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The New Soundscape Newsletter
Good Bye and Welcome Again With this issue of The New Soundscape Newsletter we would like to announce the upcoming new publication: Soundscape -The Journal of Acoustic Ecology, as well as the end of the "newsletter" type publications of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology The Soundscape Newsletter was initiated by Hildegard Westerkamp in August 1991 and ended with Number Twelve in December 1995. It was continued as The New Soundscape Newsletter by the newly founded Forum für Klanglandschaft with Justin Winkler as editor, starting in August 1996 and ending with this Number 10 at the end of 1999. We would like to thank both editors for their efforts during the last eight years. They have provided a forum for bringing the acoustic ecology community together and have created place for much constructive communication and information. The recent formation of an editorial committee has taken the burden off any one individual's shoulders and has created new energy for a larger, more in-depth publication. The Editorial Committee of the new journal is currently comprised of Gary Ferrington, Robert MacNevin, Justin Winkler, Hildegard Westerkamp, and Nigel Frayne as the chair of the Wfae Board. So, we are pleased to announce: Soundscape: The Journal of Acoustic Ecology
The Journal is a biannual publication of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology (Wfae) and its affiliated organizations. It is conceived as a place of communication and discussion about interdisciplinary research and practice in the field of Acoustic Ecology, focussing on the inter-relationship between sound, nature, and society. The publication seeks to balance its content between scholarly writings, research, and active engagement in current soundscape issues. Each issue will contain at least two new articles focussing on a selected theme, and at least one "classic" reprint article which is not generally available to the membership from other sources. In addition there will be sections such as: regular reports from the Wfae's president as well as its affiliated organizations; research in Acoustic Ecology; thinking out loud: an opportunity for editorial comment by the membership; ecoacoustics in the press; sound journals; soundwalks; reviews; announcements; random noise to explore creative solutions to noise problems; sound bytes as a catch-all column for items of interest related to Acoustic Ecology; and more. Our Guide to Contributors: Instructions for the Preparation of Materials for Submission to Soundscape - The Journal of Acoustic Ecology will be available on the Wfae website soon. ( http://interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/wfaehomepage )Journal #1 Listening and Acoustic Ecology - Submission deadline Nov. 30, 1999 Please send your submissions to: eMail: jwfae@sfu.ca
Letztes Editorial: Über Grenzen Einen Newsletter zehn Ausgaben weit mitzutragen - ; ganz allein ist man ja nie - kann rückblickend von Gefühlen der Befriedigung, aber auch der Enttäuschung getragen sein. Natürlich ist es befriedigend: Man wird auf dem Laufenden gehalten, man erhält Manuskripte, man mischt Kleines und Grosses, man erhält positives Echo. Das war auch klar der Fall mit dem New Soundscape Newsletter. Er war in seiner Schlichtheit so bewegt und anregend wie die Soundscape-"Bewegung" als ganze in den Jahren 1996 bis 1999. Natürlich muss man auch "einstecken". Das Forum für Klanglandschaft hat die Weiterführung eines internationalen Newsletters Anfang 1996 spontan beschlossen, im Wissen, dass es dazu keine Alternative gibt, wenn die Idee eines World Forums sich nicht verflüchtigen sollte. Eine in den Sand gesetzte Nullnummer und sehr aufwendige Anläufe einzelner Vorstandsmitglieder haben gezeigt, welcher Preis zu zahlen ist. Und schliesslich, nach einer Zeit der "vielen Schultern" zog sich die Schlinge der Alleinarbeit um den einen Hals : so dass ich heute froh bin, in Ehren die letzte Ausgabe machen zu können. Hätte es unter diesen Umständen andere als konstruktive Kritik gegeben, wäre das sprichwörtliche geworfene Handtuch vielleicht ins Spiel gekommen... Die Arbeit mit dem Newsletter hat mir gezeigt, wie sehr die "Soundscaper"-Welt aller deklarierten Globalität zum Trotz sektoriert ist. Es gibt Nationen, die anhaltend nicht in Erscheinung treten, es gibt solche, die andere Sprachen als die eigene nicht honorieren; das erinnert uns daran, dass allem Wunschdenken, das zu anderen Schlüssen kommen möchte, zum Trotz die Sprachgrenzen auch Denkgrenzen sind. Wer das zum ersten Mal hört: Man mache sich einfach an die "einfache" Übung, Ausdrücke von Klangphänomenen : bruit(s), noise(s), Rauschen, Lärm, rumore, burburinho : von verschiedenen Sprachen in die eigene zu übersetzen. Die Sache mit den Sprachen soll, obwohl sie oft der Grund für reale Hindernisse ist, hier als Metapher verstanden werden. Als solche fordert sie unsere Wachheit für die Notwendigkeit zu immer wieder neu unternommenen Verständigungsanstrengungen, die keine Verkürzung zulassen. Dazu ist der Gegenstand zu wichtig, zu reich und zu dynamisch. Justin Winkler <winklerj@bluewin.ch>
