Week 10 (Nov. 22) NOISE SILENCE

IN CLASS

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. LISTENING TO YOUR 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.

FOR NEXT WEEK

RESEARCH the sound & control link that you have been assigned: come prepared to talk about its context, implications, modes of operation etc.

EXERCISE REMINDER

15% of your mark is dedicated to the small exercises assigned throughout the term. I’ll be marking the three best exercises (5% each) after the term is done.  All of these exercises, as well as your Projects (2 & 3) should be uploaded to the Drive.

These exercises are:

I Am Sitting in a(nother) Room (Week 2)

Unknown public space (Week 5)

Speech Re-edit (Week 6)

Recording of silent space w/ notes. (Week 10)

EXTRA WORK

In the event you would like to raise your total mark, here are a couple of extra writing-based exercises that can do the trick, dealing with particular phenomenologies.

Noise/Silence listening exercise w/ notes (Week 10): A write-up of the experience of listening to the one-hour noise-silence piece. (See above for parameters.) (750-1000 words)

Experiencing the non-cochlear (Week 9): A write-up of experiences of sound that take place in other sensory modes: With blocked ears, the experience of sound via sight and touch; listening to the TV without the sound; etc. See Week 9 for more details. (750-1000 words)