Category: Research

For anyone that has ever come across experimental music should have heard the names John Cage and Pierre Schaeffer, two people that have helped pave the way for the creative artists of today to not be constricted in their work; with many of their works with technology being what has shaped the industry today.

John Cage had an amateur artist and journalist for a mother, and an inventor for father (an inventor who has said to have been “both revolutionary and eccentric” (Wolf, 2016)) and grew up being a pianist and a writer, which evidently was not his real passion as was proved by his work later on in life, especially as he made to drop out of college as he felt he was not being challenged enough as a writer. Evidently more ambitious and creative than anyone could have realized, including himself. His first experience with different art forms came after leaving college and going travelling, experiencing painting and architecture, and this travelling opened him up to Asian philosophy, which is said to have influenced his work later on; as well as influences from composers Johann Sebastian Bach and Igor Stravinsky, Stravinsky being quite divers himself, creating scores in all types of genres. As the years went by Cage started to experiment more and more with technology and sound, and then in 1952 he made quite possibly his most popular piece; 4’33”. This was displayed in a concert hall where David Tudor, a fellow composer of experimental music, sat down at a piano for 4 minutes and 33 seconds and didn’t play one single note – this piece was about the ambience created by the audience in the concert hall, left up to chance, which was something important to John Cage. Chance, which he saw as an important factor. Another influential piece was Theatre Piece No.1 (1952) that really combined numerous different art forms – this included poetry readings, dance, film, projections, art and music – and this included Cage himself either giving a lecture or being completely silent. This piece was also a chance exhibition as the participants were left to do whatever they pleased at their assigned intervals. Many have praised John Cage for his experimental work which is said to have paved the way post-modern art, breaking down the barriers which then existed between the different forms of art; showing this by challenging the conception that music has to consist of only the traditional instruments.

“Wherever we are, what we hear is mostly noise. When we ignore it, it disturbs us. When we listen to it, we find it fascinating. The sound of a truck at 50 m.p.h. Static between the stations. Rain. We want to capture and control these sounds, to use them, not as sound effects, but as musical instruments” (Kostelanetz, 1968)

Pierre Schaeffer is another figure that has been extremely influential in the world of electronic music, being known for his radical innovations as a composer, engineer, educator and philosopher (Patrick, 2016) and it was he who coined the term Musique Concrète – experimental music that consists of recorded sounds, and the identity of those sounds being manipulated, these sounds being from the environment to instruments as well as the use of synthesizers. Schaeffer drew inspiration from Futurist Luigi Russolo, who in The Art of Noise says “machines create today such a larger number of varied noises that pure sound, with its littleness and its monotony, now fails to arouse any emotion” (Russolo, 1913:5) this boosting Schaeffer’s experimental mind, then receiving a grant to put his experimental ideas into music and technology, into practice. In 1942 he then had his own studio The Studio d’ Escai’ (then renamed Club d’ Escai) and this he filled with a massive library of sound effects – important for any musical experimentalist – and mixers. A few years later he then created the first studio that specialized in electroacoustic music with Pierre Henry, also a composer considered a pioneer in electronic music. Electroacoustic music basically being any form of technology that works with sounds, so the ability of whichever piece of technology having the ability to manipulate or create different sounds from recordings. This studio was names Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète  and it was here that not only did they have countless innovations, but they were also successful in technology;  amongst these successes being creating looping and a three track recorder. All of this work shows that his aim was to join together music and science, and to bring technology to the forefront rather than it being in the background of an end product because as he says “why should a civilization which so missuses its power have, or deserve, a normal music?” (Patrick, 2016). Pierre Schaeffer, just as John Cage, opened up everything at their time and this has majorly shaped and influenced todays music, as music no longer consists of purely natural instruments; a composition could now be made purely from recordings and effects, just as he did when manipulating his own field recordings, both natural and mechanical.