Wfae and Regional Organisations: Report from the Chair The last few months have been relatively quiet for the Wfae board. The committees however have been very active particularly the publications committee which is developing the new Wfae Journal. We have every reason to be excited about this new publication as an important new tool for communication between us and the wider acoustic ecology community. As we move on from the old format, on behalf of the board I would like to thank FKL and especially Justin Winkler for keeping this Newsletter alive over the past couple of years. Our ongoing gratitude must also be expressed to Hildegard Westerkamp for her long history with the Soundscape Newsletter. It is pleasing that both Hildegard and Justin will continue to play key roles in the publication of the new journal. The Membership Committee has also been active in recent months. A major membership drive is planned for the New Year to coincide with the publication of the new Journal. A new membership form has been created and will be distributed widely over the coming months to encourage both membership renewals as well as new memberships. Only members will receive complimentary copies of the new journal so I encourage everyone to sign up or renew through an Affiliated Organisation. The next opportunity for us to assemble will be in November at the cultural event "Soundscapes Voor 2000" in Holland. Thomas Gerwin is playing a key role in helping us to organise our presence there through a series of seminars and presentations. In addition to the presentations it is expected that there will be plenty of opportunities for us to generally discuss the future activities and role for the Wfae. We hope many of you will be able to join us there. I look forward to filing the next report from the board in the New Year accompanied by Soundscape - The Journal of Acoustic Ecology. See you in the next millennium! Nigel Frayne, President World Forum for Acoustic Ecology eMail <nfrayne@netspace.net.au>
Articles One year ago...Preface to From Awareness to Action, Proceedings of
"Stockholm, Hey Listen!"
At the beginning of the 90s, in preparation for the turn of the millennium, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music compiled an inventory of current problem areas in the musical life of Sweden. Out of that survey there gradually crystallised two fields which were deepened by further research. One of them, "Music-Media-Multiculture", is concerned with the influence of media technology on musical life and in particular with the way in which formerly monocultural societies like Sweden are now being transformed into multicultural ones, with music as an important indicator. This field has high priority on the political agenda, and research funding was not hard to obtain. The final report is being presented exactly in 2000. Both the music industry and the cultural policy-makers are already inquiring after the results. The other field was the acoustic environment&emdash;a field which was equally neglected but is ascribed nothing like the same importance. We decided to follow a different path, a process combining research, educational campaigns and political action- what in the 70s used to be known as "action research". Viewed as a research field, the acoustic environment is an interdisciplinary hybrid, not yet fully established and still having an uphill struggle, not against the general public but against the academic and politico-bureaucratic communities that set the tone of things. I Inspired by the memorable First International Soundscape Conference in Banff in 1993, the Academy resolved on special efforts for the acoustic environment during the remainder of the decade. In 1995 the governing body adopted a widely noticed "Manifesto for a Better Acoustic Environment"&emdash;the first manifesto in the Academy's 225-year history. It was also logical that the Academy resolved to make the hosting of an international soundscape conference its first public arrangement during Stockholm's Cultural Capital year in 1998. In planning the programme I had the pleasure of co-operating with an international advisory group, all of its members representing different disciplines and fields of competence. I would like to thank them all for their good advice and all the support they have given, and especially Claude Schryer, as representative of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology. His help has been invaluable, and in practice he performed the same kind of service as Hugin and Munin, the sharp-eyed crows who&emdash;and the simile stops here&emdash;every evening flew home to Odin, perched on his shoulders and told him what they had seen in the world at large. II My personal involvement with the acoustic environment was impelled by impatience and frustration that so little had materialized after the Banff conference. Why did we achieve no visible results? And yet the networks, the information and the meeting points had noticeably multiplied in the space of only five years. Symposia, workshops, festivals and installations were arranged. We have met together, presented our projects and hobbyhorses. But the public events did not seem to have any effect worth mentioning: sounds became neither fewer nor lovelier. Did all of us involved go wrong somewhere, or was there no one who wanted to listen? Just that: listen. I am writing this exactly one year after the conference in Stockholm, with the distortion of history which inevitably comes with selective recollection and the wisdom of hindsight. A few pages further on in the Proceedings, Claude Schryer summarises his impressions from the conference. Basically I agree with him entirely, but one thing should be particularly emphasised. The dream of an international consensus and an action programme on Scandinavian lines to get the soundscape movement off to a flying start never came true. This was an important lesson and insight. Firstly, no consensus came about, and I am still wondering why. But the harmony and friendship were there all the same. Secondly, it is extremely uncertain whether a vigorous