Again, Schafer is imploring all of us to be better listeners. That's
all, Shirane. Nothing to feel disparaged about. We're all just
learning what the questions are.
On Apr 20, 2010, at 9:10 AM, Shirane Sanzan wrote:
> Paradoxically, I felt both disparaged and vindicated by Schafer's
> comments.
>
> Disparaged in that, even though Schafer may not have been addressing
> beginning field recordists, people like me who cannot identify every
> creature in an area I have recorded are, at least for the time
> being, just "idiots" or a mere "tourists" in the soundscape. Yet
> field recording has allowed me to listen in a way that was not
> possible without recording equipment. I'd like to think this an
> important first step.
>
> Vindicated in that my ears have also been opened in unexpected
> ways. For instance, there is a state park I often frequent. I have
> made a few recordings there as exercises to help me listen. There
> is also a visitor center with a small audio-visual exhibit that I
> have looked at many times. But I had never really _listened_ to the
> exhibit until recently. That is when I noticed the sound of running
> water like a stream being played over the speakers. I stopped,
> turned to the park ranger sitting behind the counter, and asked
> where the audio had been recorded. He said he wasn't sure. So I
> told him I didn't think the audio was from this particular state
> park, because nowhere can you hear running water like that in this
> park and because some of the birds sounded more "exotic" to me than
> what I have heard in the park. I later was told that the audio was
> a composite CD made from all of Colorado's state parks. So
> apparently, for
> some people (and particularly those responsible for creating some of
> our state park visitor center audio-visual exhibits), one biophony
> is as good as another....
>
> -Shirane
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> "While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
> sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie
> Krause
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
Wild Sanctuary
POB 536
Glen Ellen, CA 95442
707-996-6677
http://www.wildsanctuary.com
Google Earth zooms: http://earth.wildsanctuary.com
SKYPE: biophony
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