Greetings,
For me, "silence" is still a useful word. In its earliest use in English (as
far as I can tell from the OED), it did not refer to the absence of all audible
sound, rather to the absence of human speech. In the world of the internal
combustion and jet engines, I find it useful to extend the meaning of "silence"
to include the absence of all human-generated sound.
Silence is then not anything that a human can experience (since we are always
at the very least experiencing ourselves), but it is a gift that we can offer
to the rest of the biosphere. When we get even a small taste of it, we know it
is something precious. Sadly, as the human world is currently configured, for
many species to thrive, what they most need is our absence, our silence.
The question that remains for me is whether nature recording can somehow convey
back to us that silence which is the absence of the human, in a way that moves
and inspires us to protect silence and allow the other creatures to reclaim
their sonic birthright. I think it can. I think that is one of the roles it
plays. The very first nature recordings I ever heard did that for me and
changed my life. The impact was, "wow, here is this whole, rich, intricate
sonic world that has nothing to do with us. I had no idea." Those recordings
took me out of my personal, human bubble, and made me aware of a world that
existed beyond myself, that I could never fully know or understand. I was a
teenager at the time, and it was a tremendous gift.
I aspire to offer that through my recordings some day, although I fear I am a
long way from understanding how to do it.
Oh, and I have really enjoyed listening to these very quiet recordings :-)
John
John Crockett
Westminster, VT
Let us live in harmony with the Earth
And all creatures
That our lives may be a blessing
--- In 404 <> wrote:
>
> yes, silence is too difficult a term. I use "quies" for my work. "rest,
> repose, quiet" in latin.
> Because like the stories that are related here, quies (or silence, or quiet)
> is not a stable state, it's what happens in between sonic events. the space
> between sound if you want. and the space in which sound happens.
> in music, quies is morton feldman to john cage's silence, if that makes sense.
> in nature it's the ... before the storm, or in my experience, that lull when
> the wind drops in the desert
> in the theater, it's that split second at the end before the audience breaks
> out in applause or taboos
> most importantly, it's a state of mind, rather than a state of nature,
> because we all know there's never nothing in nature. and besides, whether
> things are really there or not might not matter all that much, as listening
> is a subjective experience anyhow.
>
> On 06 Jun 2012, at 06:11, soundings23 wrote:
>
> > Clearly "silence" is a contested word, but personally I don't have any
> > issue with not attributing it to situations that might better be described
> > as quiet.
> >
> > The differing experiences of "quiet" are however very interesting.
> >
> > Years ago, I was standing with a group of people at night (composers/sound
> > artists on a course as it happened) by the River Dart here in Devon. We
> > were on a sound walk and it was a particularly still August evening.
> > Conversation fell away and we became still. As we did so I felt a "rushing
> > in" - an almost physical pressure. It was quite startling, but I've
> > experienced it a number of times since when I've purposefully put myself in
> > similar situations. Its the sort of experience that is personal and no
> > recording technology could replicate - but I recognise it in experiences
> > related in this thread.
> >
> > I don't wish to overanalyse, but I'd be intrigued in a wider sharing of
> > experiences of such quiet places to see if there's any commonality, or if
> > our experience's differ widely.
> >
> > --- In "Jez" <tempjez@> wrote:
> > >
> > > quickly:
> > >
> > > these 'silences' aren't silent. What tends to happen is the extreme
> > > quietness combined with the listeners attempts to perceive it lead to a
> > > situation where:
> > >
> > > 1) on a psychological level, one accepts the definition of silence
> > > 2) on a physical level, the ears attempt to adjust to the surroundings &
> > > to 1)
> > >
> > > the combination means that 'silence' is the surface perception. There are
> > > all kinds of sounds present, even in the disorienting stillness of the
> > > most quiet places on earth (such as deep caves or deserts) but, as is the
> > > way of us humans, it is easier for us to apply filters to our perception
> > > of what is there.
> > >
> > > micro / macro listening to these places or recordings of them reveals a
> > > wealth of sound, all be it on a sometimes very subtle level.
> > >
> > > it's amazing to perceive stillness & amazing to hear whats there at those
> > > times.
> > >
> > > --- In 404 <404@> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Thanks for this, Raimund. Fascinating stuff!
> > > >
> > > > On 05 Jun 2012, at 19:39, Raimund wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > <But every now and then there's moments where the wind lies down and
> > > > > the
> > > > > flies stay away and it's silent. Not quiet. But silent. I'm sure that
> > > > > anyone who's ever driven into the Australian outback or desert know
> > > > > what I'm talking about. I can highly recommend it>
> > > > >
> > > > > Peter,
> > > > >
> > > > > I think I know what you are talking about. I experienced that
> > > > > stunning silence several times shortly after sunset while camping in
> > > > > the Sonoran Desert (Arizona).
> > > > >
> > > > > There is a simple explanation for that kind of silence: A strong
> > > > > temperature gradient in the air above the ground creates a sonic
> > > > > shadow region for each sound source (the ground is still hot, but the
> > > > > air is getting cooler at night). See
> > > > > http://www.acs.psu.edu/drussell/Demos/refract/refract.html. So, I
> > > > > think there is still some noise around, but it just cannot be heard
> > > > > due to these refraction effects.
> > > > >
> > > > > Regards,
> > > > > Raimund
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>
>
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