statement from "Stockholm, Hey Listen" would have changed the world in the slightest. Instead we have been able to observe the continuous, almost invisible revolution of the small steps, steps moving in one and the same direction, albeit slowly. It is only at local and regional levels, with the hearts and minds of dedicated people, that the changes can be made. All the time we are listening for the big sounds, the grass keeps growing, though few people have the privilege of being able to hear it. III All the same, there are one or two themes which I would like to single out and, like a relay runner, hand over to the next international conference. (1) Strategic thinking The problem field of "use and abuse of sounds" is the one with which people in general are best acquainted. And in this field there is an abundance of research and pressure groups. This too is where the readers' letters and the complaints are most numerous. What is lacking is not knowledge of the acoustic environment but the determination and the political strategies for achieving results. (2) Artistic aspects Colloquies concerning artistic aspects of the acoustic environment have made little headway, perhaps because this is a touchy subject, especially among composers, and no one wants to review or criticize colleagues. But we do need to discuss openly the aesthetic deliberations behind all the hybrid art forms existing in acoustic ecology and their relations to ethical and ecological values. (These three&emdash;the aesthetic, the ethical and the ecological&emdash;figured in our discussions from an early stage.) (3) Listening The new media, with their new, virtual worlds of sound, prompt many questions about the listener and the listener's acclimatisation. Advanced behavioural science research is needed here in order to know whether, and if so how, the media are, for example, changing the way in which we structure time and space and distinguish sounds, depths and dimensions, and&emdash;not least&emdash;the effect of sound combined with image. (4) Teaching There is a great need for skilled pedagogues (teachers, popular educators, composers, enthusiasts, radio producers, authors) who are willing to provide generous information about all the aspects of the acoustic environment, on levels ranging from kindergarten to parliament. (5) Research We must redouble our efforts to get soundscape research accepted as a research field in its own right, not as a new discipline, but within the established sciences. IV A conference report is an ossified document, a species of photo album containing still pictures that can never do justice to what actually happened: magic moments, repartee, events off the programme. Consequently the reader cannot be there when Heleen Engelen's lecture on sound design opened with a specially composed piece by Horst Rickels for 5 hair-dryers, 5 electric shavers and 1 electric whisk, performed by re-set, dark-suited members of the Katarina Church Choir. As the end approached, 100 copies of Philips' new alarm clock began sounding their three-stage, crescendo signal, taped and concealed beneath the listeners' chairs. Nor can the reader experience the acoustic walk in Gustav III's Haga Park one lovely early-summer evening, at the very time when schools were celebrating end of term and the park was full of youngsters playing rounders and having picnics. On a bench by the footpath, a group of happy young girls sat drinking wine as the conference delegates filed past, grave and silent. After all, we were listening. "Happy summer!" the girls called to us. No reply. "Hell, can't you even answer to 'Happy Summer'?" they shouted, mortally offended. A crocodile of 100 dead silent people must seem enormously provocative. V The report follows the course of the conference. As will be seen from the list of contents, the actual framework consists of a situation description (Where Are We NowÉ) and a concluding discussion focusing on the future (ÉAnd Where Do We Go?), each with a number of initiated reports from various fields. To avoid getting lost in the jungle of all conceivable aspects of sound, we had elected to concentrate in depth on just two of them, namely sound design and the acoustic worlds of the new media, to each of which a whole working day was devoted. The concluding discussion was given a musical orchestration by Moderator Albert Mayr, as is explained in more detail in the opening of the final chapter. For understandable reasons it has been practically impossible to edit and synthesise the lively question times and discussions that followed every lecture. All the authors have to a greater or lesser extent adapted their texts with the reader in mind in order to allow for the impossibility of transferring the many visual and acoustic examples to the report. Arne Naess, for example, departed quite considerably from the script reproduced here. We recall with happiness and gratitude his long parenthesis about animals' experience of music and silences, about silence not being just one phenomenon but a world of phenomena. He compared silences with the concept of absence, the way in which one person's absence is perceived quite differently from another's. For practical reasons, Birgitta Berglund's central lecture on the acoustic environment in a health perspective cannot be reproduced in this report. To avoid losing this angle of approach completely, Arline L. Bronzhaft's paper on work against noise is published here instead. Finally I would like to refer you to the 24 papers presented at the
Conference and published separately in 1998. They can be ordered from the
same address as the Proceedings (see below).