Although there have been many experimental composers that have influenced what we know it to be today, Cage and Schaeffer are the two that I feel have paved the way in reflection to my own project. John Cage being because he was very much interested in joining together different arm forms and showing there are no boundaries, and this is something that has influenced me personally in my work seeing as I have combined sound and visual together in one piece. Schaeffer was very forward on showing that compositions can consist of recordings and synthesizers only but still be music, and this is what I have achieved; recordings that I have gone out and recorded and, some of them, manipulated, and bringing in synthesizers. Musique Concrète, this being the influence behind my project title A Concrète Composition, is what I feel I have embodied in my audio piece and my accompaniment of the visual piece reinforces Pierre Schaeffer’s work of the arts having no boundaries.

References:

Kostelanetz, R. (1968) John Cage, An Anthology. [online] New York: Media Art Net. Available from: http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/source-text/41/ [Accessed 12 December 2016].

Patrick, J. (2016) A Guide to Pierre Schaeffer, the Godfather of Sampling. [online] Fact. Available from: http://www.factmag.com/2016/02/23/pierre-schaeffer-guide/ [Accessed 11 December 2016].

Russolo, L. (1913) The Art of Noise. [online] A Great Bear Pamphlet. Available from: http://www.artype.de/Sammlung/pdf/russolo_noise.pdf [Accessed 11 December 2016].

Wolf, J. (2016) John Cage: American Composer, Theortician, and Writer. [online] The Art Story. Availabel from: http://www.theartstory.org/artist-cage-john.htm [Accessed 12 December 2016].

After speaking with Emily about getting some more research, she mentioned looking through a module guide from last year Practices of Listening to see the reading list, and find some books I could look at. These included Sound by Caleb Kelly (2011), Soundscape by L and J. Sider, and D. Freeman (2003), Noise, Water, Meat by Douglas Kahn (2001) and Sonic Experience by J. F. Augoyard and H. Torgue (2005).

In Sound, Kelly speaks of drawing “attention to sound both in and around current art practice” (Kelly, 2011:13) whether that be purposely or from voices and footsteps, but many still don’t view ‘sound art’ as an established category; speaking throughout the book of the difficulties and misconceptions many people and artists have with it. “Sound is now an integral aspect of art… yet it’s presence is too often ignored” (Kelly, 2011:13) we as an audience can not close off our ears, it is a sense that never stops working, voluntarily, as sound is all around us and we hear it all, warranted or not, so why not bring both the hearing and visual together. A strategy developed from Max Neuhaus and John Cage is that of ‘Sound Walks’ which is a way to help the audience pay more attention to the sounds around them, those that they would not normally notice in every day life – drawing them in. This strategy is important to artists as many people do not realise the importance of sound, especially in this context as sound has proven to be the sense that involves art, expanding on what ‘art’ can actually be; it’s not always just about the visual. In Noise, Water, Meat a book stating that “none of the arts is entirely mute… despite their apparent silence” Kahn says “Wherever they might occur among the arts, noises – interchangeable, soundful and figurative, loud, disruptive… – and noises silenced, suppressed, sought after… always pertain to a complex of contexts… as such, they become significant.” (Kahn, 2001:20). Although Kelly sees sound art not being established as a category all in it’s own is not entirely a negative, this being because it means there is no boundaries, no restrictions or rules; sound can become a piece of art all in it’s own or be brought together with another form of art, such as my own project.

“The aim of a repeat in music, and particularly a leitmotiv or a reiterated theme, it to create a sort of anamnesia  in the listener… musical art consists precisely in the magnification of an emotional path leading to that return” (Augoyard and Torgue, 2005:23) – anamnesia is a semiotic effect, a particular sonic context causing an effect of reminiscence, which applies in soundscapes as using recordings that appear, for example, in the opening segment and then as the piece is finishing you hear that sound again and it links any emotion and understanding all together. On the topic of sounds that lead me to how others go about the process of inspiration, what comes first, and how you know what’s right. In the Book Soundscape their is an interview with visual artist, musician and director David Lynch, who when asked how he got into sound said that it was painting; he wanted to be able to hear what he was painting, such as the movement of a flower from the wind (Sider et al, 2003:49). For Lynch himself he always starts with the picture first, because that is what gives him inspiration, and then from this it becomes what he describes as “action and reaction and you start seeing the picture change, because of the sounds you put with it.” (Sider et al, 2003:49). In my project I have been having the opposite approach because in the beginning I knew the style of the audio piece I wanted to create, and then from this my imagination started to run with what the art piece could be, but even though there are clearly many different ways in which this process can happen and what comes first, he states that there really isn’t any framework for this: getting in the ‘mood’ and knowing what’s right from the order of application to the sounds included, is just a feeling personal to the creator.

