Notes from Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and The Tuning of the World
- Outdoors (Music Everywhere) to Cathedral (Music Inside)
- Concert Hall/Opera House (Music from a Focused Point, Music and Hierarchy, Music Seen – APPEARANCE)
- Broadcast and Recording / Schizophinia
Man ha always tried to destroy his enemies w/ Terrible Noises – p. 28
When the Moors attacked the Castilians in 1085, they employed African drummers who, according to the Poema Del Cid, had never before been heard in Europe. The noise terrified the Chrisians, but the good Cid compreador pacified his army, promising to capture the drums and deliver them to the Church. – p50
A religious battle which seems to have been fought by sound alone (End of the Bohemian Crusade): August 14th, 1431. The Crusaders, who were encamped in the plain between Domazlice and Horsuv tyn, received news that the Hussites, under the Lordship of Prokop the Great, were approaching. Though the Bohemians were still four miles off, the rattle of their war wagons, and their song All Ye Warriors of God, which their whole host was chanting, could already by heard. The enthusiasm of the Crusiaders evaporated with astrounding rapidity… The German camp was in utter confusion. Horsemen were streaming off in every directions and the clatter of empty wagons being driven off almost drowned the sound that the terrible singing… – p 51-52
Centripetal + Centrifugal Sounds – The Church Bell defines an acousitic space. Moving with Missionaries, it would be widespread thoughout Europe by 8th Century. – p54-55.
Music moved indoors from the 16th – 19th century. – p 66 — See The Enraged Musician (1741) and Street Music in the Metropolis (1864)
Industrial Chorale as Compensation for the Divorce of Work and Song – Robert Owen
Workmen who experienced the crucifixion of human culture then sang Messiah at Christmas in thousand-voice choirs. – p73
Industry as the new sacred authority
Whenever noise is granted immunity from human intervention, there will be found a seat of power. p76
The association of noise and power has never really been broken in the human imagination. It descends from god, to the priest, to the industrialist, and more recently, to the broadcaster and the aviator. The important thing to remember is this: to have sacred noise is not just to make the biggest noise. It is to have the authority to make it without censure. – p76
The amplifier replaced the orchestra as the ultimate weapon for dominating acoustic space – p114
[The amplifier] first used successfully for a political rally when Woodrow Wilson addressed the League of Nations in 1919 – p114
[Amplifiers steal] the sacred noise noise from the camp of the industrialists and [set] it up in the hearts and communes of the hippies – p 115
And what does Schafer think of Boomin’ Systems?
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