Monthly Archives: October 2021

Intro to Sound Arts

Reflection of history of Sound art #1

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This nearly one and a half hour video about the history of sound art fully describes many works of sound art from the early 20th century to the present, and also contains some ideas and interviews of sound artists.

Sound art can be traced back to the Futurist Luigi Russolo’s noise machine. Then dada and surrealist artists also tried the art of using sound. Marcel Duchamp’s Erratum Musical uses three singing notes pulled from his hat, which seems arbitrary and has an impact on John Cage’s composition. John Cage wrote the 4’33 “silent score of 4 minutes and 33 seconds in 1952.

In the 1950s and 1960s, visual artists and composers such as Bill Fontana began to use dynamic sculpture and electronic media to overlap live and pre recorded sounds to explore the surrounding space.

Since the introduction of digital technology, sound art has experienced a complete change. Artists can now create visual images based on sound, allowing viewers to control art through pressure pads, sensors and voice activation.

I heard a lot of sounds in the video, including field recording, musical instrument sound, human voice, electronic sound, etc. I felt the ideas and Inspiration of these artists for sound art, and they made efforts for this way of art. When I listen to these sounds for the second time, I can even see the pictures of artists creating these sounds in my mind. With the different periods, the sound art will have different feelings for me. Now, with the development of the Internet, more and more artists will create new sound art. I think the sound art in the future will become more thoughtful and creative.

Weekly practitioner Lectures

Weekly practitioner lecture ———— Cedrik Fermont

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Cedrik Fermont is a composer, musician, mastering engineer, author, independent researcher, concert organiser, curator who operates in the field of noise, electronic and experimental music.

In his lecture, he told a lot about his own travel and the problems and stories found in his travel. He has been to many countries and regions to give some speeches, lectures and seminars. In that era when there was no Internet, he traveled around the world to visit various countries to promote some western music types. Although he encountered many difficulties in this process, and some locals did not think there was experimental and electronic music, he insisted on exploring and discovering.

He said he was happy to grow up in an era without Internet, technology and computer, because he can use his creativity to create his own things. For example, if he wants the sound of a river, he will record the sound on the spot instead of downloading things on the Internet. His passion for sound art and music makes me very admire, because in that era without the Internet, Cedrik can break through some difficulties to create his own unique things.

Weekly practitioner Lectures

Visiting Practitioners ——Sam Auinger

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Sam Auinger is a sonic thinker, composer and sound-artist.He cooperates with urban planners and architects, gives lectures and often participates in international seminars on urban planning, architecture, media and senses.

In the lecture, Sam talked about many things in the past, such as what inspired him to engage in sound art. I remember what he said that it was possible to distinguish which model it was by the sound of the car engine. This was very interesting, just like when I was a child, I listened to the calls of various birds in nature class to distinguish what birds it was.

The acceptance of sound has a certain relationship with temperature, age, gender, culture and so on. Therefore, everyone’s feelings for the sound he hears and his feelings for the sound will be different.

Blue Moon is one of project of Q+A. The three “tuning tubes” installed in the harbor create melodies and chords based on the sound of the city, such as jet, helicopter, wave, ship,etc. The sound is played through five “Cube” speakers arranged in an arc on the square to create a real-time and harmonious urban sound area. As the tide rises and falls, the combination of tuning tubes changes the key, adjusting with the orbit and period of the moon. Nature and harmony are injected into urban public space.

Finally, I tried the pebble experiment. When I hit the window in my room with a small ball, the sound of hitting the center of the glass and the edge of the glass is different. I was thinking it might also have different quality of every part of the glass, but this experiment is very interesting. Then I tried to drop the ball at different heights and found that when I put the ball high, the tone of sound made more high. When the ball falls at the same height, the sound on the marble surface is higher than that on the wooden floor.

Intro to Sound Arts

What is Sound Arts

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In our world, many things cannot lack sound. Sound is like water and air to me, which is very significant.

Sound arts can be applied in many fields, such as movies, VR, games and installations, etc. So I think sound occupies a part of the power in human occupations and activities.

Heartbeats And Worrying

The Shining which directed by Stanley Kubrick is a horror movie I like. The soundtrack of this film is very scary. If I just watch the screen and don’t listen to the sound, I don’t think it’s very terrible. With the development of current technology, many films now have good soundtrack and sound effects. Today’s films have developed very well both visually and acoustically.

In addition, I think sound art is very complex and difficult to explain, but it can be a state or a medium to build a bridge between the audience and the author. I think sound art can be divided into traditional and non-traditional. The traditional is a very direct form of expression such as some music. The other non-traditional is like some artists’ installation, which are combined in sound and digital media to show the audience the uniqueness and non replicability of sound art.

‘Garden of Russolo’ by Yuri Suzuki
  • The Great Animal Orchestra
  • by Bernie Krause and United Visual Artists (UVA) in 180 The Strand, London

All in all, I think the sound is also related to people themselves. Maybe young and old people will hear different sound, and men and women are different. The sound can also recall memories. Just like being in a foreign land, when we hear the songs of our homeland, we may have the idea of missing. So sound art is hard to explain.