dear all,
first, please forgive me if this is a bit of a vague and rambling post, but
i would appreciate some help, thoughts, opinions etc.
since my early teens, when i first heard einsturzende neubauten's firts
recordings, i have been interested in how people classify what is/is not
music. sound, even though i seldom produce sound based works any more is
something which stirs great emotion in me. for a good few years now, since
i tried to convince my friends that playing the contents of the garage was
as interesting/valid as playing in the garage, i have been trying to
resolve the personal problem of why i find sitting on the roadside,
listening to pneumatic drills, traffic and birdsong, on occasion, as/more
moving as/than "music".
as a result of my desire to resolve this problem for myself (fool!) i have,
rightly or wrongly, avoided studying, with a passion!
i therefore know extremely little about cage and all the others whose names
i don't remember.
my thoughts are about music in relation to the human being, the experience
i apologise if this makes little sense, bear with me!)
a few years ago, i staged a performance in an old warehouse in the uk, it
was based on the idea "In Every Object Sleeps a Sound", we found junk and
debris in the site and "activated" it. most (in fact probably all) of the
object needed some form of human intervention to release their sound, they
became as musical instruments.
my problem is that i don't think i fully understand, how and why i believe
this....
i would like to do a similar sort of thing here in venice or the industrial
area very nearby, but i need to feel more confident in my reasons/beliefs,
therefore i would appreciate your personal opinions first! before i get
sent off to read really heavy books, which i am crap at doing:
some things i have pondered...
silence does not exist for humans
there is always sound, even in a perfectly sound-proofed room you would hear
you heartbeat/bloodflow (i think anyway)
music comprises of tone, pitch, rhythm, amongst other things ]_
sound " " " " " " "
" ] or parts thereof
sound (and music often includes sound!) is caused by vibration in the air,
it is a pysical entity in so much as it exists where there are things which
vibrate, even the profoundly deaf are capable of experiencing sound
silence can exist in a vacuum but human beings cannot exist in a vacuum
music in general creates a response in the listener, the response is an
emotional one. if the way this reaction is caused can be explained by a
simple formula, then if another piece, devoid of sound, can fit this
formula is it music? (this is something where i know what i'm trying to say,
i can just never say it properlY!!!!!!)
as you can see, i'm in a bit of a state of confusion over this, it's some
time since i've given any consideration to this matter, and this post was
pretty much a stream of conciousness thing.
any ideas?? i know i should probably go and read for a year, but i find
that if i do, i can switch off my own ideas and just accept what i read,
then forget it all! ( i have a reall problem with concentration - [not good
on the autostrada] - and books often get quite difficult for me to handle -
i don't really mean to sound flippant about not studying etc)
thanks for your patience, if you got this far ;-)
best wishes
alan