Proceedings from "Stockholm, Hey Listen!" Contents 1. Introductions Henrik Karlsson: One year ago2. Where Are We NowÉ? R. Murray Schafer: Soundscape, then and now4. Sound Design & New Media Soundscape Heleen Engelen: Sounds in consumer products5. And Where Do We Go? Albert Mayr: Temporal structure for the session of June 13Appendix Resolution Report and Resolution of the Soundscape Research Study Group Papers presented at "Stockholm, Hey Listen!" Now Available ! Proceedings from "Stockholm, Hey Listen!" Proceedings and Papers can be ordered! Please order your copy by sending your name and complete address by letter or fax to Kungl. Musikaliska akademien (address below). Prepayment is necessary, payment with credit card is preferred. Cheques payable to Kungl. Musikaliska akademien. Price: SEK 140 (incl. mailing costs) within Europe, SEK 160 (incl. mailing costs) all other countries. Address: Kungl. Musikaliska akademien Blasieholmstorg 8, SE - 111 48 Stockholm, Sweden fax +46-8-611 8718, eMail <henrik@musakad.se> Hints and News Thomas Gerwin gets Karl Sczuka Award Wfae Board Member Thomas Gerwin has been awarded the "Karl-Sczuka-Förderpreis" (Karl Sczuka Support Award) of German State Radio SWR for his radiophonic composition "Rollenspiel". The main prize was won last year by R.Murray Schafer's and Claude Schryer's "Winter Diary". At the same time Thomas Gerwin won with his piece this year's "Sonic Circuit Award". The work will be published on the CD "Sonic Circuit VII" by the American Composer Forum in autumn 1999. Klangraum Weiz: a soundscape project in Weiz /Styria (Austria) Klangraum Weiz (Soundscape Weiz) refers to the ideas represented by the Forum für Klanglandschaft and offers a platform for everyone who is working on sensitizing people to the sonic environment and the audible spaces. It contains a "Place of Silence", situated on top of Weizberg in Weiz (Styria/Austria) from where the project will start. It is one of over two hundred projects worldwide, initiated by Expo 2000 in Hannover (Germany). Named "Therapiegarten®&emdash;Zwölf Gärten in zwölf Landschaften" ("Therapy Garden®&emdash;Twelve Gardens in Twelve Landscapes") it is concerned with the health effects of green areas. The goal is to contribute to a holistic and future-oriented development of the health of humans and their landscapes. Klangraum Weiz wants to implement a new approach in soundscape studies. Using surveys of terrestrial radiation energy lines and nodes will be identified. The measurements will lead to places with increased power potential where sounding objects will be placed&emdash;realizing a kind of "acoustopuncture" of the sites&emdash;and thereby making them audible. Each place will have its own tonality, and the visitors are given the possiblity to sense this quality. Every time a sound object is hit, the energy of the place resonates with the so-called "eigenton" of the immediate environment. The result will be an active design of the place, the use of local power sources, and especially a "thank you" to the surroundings by giving back the sound to its origins. More sound objects will complement the Place of Silence: an aeolian harp, designed by Mins Minssen (Kiel, Germany), the space of an ancient bowling alley, and a fireplace conceived for this site. A enviornmental didactics network and artistic and scientific activities (in collaboration with the Institute for non-invasive diagnostics) as well as meetings of experts from the international network of soundscape studies will give the project a sustained quality. DI Markus Weiler, Graz, eMail <iv@aon.at>
