Klas, I wasn't specifically defending or embracing Cage. The issue was
his reflections on sound on his 100th. That's one I remember that
specifically relates to "nature" recording however it was framed
linguistically/philosophically/culturally/agenda-wise. His words. Not
mine. His thoughts. Not mine. We argued and disagreed about many
things...sometimes publicly and with some volatility. I've expressed
my thoughts elsewhere and, as the late Ed Abbey once said, "I stand
for what I stand on."
BK
On Sep 6, 2012, at 4:51 PM, Klas Strandberg wrote:
> Bernie,
> there is a substance in this philosophical discussion, but I feel
> that the beauty of the intellectual language hides the beauty of the
> message itself... hmmm. (Cage would have liked that..)
>
> Digits on a memory card are dead, as I see it. They are dead, and we
> have put them there because we have ways to make them "come alive" in
> a way that makes sense to our remembering of what it sounded in real
> life. (If we were there and could feed our brain with such a memory,
> that is.)
>
> What other people will hear, who were not there, is a totally
> different story.
>
> Platon saw a danger in the written word, as - if writing down things
> for later use - it would degrade our ways to memorize. He was right.
> I never memorize things any more. There is always Google...
> But has all my recording work in my garden made me forget what it
> really sounds like?
> Are my attempts to create a microphone that I love, "a vision of
> paralysis and death"?
> Hope not.
>
> Lawrence Johnson and Michael Dalton,
>
> what are your comments on this?
>
> Klas.
>
>
>
>
>
> At 00:19 2012-09-07, you wrote:
>> Afraid you'll need to conjure up Cage for an answer to that one. I'm
>> only channeling him.
>>
>> Bernie
>>
>> On Sep 6, 2012, at 2:14 PM, Peter Shute wrote:
>>
>>> I don't really get all this philosophical stuff, so maybe I
>>> shouldn't comment, but recordings don't sound paralysed and dead to
>>> me, not even bad ones, let alone "a vision of paralysis and death".
>>> Definitely not the latter - the moment might have gone, but the
>>> creatures making the sounds weren't dead at the time. I don't know
>>> what "speaks to a vision ..." means. Can someone explain?
>>>
>>> I suppose they're paralysed in the sense of never changing, and
>>> they're certainly not live, even if they might sound like they are,
>>> but so what if no one's saying they are?
>>>
>>> Peter Shute
>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From:
>>>> On Behalf Of Tony
>>>> Whitehead
>>>> Sent: Friday, 7 September 2012 1:54 AM
>>>> To:
>>>> Subject: Re: [Nature Recordists] RE: Cage 100
>>>>
>>>> Is it attempts to present moments that are past - "dead" - in a
>>>> fixed
>>>> manner through a recording that can be repaeted continually without
>>>> change
>>>> - "paralyised" - that Cage refers to in that intriguing last
>>>> sentence?
>>>> If
>>>> so, I think I might have some sympathy with that view.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Sep 6, 2012 at 4:15 PM, Bernie Krause
>>>> <>wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> John Cage had views on many issues re sound, music, and our
>>>>> acoustic
>>>>> world. For instance, his take on natural sound recording: In 1989,
>>>>> at
>>>>> a soundscape conference hosted by Skywalker Sound (LucasFilm),
>>>>> Cage
>>>>> was asked for his impressions of those creating "nature" sound
>>>>> albums
>>>>> who claim to be "purists," meaning they assert that they don't
>>>>> edit.
>>>>> Cage thought for a moment, then responded tersely and rather
>>>>> disparagingly, "Found art," he sniffed. "That's because all true
>>>>> artists know that germane to their respective crafts is
>>>>> transformation: the inspired conversion of sound or image from one
>>>>> medium to another, or ideas from mind to page -- ultimate
>>>>> expressions
>>>>> far more resounding than the sources from which they spring. It is
>>>>> through the process of insurgency that art in any medium obliges
>>>>> insight into the numinous and improbable. Transformation is the
>>>>> key to
>>>>> life and [its expression through] art, the real mystery of
>>>>> creative
>>>>> nature. Attempts to replicate or capture aspects of the natural
>>>>> world
>>>>> without amendment speak clearly to a vision of paralysis and
>>>>> death."
>>>>>
>>>>> Bernie Krause
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sep 6, 2012, at 5:33 AM, Michael Dalton wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Howdy!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Just a short note about John Cage.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Nearly fifty (wow, fifty!) years ago, John Cage presented a
>>>>>> program
>>>>>> at the college I attended in the upstate hills of New York.
>>>>>> Several
>>>>>> people walked out. I listened as he began with a script and then
>>>>>> started a series of recordings on several tape recorders. It
>>>>>> was an
>>>>>> existential program, which like many works of art, took a while
>>>>>> to
>>>>>> digest.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> While I was not an arts student, the experimental approach was
>>>>>> appreciated by this science student. I continue to experiment
>>>>>> with
>>>>>> sound.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> For those of you who recognize my signature as well as others,
>>>>>> that
>>>>>> means listening to recordings of spontaneous speech by talking
>>>>>> birds. Following Cage's lead, I have discovered meaning in many
>>>>>> recordings, because, believe it or not, many parrots are learning
>>>>>> language. Several years ago, I would be laughed off the stage.
>>>>>> Thanks to pioneers like Cage, I have been able to be heard at
>>>>>> scientific and general "art" gatherings to understand the mind of
>>>>>> another species through recorded speech. Thank you Professor
>>>>>> Cage!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Mike
>>>>>> Florida
>>>>>> http://www.parrotspeech.com/
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Cage 100
>>>>>> Wed Sep 5, 2012 5:26 am (PDT) . Posted by:
>>>>>> "Mark" seoulgypsy
>>>>>> Fowarding this fantastic work by Lawrence Johnson
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hello Everyone,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Happy hundredth birthday, John Cage. Congratulations to all who
>>>>>> knew
>>>>>> and/or learned from this wonderful man.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> To commemorate this day, I wrote some short texts. I hope it's
>>>>>> okay
>>>>>> to share one with you-- a verbal "passacaglia"-- and provide a
>>>>>> link
>>>>>> to the others.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> =3DLawrence Johnson
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ------------------------------------
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "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
>>>>> FaceBook:
>>>>> http://www.facebook.com/TheGreatAnimalOrchestra
>>>>> http://www.facebook.com/BernieKrauseAuthor
>>>>> Twitter:
>>>>> http://www.twitter.com/berniekrause
>>>>> YouTube:
>>>>> https://www.youtube.com/BernieKrauseTV
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ------------------------------------
>>>>>
>>>>> "While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
>>>>> sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie
>>>> Krause.
>>>>>
>>>>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> "While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
>>>> sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie
>>>> Krause.
>>>>
>>>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------
>>>
>>> "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
>> FaceBook:
>> http://www.facebook.com/TheGreatAnimalOrchestra
>> http://www.facebook.com/BernieKrauseAuthor
>> Twitter:
>> http://www.twitter.com/berniekrause
>> YouTube:
>> https://www.youtube.com/BernieKrauseTV
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------
>>
>> "While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
>> sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie
>> Krause.
>>
>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>
>>
>>
> Telinga Microphones, Botarbo,
> S-748 96 Tobo, Sweden.
> Phone & fax int + 295 310 01
> email:
> website: www.telinga.com
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> "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
FaceBook:
http://www.facebook.com/TheGreatAnimalOrchestra
http://www.facebook.com/BernieKrauseAuthor
Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/berniekrause
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/BernieKrauseTV
|