quoted 4 lines anyone think that noise is the final frontier of> anyone think that noise is the final frontier of
> music? i'm looking way ahead..philisophically
> speaking. Just throwing out some discussion-
>
Did you say philosophically speaking?
I think the sounds we commonly refer to as "noise" are undifferentiated
sounds. In other words we consider those things that we have limited
sensitivity to "noise". The transformation from noise to music requires a
conscious willingness to adjust perception, or a gradual appreciation
created by extended exposure. This conscious differentiation, eventually
becomes intuitive. Through this process noise becomes music.
Rock and Roll and Hip Hop were just noise to an older generation (not that I
want to start a flame ware about how some people on this list hate Rock and
Hip Hop :-). IDM can definitely be heard as "just noise" to the uninitiated.
However, the transition to differentiating types of static (for instance)
and hearing it as music will require more effort. This is because static
typically does not contain a harmonic spectrum that is as organized as a
sine wave or a guitar string.
Cross-culturally harmonic and melodic musical materials have been derived
from the Harmonic series. The sound of the harmonic series can be heard in
the high notes (overtones) of digeradoos, Tuvan throat singing, and jaw
harps. The vast majority of musical scales in the world were developed using
these ubiquitous harmonic materials. Sounds that do not contain a clear
harmonic series are typically thought of as "Percussion" and have a more
complex waveform.
The 20th century has seen the introduction of larger quantities of
non-harmonic sounds in to the environment and our music reflects it. We are
gaining familiarity with these sounds through constant exposure. In some
ways we are living in the "Age of Percussion". One possible reason that we
may gravitate towards making "noise music" is that natural sounds that had
more harmonic content are no longer predominant. I think that non-harmonic
sounds will be integrated in to music as the cityscape expands. It may
remain this way until the sonic landscape changes once again to contain more
harmonic sound. However, because of the difficulty of hearing non-harmonic
sound as "music" these materials will continue to be integrated with
harmonic materials... because that is what the physiology of the ear
naturally gravitates toward.
It could also be said that with the advent of computer music we will be able
to use justly tuned intervals (whole number ratio harmonics) to create
complex music that were not possible because of the previous limitations of
our physical instruments. Both directions are interesting....
When predicting "the music of the future" it the question is not what music
will come to be, but who and how many will be listening to it? Right now the
music of the future appears to be some combination of Dave Mathews, Nelly,
and Eminem... at least in terms of who and how many.
As Donna pointed out, Noise music is the music of the past (circa 1913). It
just happens to be iterating through culture more heavily right now. I
actually do not expect there to be a large cultural shift to listening to
exclusively non-harmonic tones because of the esoteric dedication to hearing
differently that it would require. The harmonic series is intuitive heard.
Noise music requires learning and effort. If you want to you can hear your
current environment as music, but you will have to want to and learn how. I
don't expect a large segment of the population to devote effort to this... I
do expect a subset of the electronic community to iterating and evolving
this concept for a subset of the future.
Chrz,
Noah
www.listenlabs.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org