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14. Re: Some prescient words from Murray Schafer

Subject: 14. Re: Some prescient words from Murray Schafer
From: "Jos=C3=A9" =
ail.com
Date: Tue Apr 20, 2010 5:37 pm ((PDT))

I am very pleased with this theme and discussion here. I am portuguese ( ba=
d english) and I am interested in music, nature recordings, bird watching a=
nd bird identification by sounds vocalizations and songs and as I like to k=
now the sounds I like th know the stars in the silence of the night as amat=
eur astronomer.
    I am  professor of phylosophy and I must said that if you know the bird=
s by the sound, and all the real world around you during the recording you =
must distinguish the two things: the knowledge have many names...when I kno=
w by estethics I don't know by science I must have the two, however, it is =
inportant to distingish the two things I could't concentrate in the two thi=
ngs at the same time in the same perspective, definitely they are not conce=
ntric, the road to one makes the distance to the other, estethics and scien=
ce are like that, of corse you can make the two roads and it makes your wor=
ld bigger and better.
    I am tired of the said " visual civilization" as I am tired of the meca=
nical noise and apreciate the silence and the "soundscapes". It is importan=
t to know that mathmatics (base of science) literature and phylosophy are n=
ot visual it's more like music,sound and silence. Very instrutive discussio=
n here, thank you.

--- In  Bernie Krause <> wrote:
>
> 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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