PROJECT TWO CRITIQUE!
FOR NEXT WEEK
1. NOISE / SILENCE listening exercise
Each one of you has been assigned a one-hour (approx.) track or set of tracks to listen to, which will help you meditate on the concepts of NOISE and SILENCE. (Check that you are able to download and open the files. NOTE: in a few cases, there were so many tracks that I zipped them into a folder, with the .zip extension. You have to unzip to get to the files.)
Identify various ways in which noise functions. Is the noise on an acoustical level, or does it pertain to something else? Locate as many meanings of noise within your particular listening assignment. See some possible conceptions of noise below.
Listen to the track(s) several times.
Bring to class a list of 3 (or more) perspectives on NOISE and SILENCE, and how they complicate each other.
CONCEPTIONS OF NOISE (partial)
something which is out-of-place
an inability to accomplish something according to culturally-accepted norms where the non-musical meets up with the anti-musical
the limits of skill drive resourcefulness (of another kind)
is the seeking of ineptitude another form of skill?
trying to fail is not the same as being unable to do something
setting up insurmountable obstacles, performing inefficiency
deliberately making it difficult to make a proper sound
something which was private now made public (the abject?)
an incomprehensible deviation
an excessive situation, a spilling over
a parasite which rides along with the signal
something can be noisy without being loud at all
something which only becomes noisy over time
something which is outside of systems of evaluation
which cannot be immediately read and digested, which sticks in the throat noise is always contextual, relational
2. SILENT SPACE EXERCISE
Make a 10-minute recording in a space which you consider silent (understanding that silence is not an objective matter).
Listen to that recording.
Note differences. Things noticed in the recording that were not noticed when making it. Things the recording added to the experience. How the recording alters your memory of the event.