tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6993045826856544697.post8626211824337575757..comments2023-12-19T09:49:33.560+00:00Comments on streams of expression: The Nut Crackerdavid_grundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09822972751622883772noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6993045826856544697.post-80608005280035109302011-02-25T22:29:15.857+00:002011-02-25T22:29:15.857+00:00Something perhaps related to this"
http://ww...Something perhaps related to this"<br /><br />http://www.thewatchfulear.com/?p=4732Richard Pinnellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00168522717135806763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6993045826856544697.post-63402415810919064412011-02-23T13:03:03.013+00:002011-02-23T13:03:03.013+00:00It is interesting -but not that surprising- that a...It is interesting -but not that surprising- that a performance where the amount of silence outweighed in duration the amount of intentional sound by quite a margin, might stimulate that much reaction!<br />I enjoyed reading what was said by Richard Pinnell , David Grundy and Anthony Eagle, and I don't think I can much add to a debate which has been explored so perceptively, but I'll try!<br /><br />Contemplative traditions have played with silence for thousands of years B.C. (I mean “Before Cage”...) but there is of course something specific about a performance space like the one being discussed , with its dynamic assymetry between performers and audience, and its emphasis on voluntary action, however sparse and sporadic .<br /><br /> There are however similarities in the reactions: meditators being upset at the hindrance coming from an irritation, for example, the noise of a fridge or a fidgety neighbour, <br />[this would possibly be met with a comment like : ” there is irritation...” from a teacher! ]<br /><br />--------------<br /><br />Asking myself a question as simple as “where is the sound ?” doesn't warrant a simple fixed answer at all. Just try for yourselves now! <br /><br />As for “what is it of?”, one might also include one's own thoughts in there. Thoughts are pretty loud sometimes.<br /><br />This is where for me the perceptual and the political might meet: the fact of perception extends so far from the limits of my skin, and this being the case for other beings too, it seems wilful (yet inevitable it appears) to construct for oneself a lasting and consistent sense of separated-ness.<br /><br />( I'll be able to maintain the above smugness until the next time I loose my rag with someone, or like them, or both, later today probably...).Bruno Guastallahttp://brunoguastalla.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6993045826856544697.post-66342294269077037022011-02-22T11:39:52.527+00:002011-02-22T11:39:52.527+00:00fascinating to find your thoughts on the "Con...fascinating to find your thoughts on the "Concept as Score" concert... <br /><br />i am documenting the SARU events from Audiograft and would love to interview you for comments, if you would care to share your views on the podcasts I am producing...<br /><br />send me an email if you are interested: felixbadanimal (at) hotmail (dot) com<br /><br />and for an example of my previous podcast work with SARU, you can visit this address:<br /><br />http://soundcloud.com/sonic-art-research/audiograft-preview<br /><br />it is very valuable to find out what people outside of the department make of our work, so it would be really great if you had some time for an interview.<br /><br />Cheers,<br />Felicity Ford AKA FelixFelixhttp://sonicartresearch,comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6993045826856544697.post-37071370646351969112011-02-21T01:37:53.369+00:002011-02-21T01:37:53.369+00:00Hi Richard,
Thanks for commenting back. I hadn...Hi Richard,<br /><br />Thanks for commenting back. I hadn't made the connection between the drunken singing we heard and Oxford toffs as the sound source (we're getting into a class analysis of environmental sounds now!). I do agree that it's necessary to have a space where we can contemplate and consider things in a separate, artistic context, a place from which to reflect back on/against 'the rest of life'; and interesting to see Wandelweiser in the context of fluxus, given the letter's anarchist political bent. Wandelweiser seems to me more generally apolitical (I don't know anything about any of the composer's political stances), but just because it deals in mainly aesthetic considerations doesn't mean that it doesn't have wider consequences and implications, of course. The score as a framing device is also an interesting point; the notion of a frame, of a structure which brackets and modifies (whether this is sound bracketing silence, or silence bracketing sound, or a mixture of both) is one that occured to me when listening to the Pisaro 'Field Have Ears' discs (I may have mentioned it in my review). And, also for example, in the Sarah Hughes 'for Rilke' piece, the sounds that we eventually heard were modified by the long silence that had taken place before, and that silence retrospectively modified by those sounds. So there are brackets that are subdivisions within the piece itself, as well frameworks that establish the general setting. Or to put it another way, we have the creation of a particular space in which things can happen, perhaps directed towards a certain activity, but with room for exploration within that; this often being a result of the balance between composition/pre-ordained structure and improvisation. <br /><br />Good to have a debate about these issues, in any case!david_grundyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09822972751622883772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6993045826856544697.post-80825345058487707102011-02-20T23:48:49.133+00:002011-02-20T23:48:49.133+00:00HI David, we seem to be attending the same concert...HI David, we seem to be attending the same concerts without managing to say hello... must correct that!<br /><br />Regarding my comments that you have quoted, I oddly just wrote a comment at my own blog that touches on similar things, and while editing a typo in it spotted you had linked to my post...<br /><br />I do not mean to suggest that music is in any way separated or cocooned away from the rest of life, or that I would ever want this to be the case. What happens for me as a listener in this kind of listening situation is not only a heightening of the senses, but a place for me to think, separate from the busy activity of day to day life. So when I wrote about the bubble of calm and consideration it was in direct relation to everyday life, which so often lacks these things. Sitting in a room listening to this music is not really different to any other area of life. I would hate the sound of drunken Oxford toffs wherever I might have been, but my dislike of this sound is just amplified given my heightened state of listening/thought.<br /><br />As I wrote in the comment at my blog, the music of Wandelweiser is, for me at least, best viewed as a set of parameters in which we experience our environment, both local, and through our thoughts, much wider. I don't see the music as away in some ivory tower at all, quite the opposite, Yes it provides a situation similar to Buddhist thought in which we can step back, but this is so as to consider not only what we are listening to but wider issues as well. <br /><br />My description of the musicians as being in this bubble was a comment on the wider world. the music they made was carefully considered and thoughtful, this is very much in contrast to most of what we experience every day, but should be seen not as an escape from that, as my words perhaps imply, but as an alternative. So when the sound of Oxford toffs came through, given the connection of this sound to the depressing state of our country right now this served as a reminder of our situation, and what we struggle against.Richard Pinnellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00168522717135806763noreply@blogger.com