WORKS IN THE LECTURE
Recordings made by Édouard Léon Scott de Martinville (1857)
Lawrence Abu Hamdan – Rubber Coated Steel (excerpt) (2017)
Pierre Schaeffer – Étude aux chemins de fer (1948)
William S. Burroughs – Origin and Theory of the Tape Cut-Ups (1976)
William S. Burroughs – The Silver Smoke of Dreams (1960s)
ULTRA-RED: excerpts from field recordings (2000s)
Diana Deutsch – Speech-to-Song illusion
Peter Roehr – Westdeutscher Rundfunk (1966)
Glenn Gould – Dialogues on the Prospects of Recording (1965)
(Seattle) Phonographers Union – excerpt from Part 1, Live at Sonarchy Radio (2003)
Toshiya Tsunoda – Cavity of Cylinder (from Scenery of Decalcomania) (2004)
IN CLASS
1. FINISHING PROJECT ONE conversations
2. THE TETRAD
Marshall McLuhan developed a framework to assist in identifying the properties of new technologies according to four characteristics, which he called the Tetrad. Your task will be to apply the tetrad to recording technology. Think about recording technology in relationship with music and sound at large. Answer each of the four questions with one point. (Remember there are no right or wrong answers – you’ll gain a lot just by grappling with these questions.
Look at Edison’s 10 Phonographic Usages for inspiration AND other tetrads pertaining to the CELL PHONE, FACEBOOK and other technologies.
Answer each of the four questions with one point. (Remember: there are no right or wrong answers – you’ll gain a lot just by grappling with these questions.)
1. ENHANCEMENT: What does this new technology enable, enhance, intensify/amplify or accelerate?
2. OBSOLESCENCE: What is pushed aside or obsolesced by this new technology?
3. RETRIEVAL: What recurrence or retrieval of earlier actions and services is brought into play by the new form? (McLuhan: “The content of any medium is an older medium.”)
4. REVERSAL: What characteristics does this technology reverse into when pushed to its limit?
3. LISTENING EXERCISE: REDUCED, CAUSAL & SEMANTIC MODES OF LISTENING
4. LISTENING: THE CONVERSATION & WESTERKAMP
FOR NEXT WEEK
1. LISTENINGS
Pamela Z: Voices in Your Head (2003) (click on the PLAY icon beside the title)
An interpretation of inner listening. Does the internal monologue resemble yours? What is the speed of your internal monologue and how does it compare to the speed of your speech?
Mystery Piece (in the drive)
Listen carefully and try to determine what exactly it is we’re listening to, and how this piece might have been made.
Steve Reich: Come Out (1966) (in the drive)
Listen to the whole piece. Pay close attention to your attention, and what it focuses on during the entire duration. What happens to the speech over this time? How do those changes take place? Can you guess how this recording might have been made?