Cyberslag Foundation / Open Electronic Festival - Call for Works The Open Electronic Festival is an annual multiple-day event that focuses on electronic music and media art. The festival is organised by the Cyberslag Foundation (founded in 1998), and takes place in the City of Groningen, The Netherlands. Besides organising the festival the Foundation also organises concerts and exhibitions throughout the year in several locations in Groningen. The main focus of the Cyberslag Foundation is to present an overview of both traditional and actual developments in the electronic arts. We are internationally oriented and are interested in all electronic artforms. As music director of the Cyberslag Foundation this means I'm as much interested in classical electronics (both pre-recorded material and live-performances) as in intelligent techno and everything in between. Featured festival artists are, among others: Scanner, David Shea, Evan Parker/Joel Ryan, Dutch Institute of Sonology, Michel Waisvisz (STEIM), Jon Rose, Miya Masaoka and Laetitia Sonami. The performance-program of last year's festival can be seen at our website: http://www.cyberslag.com/ For our third festival (December 2000), plus other events (October 1999-october 2000), we're looking for artists who might be interesting for us to be part of the program. I would like to ask you to keep us informed about artists, releases and performance-schedules. The deadline for separate events in the October 1999-October 2000 period is flexible. Contact us for detailed information. The deadline for the December 2000 festival is set for May 31, 2000. Recordings (CD, tape, MD, vinyl, video pal/ntsc), biographies and other information can be sent to: Cyberslag Foundation, Jeroen de Boer/music director, Munnekeholm 10, 9711 JA Groningen, The Netherlands fon +31 (0)50-3637513, fax +31 (0)50-3632209 eMail <J.T.de.Boer@let.rug.nl> <Usva-th1@bureau.rug.nl>
Klangalltag - Alltagsklang jw. We congratulate Fkl member Alexander Lorenz (Lucerne) for the achievment of his doctoral thesis Klangalltag&emdash;Alltagsklang: Evaluation der Schweizer Klanglandschaft anhand einer Repräsentativbefragung bei der Bevölkerung (Everyday Sound&emdash;Sound of Every Day: An evaluation of the Swiss soundscape through a representative poll). His study was supported financially by the Federal Environmental Agency (Buwal) and the Swiss Acoustical Society. This is the first poll about the role of soundscape in Switzerland which is statistically sound and representative at the national level. Some of the results are not surprising, others confirming many soundscape researchers' conjectures. Annoying sounds&emdash;noise&emdash;is the top annoyance topic together with car exhausts (a category distinct from general bad air quality). Roughly two thirds of Swiss people feel disturbed by noise; "it can be observed that âurban people' did not habituate themselves to noise and are by no means less sensitive to noise than ârural people'." More than a third of them identifies shops and department stores as places of the worst noise, followed by residential areas and working places. However, three fifths of all Swiss do not act against noise, 13 percent simply avoid noisy places&emdash;particularly music-infested shops&emdash;, and 9 percent combat noise actively. Let us hope that some of Lorenz' most interesting results will soon
be available in English.
Hörspiel Birthday On October 24, 1924 the first German Radio Drama went on air: "Zauberei auf dem Sender"/"Radio Magic" by Hans Flesch. This piece was not only experimenting with the technical possibilities of radio, the contemporary new media, it also reflects central aspects of acoustic medialization. Radio Bremen's Hörspiel Department has celebrated this date of radiogenic invention and playfulness with a party, a special live program and a live webcast. On air were the remake of "Zauberei auf dem Sender" and Wolfgang Hagen's Essay about the prerequisites of early radio drama "The new human being and the disorder"; as well as what used to be regarded as the first radio drama in general, "A comedy of Danger" by Richard Hughes, broadcast by the BBC in January 1924 (in a remade German version). The British expert Alan Beck explained the "History in the Dark" of this early radioplay. The program included also the Live-Performances "Radio Magic - New Communication Disorder" of today's British Audio Artist Scanner aka Robin Rimbaud, which reflected the aesthetic and medializing strategies of the first German radio drama by contemporary artistic means. On air was accompanied by "on site" where the public could become part of the show: Acting in front of the microphones in the open Hörspiel-Studio, entering the universe of sounds in Radio Bremen's sound archive, clicking their way through the internet's acoustic offers in the Internet-Café. Sabine Breitsameter eMail <sbreitsameter@snafu.de>
