Wednesday 11th October
This week we finally started Sound Studies and Aural Cultures. The session started with some audio playing out the speakers. Milo then spoke about the unit and handed out some items to do with sound; a record, metronome, tuning fork, etc. We discussed which items we liked and I was personally a fan of the tuning fork. Its simple build and easy to use form factor make it an interesting device. It also has the ability to resonate with other forks which Milo had showed us which was quite soothing. Unfortunately, the fire alarm had gone off so we had to continue the lesson outside. When we returned inside the lesson continued as normal.
Thinking about the recordings I could do based on the lessons, I decided to make some based on the recordings we heard in the lesson. I was on my balcony and decided to record the ambience. Someone started playing the piano, birds sang, the wind blew. It made me think of all the places in my home I don’t spend time in like said balcony, storage rooms, etc.
Reading The Help of Your Good Hands: Reports on Clapping by Steven Connor, I gathered that he was trying to get the point across that there was much more to clapping than just applause, really going in depth on the use of hands. The different forms of clapping such as slow clapping, and what it conveys and its effects when its just one person compared to a crowd; the hands, how they are weapons used for all sorts of actions Essentially, there is a lot more to the hands than we give credit to.
I decided to rent out some books after reading the articles. Although they may not align with this unit in particular, I still think it’s worth a mention. Sonic Meditations: Body Sound Technology by Cornyn Birdsall and Anthony Ennis *sounded* interesting and may have some ties to Sound studies and aural cultures so I decided to pick it up. Haven’t got into it yet but I will soon. I also found Sound-On-Film by Vincent LoBrutto but it is more for my sound for screen element.