After doing more research into the history of sound art and some of the different views and processes artists have/use, it’s comforting knowing that it’s evident that there is no right or wrong in this. Sound and art really have no boundaries, and it is also important to show that they have no boundaries when put together. My project is not a reflection of one or the other, but a joining of two senses.

References:

Kahn, D. (2001) Noise, Water, Meat. Massachusetts: First MIT Press.

Augoyard, J. F. and Torgue, H. (2005) Sonic Experience. Canada: McGill Queens Uni Press.

Kelly, C. (2011) Sound. London: Whitechapel Gallery and The MIT Press.

Sider, L., Freeman, D. and Sider, J. (2003) Soundscape: The School of Sound Lectures 1998-2001. London: Wallflower Press.

While searching for exhibitions and online platforms that I myself could potentially get my own work for this project in to, I come across a lot of different websites – blogs of similar work and those that admire the work and exhibition events.

One of the sites that I came across is Sounds Like Noise, a website created by Jay-Dea Lopez, a sound artist who was originally trained in classical performance and production but now he “uses field recordings as a way to question the complexities of our natural and social environments”. His work has featured in not only films and radio, but festivals and galleries not just in Australia, but also overseas.  The site was originally created to “explore Australia’s northern New South Wales region through a collection of field recordings and experimental soundscapes” but it then expanded to become more general about sound and the environment. There is a page on his website titles Listening to Art whose opening paragraphs speak of the moments when one walks through a gallery and it can become too overwhelming, poorly curated, or there could be factors that allow you to become distracted, such as noise.

“What is your experience of walking through modern-day art galleries? As you pass from room to room are you fully engaged with the works on the walls or, despite all good intentions, does a sense of fatigue begin to dampen your enthusiasm?”

So he raises the observation that why is it that, for the most part, galleries usually cater for only one thing – the visual. This is where he quotes Sebastiane Hegarty who views senses as performing with each other, and not as individual, so this is potentially why we can feel so disengaged in galleries; one sense is in overdrive and the others are trying to breakthrough. The example he uses to back this is one I have previously spoken of in this blog – The National Gallery in London exhibition where numerous sound artists from all backgrounds created sound pieces to accompany pieces of art; “the sounds heard before them guided their eyes across the canvas at details often overlooked or dismissed” meaning the visual was not the only sense working, so it was not in overdrive and the sound meant there was nothing distracting the viewer/listener. Being inspired by all of this, at the bottom of the page there are soundscapes created by Lopez himself to pieces of art work by Australian print-makers (follow link at bottom for the website, and his work).

At the top of the Listening to Art page he has included a link to his other website Auditory Visions which he created for the purpose of his own project. This project was similar to The National Gallery, however he asked print-makers (that he chose based on his own interests) to create two pieces each with them having the knowledge that a piece of sound art, was going to accompany it, in response to what they have made. He does also briefly state the that the reason behind him choosing print-makers for the visual art form is “for its materiality; its richness and diversity of texture, shades, imagery and substrates, all of which can be found in the elements of sound.”

Finding this website, and project, along with my other research, shows how important both visual and sound are together; especially in art form. The sound art helps keep the viewer interested in whichever piece of art it is, helping them look deeper and pay more attention. Picking up on the little things.

References:

https://auditoryvisions.org/

https://soundslikenoise.org/