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Looper's Delight
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Man, you are definitely going crazy! No- kidding- actually you are blessed in noticing so many details in the everyday things around you- sounds like a potential source of creative inspiration! Cliff James Pokorny wrote: > Stephan said: > > >I often notice (or maybe > >just lapse into a particular state) that when in a "noisy" environment >such > as a > >crowded restaurant, an effort can be made to treat all of the various > sounds > >(snippets of conversations, clinks of glass and silverware, etc., at > various > >frequencies) in a detached or homogeneous way. The result is a rather > smooth > >cacophony that rises and falls with bits of recognizable verbage coming > >occasionlly to the surface. It takes a little effort to treat all of >the > sound > >sources in such an environment as totally equal with no intrinsic >meaning > in > >terms of language, etc., but the result is a very interesting and >somewhat > >exhilarating, "sound collage" experience. > > > >This is probably brought on by many years of intense listening to music >of > >various sorts (including my own) > > I think we're getting back into the realm of "loop religion" here! I've >had > similar experiences where I tend to zone out by intensely concentrating >on > and/or suddenly becoming aware of all the surrounding sounds. I realize > that this is recommended within Buddhism as an exercise in centering and > focus. I'm no student of Buddhism, but I always liked this idea, at >least > in theory. And I believe that this was the basis of John Cage's > experimental "composition" called 4'33" (performer sits behind instrument > and remains silent for 4 minutes and 33 seconds -- the point being that >all > the ambient sounds of the hall [papers rustling, throats clearing, >overhead > fans whirring, etc.] ARE the music.) > > But to be honest, I get a little frightened when I realize that I've been > driving on an expressway at 75 mph with the windows down and enjoying the > "musical content" of vehicles rushing by in the opposite lanes, horns > honking, all the pings and buzzes that emanate from my dashboard, etc. >It > makes me think -- OK, it's great that I can think of this as "music" -- >but > I should be concentrating more on my driving! I wouldn't want the > performance to end with squealing brakes and crunching metal. > > A month or two ago I was walking down several flights of stairs in my > building at work. The steam pipes starting hissing and giving off a >fairly > strident, screechy sound. But then a second tone arose, quickly >followed by > a third. Despite the unpleasant texture of the hiss, the resulting chord > was really quite lovely. It made me wonder how often this sort of thing > occurs. I had the idea that I'd wind up sneaking away from my desk and > spending hours loitering in the stairwell waiting for it to happen again. > But common sense prevailed and I haven't started this practice. Yet. > > A rather more pleasant experience occurred last week. I woke up at about > 4:30 in the morning because all the birds outside my window were waking >up > (these birds are LOUD). Usually when this happens I get angry since it's > hard to get back to sleep for another hour until they calm down, which is > when I'm getting up anyway. But this one morning I sort of slowly >drifted > into wakefulness, suddenly realizing that each different bird was singing > it's own "looped" melodic pattern, which would come around again and >again. > There must have been six or seven different species of birds, because >there > was a real sense of order -- one "loop" running and interacting with > another, some moments of silence, more "loops" entering, etc. It was a >very > full sound altogether, and also much more soothing than I'd ever thought > possible. I had always regarded the use of bird sounds in recorded >music as > being extremely trite, but this was music enough in itself and didn't >need > any human interaction (except for the listening). I don't know that I >would > ever have come to this realization if I hadn't been involved in looping. > > So I'm having somewhat of a dilemma here -- am I evolving as a listener >to > the point where random sound can be as pleasant and meaningful as > "structured" music, or am I just losing it big time? > > James