Abenteuer Regenwald Durch die CD-Serie "Regenwald" möchte die Joachim Stall Edition die Öffentlichkeit auf die aktuelle Problematik des Regenwaldes aufmerksam machen. Dem Hörer wird auf akustische Weise die Vielfalt der tropischen Regenwälder vermittelt. Durch die Anwendung von Kugelflächenmikrophonen entstanden Klangbilder mit besonderes getreuer Raumabbildung. Die Booklets bieten Informationen zum Land der Aufnahmen und stellen Projekte und Partnerorganisationen vor. Bisher erschienen: 1 Madagaskar. 70 Minuten, BNr. 794.010-CD. 2 Ecuador. 72 Minuten, BNr. 794.020-CD. Preis pro CD DEM 29.95. Weitere CDs über Malaysia, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka und Australien sind in Vorbereitung. Kontakt: Joachim Stall, Pestalozzistr. 126, D : 72762 Reutlingen,
fon +49 7121 2409-11, fax : 51
The Ultimate Symphonius 2000 A multimedia adventure in creative exploration of the music of the past 2000 years. As universities all across the US form committees to celebrate the new millennium, The MecLean Mix, our husband-wife music/media duo in the forefront of creating interesting celebratory audience-interactive events for the past 15 years, is pleased to announce major support for our millennium project for the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and Hamilton College, along with participting sponsorship support from Missouri Western State College and Williams College, as well as a major grant from the Elkin Foundation. One of the unique features of our Ultimate Symphonius 2000 is it's ability to engage a whole music department in a creative effort. Our case-specific web site is: http://members.aol.com/mclmix1/page1.html The Ultimate Symphonius 2000 will be constantly changing from hour to
hour and day to day.
Lost and Found Sound National Public Radio has a series on Lost and Found sound. Check out this site on the web at: http://www.npr.org/ programs/lnfsound/. The October 8 broadcast which could be heard on Real Audio was about a Eugne sound recordist Don Hunter. We have his Great Lake Fog Horn soundscape on our Wfae homepage. Enjoy. Reviews Bernie Krause: Into A Wild Sanctuary: A life in Music & Natural
Sound
Von Hans Ulrich Werner, Köln "When I am in a creative state, I'm in a no-man's land between life and death. We all find our path whether it be toward our own voice or tethered of that of an Other. Sometimes it's a combination of both. Either way I make the choice to leap into the unknown." 'Wild Sanctuary' - einen heiligen Schutzraum der Natur, so nennt der Musiker, Klangforscher und 'Naturalist' Dr. Bernie Krause den Zentralton seiner wechselvollen Klangbiographie. Sie hat ihren roten Faden in früher Musikalität, virtuoser Hörfähigkeit, ja Hörleidenschaft und in der Bereitschaft der Wildnis, dem Wilden, auch in sich selbst, offen gegenüberzutreten. Er fühle sich in der fernen Natur am wohlsten, 'wo die Unsicherheit das Erwartete ist', und wo er besser überlebt als in den Strassen von New York oder Los Angeles. Dort hat Bernie Krause in den 60er und 70er Jahren als Popmusiker, Filmkomponist und Synthesizer-Pionier gelebt, zusammen mit seinem früh verstorbenen Alter Ego, Paul Beaver. Ende der 60er Jahre produzierten sie eines der ersten Alben mit noch naiv montierten Tier- und Umweltgeräuschen und eigenen Kompositionen aus Blues und Pop. Bis zum Anfang der 80er Jahre galt Krause als gesuchter Klangspezialist für Film und Fernsehen: Beim Produktionsprozess für Francis Coppolas legendären Film 'Apocalypse Now' war er Teil des Synthesizerteams und arbeitete parallel als gerichtlicher Gutachter und Analytiker im Bereich 'Forensic Audio'. Diese Aktivitäten umfassen die erste Hälfte seines Buches, das von manchmal banalen oder selbstgefälligen Details und skurrilen bis ätzenden Erfahrungen im 'Show Business' berichtet. Inzwischen hat Bernie Krause, angeregt durch Schlüsselerfahrungen mit 'Native People', akustische Landschaften in Alaska und der Arktis, Afrika, Asien und Amerika aufgezeichnet und als CD veröffentlicht. Viele der Hörräume sind heute 'ausgelöscht', ihre Tiere und Pflanzen verschwinden in rasantem Tempo, während wir von der Vielfalt des planetarischen Lebens