The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the WorldThe soundscape--a term coined by the author--is our sonic environment, the ever-present array of noises with which we all live. Beginning with the primordial sounds of nature, we have experienced an ever-increasing complexity of our sonic surroundings. As civilization develops, new noises rise up around us: from the creaking wheel, the clang of the blacksmith’s hammer, and the distant chugging of steam trains to the “sound imperialism” of airports, city streets, and factories. The author contends that we now suffer from an overabundance of acoustic information and a proportionate diminishing of our ability to hear the nuances and subtleties of sound. Our task, he maintains, is to listen, analyze, and make distinctions. As a society we have become more aware of the toxic wastes that can enter our bodies through the air we breathe and the water we drink. In fact, the pollution of our sonic environment is no less real. Schafer emphasizes the importance of discerning the sounds that enrich and feed us and using them to create healthier environments. To this end, he explains how to classify sounds, appreciating their beauty or ugliness, and provides exercises and “soundwalks” to help us become more discriminating and sensitive to the sounds around us. This book is a pioneering exploration of our acoustic environment, past and present, and an attempt to imagine what it might become in the future. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 65
Page
... Silence The Music Beyond Appendix I: Sample Sound Notation Systems Appendix II: International Sound Preference Survey Glossary of Soundscape Terms Footnotes Notes A Note About the Author A Note About the Type About the Author About ...
... Silence The Music Beyond Appendix I: Sample Sound Notation Systems Appendix II: International Sound Preference Survey Glossary of Soundscape Terms Footnotes Notes A Note About the Author A Note About the Type About the Author About ...
Page
... Silence we hear only the sounds external to the composition itself, which is merely one protracted caesura); then in the practices of musique concrete, which inserts any sound from the environment into a composition via tape; and ...
... Silence we hear only the sounds external to the composition itself, which is merely one protracted caesura); then in the practices of musique concrete, which inserts any sound from the environment into a composition via tape; and ...
Page
... silent, presents certain problems that will be discussed in a special chapter in the Analysis section of the book. Through the misfortune of having to present data on silent pages, we will be forced to use some types of visual ...
... silent, presents certain problems that will be discussed in a special chapter in the Analysis section of the book. Through the misfortune of having to present data on silent pages, we will be forced to use some types of visual ...
Page
... silence— a thought which must await its development in the final chapters. But the reader will clearly sense that this idea also links the first part of the book to the last, thus uniting an undertaking that is above all lyrical in ...
... silence— a thought which must await its development in the final chapters. But the reader will clearly sense that this idea also links the first part of the book to the last, thus uniting an undertaking that is above all lyrical in ...
Page
... silent valley. When a stream leaps down a hundred-meter cascade in the Rocky Mountains, there is tense quietness, almost like fear, followed by noisy excitement when it strikes the rocks below. The water of the English moors has none of ...
... silent valley. When a stream leaps down a hundred-meter cascade in the Rocky Mountains, there is tense quietness, almost like fear, followed by noisy excitement when it strikes the rocks below. The water of the English moors has none of ...
Contents
The Rural Soundscape | |
From Town to City | |
THE POSTINDUSTRIAL SOUNDSCAPE | |
Music the Soundscape and Changing | |
Notation | |
TOWARD ACOUSTIC DESIGN | |
Listening | |
The Acoustic Designer | |
The Soniferous Garden | |
Silence | |
The Music Beyond | |
International Sound Preference | |
Footnotes | |
Other editions - View all
The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World R. Murray Schafer No preview available - 1993 |
Common terms and phrases
acoustic design acoustic environment acoustic space acoustical engineers aesthetic aircraft ambient noise American animals anti-noise aural space Barry Truax birds broadcasting by-law called century CHAPTER church bell clock composer continuous culture decibels ear cleaning echo effect European factory forest frequency frog garden hear heard Hermann Helmholtz hi-fi horn human Industrial Revolution instance instruments invention keynote sounds landscape legislation listening lo-fi London loud machine man’s modern Moozak Murray Schafer musicians natural soundscape night noise abatement noise pollution notation orchestra Pierre Schaeffer pitch post horn produced psychoacoustics quiet radio recording reverberation rhythms Sacred Noise signals silence singing siren society song sonic sonological competence sound event sound level sound object soundmarks soundscape studies street symbolism symphony tape telephone tempo Thomas Hardy tone town traffic Vancouver vibrations visual voice waves whistle wind words World Soundscape Project York