Katy Beyer
PV Soundscapes
9/10/2009
The Soundscape Thought Piece
In The Soundscape, R. Murray Schafer refers to hearing as one of our most
intimate senses. Hearing is like “touching at a distance,” and unlike most of our senses, it
cannot be closed off (Schafer, 11)—sound is persistent and immediate. The sound and the
community are interrelated as one shapes the other and vice versa; it is through exploring
and analyzing a soundscape that one figures out how the interrelationship works and
varies from place to place.
The notion of place is a human-constructed concept that involves unique
occurrences that separate that specific time-space from another. Sound and music can
produce place—sound is not just encapsulated within a place but rather helps in the
production of place itself. Music making and the other keynotes, soundmarks, and sonic
ambience create an acoustic environment whose distinctiveness creates a sense of place.
And, while one sound may be loudest or most prominent, the other sounds occurring are
crucial and inherent in creating a complete, one-of-a-kind soundscape. The person who
sits in a field just to listen to the wind, trees, and distant city sounds during the day is
going to consider it a different place than the group of kids who go to that same field to
jam on guitars at night. Different sounds and different contexts create a unique sense of
place to the person experiencing it.
When a sound becomes schizophonic and is reproduced (and therefore displaced
from its original time, place, and context), the particular feeling of space and place can
become obsolete. Only specific sonic events occurring in a specific context can undo
these negative aspects that can be caused by schizophonia.
Soundscapes are fluctuating and changeable—hour-to-hour, year-to-year, the
sounds of a given place are modified and reshaped. The changes caused by birds
migrating or a new urbanization plan show that the sounds around us are not static and by
looking at changing soundscapes within a community, one is provided with an insight
into how the community itself is changing. When the Industrial Revolution started, many
urban soundscapes morphed as factories and machinery began to operate. The keynotes
of the pre-Industrial Revolution become even less noticeable as they were replaced with
the humming of lights, the clanking of machinery, and cars (not necessarily a bad thing,
contrary to what Schafer may believe). As soundscapes change, one can see how a
community defines music, noise, and sound, and how these definitions switch as new
sounds get added into the environment. Preservation of a certain soundscape, such as
recreated “old”/colonial towns like Old Sturbridge Village show the community’s desire
to maintain a hi-fi, unindustrialized soundscape, while an unpreserved, progressive town
(like Amherst, for example), shows the community’s willingness to accept change and
advancement at the risk of changing the soundscape into something more lo-fi.
In the same vein, a changing soundscape tells us which sounds a person or
community finds enjoyable and which ones they find bothersome. Adding a church bell
to the center of a town may come off as noisy to some and musical to others. The second
appendix in Schafer’s The Soundscape presents a graph that shows the percentages of
liked vs. disliked sounds in four different cities across the globe. In Vancouver, Canada,
animal sounds were found pleasant by 22% of those tested and unpleasant by 16%.
However, in Port Antonio, Jamaica, 100% of people tested found animal sounds
unpleasant. Construction sounds weren’t found pleasant by any person tested in all four
cities. In this case, not only does the soundscape tell us what sounds are liked and
disliked, but also which ones are common and which ones are rare in a given area.
When soundscapes are changed due to noise abatement policies, we are able to
see even further what sounds are not accepted and who/what in the community has the
power to continue to make certain sounds/noises. This “sonic imperialism” reflects a
community’s views on tradition, authority, and control (Schafer, 77). While a church bell
may be loud, they are usually exempt from noise abatement because they carry a sacred
and traditional connotation. On the other hand, street criers and musicians may face
abatement because they lack respect and authority. Noise abatement laws (in conjunction
with busking licenses) force a community to wonder who has the right to create or listen
to certain sounds. Changing soundscapes show the ways in which places and personal
interests are redefined—they act as a window into the atmosphere of a given time.
Like analyzing a change in soundscape, the exploration and documentation of a
soundscape helps describe an environment and the community that inhabits it. Taking
note of the different sonic occurrences that exist in a soundscape shows what kind of
environment it is (a lo-fi rural area vs a hi-fi urban area), what sounds are appreciated and
which are not, and what exists in the soundscape (rivers, birds, factories, people, etc). In
analyzing these sounds, we can examine the relationship between the human and the
sounds around him. Moreover, by exploring different soundscapes we can begin to
implement changes that would help reduce noise pollution and promote clairaudience..
Schafer believes that “music is an indicator of age” (Schafer, 7)--the mood and style of a
community’s music reflects the way the community and its government are functioning.
It is only through defining and exploring a soundscape that we can gain this insight. In
short, soundscapes provide us with an aural depiction of a given area. In addition, they
give us insight into the way a community functions—what they like, what they have,
what’s changing, what’s considered sacred, what is not allowed, and so on. Just like a
photograph of a landscape allows us to see all of the features and elements of a given
place, documenting a soundscape allows us to hear the components of an environment.
Sources:
Schafer, R. Murray. The Soundscape. Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 1977. Print.