vielleicht gerade 5% wissenschaftlich benannt haben. Bernie Krause, kreativer Grenzgänger zwischen Musik und Forschung, nutzt solche Klänge als ökologische Handreichung in schulischen Workshops : 'Community Outreach' : , Rohstoff für auditive Gestaltung, als ein Universum für die Meditation des Ohres, zugleich Klangerinnerung : ein Echo des Lebens. Für Krause und seinen wichtigsten Mitarbeiter, den Komponisten und Klangproduzenten Douglas Quin, sind künftige Umwelten zum Thema Natur immer mehr Simulation. Statt wilde Tiere in städtischen Zoos zu domestizieren und damit zu zerstören, wird die Zukunft virtuell. Zu Bildern, Modellen und Installationen treten die Klänge der Wildnis mit ihrer direkten 'audio-taktilen' Wirkung. Durch den eigens entwickelten Audio-Computer entstehen naturähnliche, sich nie wiederholende Klangbilder in Museen, Zoos und Aquarien: 'Total Engagement' statt dem gängigen Slogan 'Total Immersion'. Als Bernie Krause am Ende der 70er Jahre seine kommerzielle Klangfirma auflöst, hat er bioakustische Forschung in den Meeren und der Antarktis begonnen und am Union Institute : einer offenen und experimentierfreudigen Hochschule : promoviert. Seitdem, das ist der zweite Teil seiner Biographie, ist er 'Naturalist' und Klangsucher mit vielen Tausend Stunden Naturaufnahmen. Anders als der messende Biologe sucht er den besonderen akustischen Ort, die einzigartige Hörerfahrung: Wie klingt beispielsweise ein Ameisenbau oder wie kommunizieren Flusspferde unter Wasser? Er nennt das 'Ecotone' und meint damit Umwelträume an Übergängen und Unschärfen, zwischen gängigen Kategorien. Dort ist es, wo seine seine Begeisterung am deutlichsten sind und er sich als Entdecker verstehen kann. Eine seiner erfolgreichsten CDs Mitte der 80er Jahre erzählt : wie eine sinfonische Dichtung : vom Tagesablauf an einer afrikanischen Wasserstelle, wo sich Wege kreuzen und die Arten begegnen. Der zweite Teil seiner Autobiographie hat allein vom Thema her eine feiner montierte Erzählweise, die sich aus Hörtagebüchern in der Natur zusammensetzt, aus Geschichten mit Gorillas, Walen und Raubtiern, in Begegnungen mit engagierten Forschern wie Jane Godall, und Künstlern, Dialogen mit Naturforschern seiner Wellenlänge, tiefgründige Reflexionen, lebhafte, manchmal triviale Erinnerungen und immer wieder aufblitzend wissenschaftlicher Diskurs. Eine Synthese dazwischen gelingt ihm am dort, wo sinnliche Erfahrung sich intuitiv in schöpferische Erkenntnis verwandelt. Denn Krause ist kein sich rechtfertigender Akademiker, sondern jemand, der originell denken und modellieren kann, durch einem unaufhörlichen empirischen Klangstrom 'von draussen' energetisiert. Bernie Krause hat dafür den Ausdruck 'Bio-Phonie' entwickelt, die akustische Natur als kollektive Komposition versteht und an den Neologismus der 'Bio-Philia' von E. O. Wilson erinnert, der Liebe zum Leben und zum Lebendigen meint. Tierstimmen und Hörbilder der Wildnis sind für Krause wie Sinfonien : ein Etikett, dessen sie gar nicht bedürfen. Denn Analysen im Rahmen seiner wissenschaftlichen 'Nischenhypothese' verdeutlichen, das jeder Naturraum seinen eigenständig orchestrierte, tiefe Soundscape hat. Krause visualisiert komplexe Frequenz-Partituren, in denen die einzelnen Arten ihre Nische akustisch ausfüllen. Dieses Prinzip reicht bis in den Ablauf eines Tages hinein und in die Jahreszeiten. Solche Hör-Territorien bleiben über Jahre konstant oder verschieben sich schnell durch äussere Eingriffe. Krause und seine Teams haben dokumentiert, wie sich die Tonalität der Landschaft zwischen den Habitaten fliessend ändert. Dem extremen Verbrauch an Umwelt und der notwendigen Kritik daran setzt Krause eine querständige, für ihn und andere Forscher auch unbequeme Position entgegen. Allerdings: Amerikanische Forschungslandschaften sind so weit wie der Kontinent selbst. So kann ein engagierter Aussenseiter wie Bernie Krause zur Institution werden, vor allem wenn ihm ein Netzwerk unabhängiger Forschender und Publizisten dabei hilft. Als Naturalist will er sich von aktionsorientierten 'Environmentalisten' unterscheiden, er war aber auch an spektakulären Unternehmen wie der Rettung eines Wals durch Klänge beteiligt. Wilderness als Soundscape und 