceived. After the commoditization of
> music through recording, came this infernal age that we live in where
> sound/music in some bastard form is everywhere. How can we compete with this
> poluted soundscape??
>
> I think we musicians generaly overlook this aspect of the process.
> Listening conditions change the very nature of the musical experience. Where
> the music will be played? in which state the listener will be when hears the
> music?? The effectiveness of musical composition as a comunication tool
> depends a great deal on these issues.
>
>
> Beni
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Christopher Sorg" <csorg@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "microsound" <microsound@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Beni Borja"
> <beni.borja@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Monday, July 22, 2002 3:44 PM
> Subject: RE: [microsound] math anxiety
>
>
> > > From: Beni Borja [mailto:beni.borja@xxxxxxxxxx]
> > >
> > > Isn't math a language as well?? Mathematics is the language best
> > > suited to
> > > describe the physical phenomena , music being "air sculpting" in it's
> > > physical nature is therefore best described by math.
> >
> > I don't think there would be much dispute over math being a language. In
> > the case of music, I think it matters how you use and create it,
> > mathematically, meme- or phonetically, or "other". And that would bring
> you
> > to...
> >
> > > What's the purpose of music?? that is the question I supose
> > > bothers me the
> > > much these days..
> >
> > Isn't it just great!? A hundred years ago, painters used music as an
> > example of the "pure abstract", under the impression that music was a
> direct
> > line to emotional/spiritual experience. Painters like Kandinsky were
> > struggling with the concrete and representational forms of painting
> > (certainly trying to repurpose painting after the challenge of
> photography)
> > and found abstraction partly through music. And while music has a
> cultural
> > context which could be read as a concrete language, it also has something
> > that painting can't really achieve as an object, that is it's ethereal
> > nature. Memory slips around sound even as it is experienced, while a
> > painting exists in a rather concrete fashion, leaving it's viewer to
> change.
> > It does seem to me that in the past century music has gained this
> > materiality of painting, primarily through the recording process. Certain
> > sounds can be repeated until memorized; pop songs can be memorized note
> for
> > note, becoming the "genuine" version of a song. Advertisers use sound as
> > part of their product's id, and can even hold copyrights for these samples
> > if they can prove that they are identified with a product. Music can
> serve
> > a highly-specific purpose as language, or it can retain it's ethereal
> > quality and slip through the cracks of perception. Which leaves the
> purpose
> > of music wide open to possibilities.
> >
> > It's also interesting to note that in describing the developing solidity
> of
> > music in the past century you can also observe the cultural creation of
> that
> > form of sound. Sound was formerly used as part of the spiritual
> experience,
> > to create sublime/virtual experiences in cathedrals of the past. Sound
> now
> > is an object, becomes commodity or relates to commodity...one of the prime
> > uses of sound/music in contemporary Western culture. We could consider
> the
> > use of a laptop to create improvisational/unpredictable/algorhithmic sound
> > and music as a reaction to that objectification, which I do think is in
> the
> > mind of many musicians who are drawn to improvised performance. Eric
> > Leonardson, a Chicago musician, studied as a visual artist and said that
> the
> > immaterial qualities of sound brought him to music...I have had a similar
> > reaction and it is one of the primary reasons I'm interested in the
> > (non)form.
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > Christopher Sorg
> > Multimedia Artist/Instructor
> > The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
> > http://csorg.cjb.net
> > csorg@xxxxxxxxx
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > To unsubscribe, e-mail: microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > For additional commands, e-mail: microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > website: http://www.microsound.org
> >
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> For additional commands, e-mail: microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> website: http://www.microsound.org
>
>