'Ecotone' lässt sich mit Tonträgern als ferne Ahnung, wie mit einem akustischen Buch vermitteln, natürlich auch mit von Wild Sanctuary vertriebenen CDs. Das sind keine Widersprüche in Kalifornien, wo der Künstler in einem Wald von 1000 Bäumen lebt. Bernie Krause besteht auf dem radikalen Training der Sinne, das jenseits all zu schlauer Diskurse liegt: 'Biophony', die kollektive Musik des Lebens, auch des eigenen, ist nur in der sinnlichen Erfahrung existent und lebt vom Schweigen des Hörers, das er beispielsweise mit dem radikalen Philosophen und Landschaftsführer Jack Turner teilt. Alles andere ist The Abstract Wild, ein blosses codiertes Ordnen einer uns fremd bleibenden Welt. Die Unmittelbarkeit des Lebens zu spüren, auch die Gefahr, den bedrohlichen Raum, die feinen Prozesse des Wachstums sind zentrale Momente von Natur-Bewusstsein. 'Wilderness' und 'Wildness' zugleich, aussen und innen. Paul Shepard, auch ein Dialogpartner und Mentor von Krause, hat in einer wunderbaren Synopse unser Menschsein im Spiegelbild der Tierkultur dargestellt, die uns Mythen, Sprache, Klang und Musik, Bilder, Spielzeug und Gefährten, Leben und Tod bedeuten. Es sind für ihn die Anderen : The Other, die uns zu den Menschen machen, die wir sind. Bernie Krauses Buch ist für solche Quer-Schnitte ein abwechslungsreich montierter Text, der auf autonomes Lernen und vor allem offenes Hören zielt. Wo jenseits der Begriffe : mehr auf leeren, unbeschriebenen Blättern : das stille Hören in der Natur in unsere innere Wildnis führt, als Teil des Ganzen und zugleich immer davon abgetrennt. "I suspect that when we finally cast the creature world in a less evil
and adversarial role, embracing it for its will to live, the human spirit,
too, may begin to heal."
Listening Diaries Nose Chakras Day The evening of June, 5th. Finished renovating, sorting things out, cleaning up. Among the remains are two remnant strips of polystyrene. Picking them up they slip out of my hands vertically on to the wooden floor. A major third! We are fully awake all of a sudden, all ideas of cleaning up are gone because these strips of polystyrene can perform a crazy major third dance on the floor. But we don't want to give a name like "The Dancing Strips of Polystyrene" to the piece that will be composed later from this particular sound. Until deep into the night we turn over the leaves of old esoteric calendars. Finally we have found what we are looking for and are overwhelmed with joy: In the country of the Kapan the 5th of June was a day dedicated to the nose chakra! So there is no more doubt to the fact that our piece with the dancing strips of polystyrene will be titled "Nose Chakra's Day!" Martin Hömberg
Early in the morning: Composers at work Four a.m. The alarm rings&emdash;there are sounding bowls waiting for us in the shower. Living next door to our neighbours, we can only record quiet sounds when they are still asleep. A mug of tea before work, or perhaps not...? Not an easy decision since tea is stimulating, of course; on the other hand the stomach produces rumbling sounds&emdash;results that really cannot be foreseen and might not fit properly into the composition. Anyway&emdash;our job is in the shower this morning. We will be working with drops of water falling into our sounding bowls. These contain a little bit of water, so&emdash;after the drop has plunged down with a wet and percussive sound&emdash;the bowl will ring. As the water in the bowl is being moved by the drop, the ringing will produce various pitches and spectral qualities. The microphone is positioned close by; and we wont be aware of the richness and variety of our recordings until we listen to the tape later in the morning. A further dimension will be added to the drops in the studio: A specially tailored reverb of 7 to 12 seconds lets them ring and sing beautifully in a (virtual) space. Martin Hömberg
Contact: The Opera to Relax (OTR) P.O. Box 620 152 D&emdash;50694
Koeln; fax +49 221 740 56 21 eMail <kapan@the-opera-to-relax.com>
Impressum The New Soundscape Newsletter, Number 10, November 1999
World Forum for Acoustic Ecology
Editor's Address: The New Soundscape Newsletter, case postale 319, 2013 Colombier, Switzerland; fax +41 32 841 4654 WFAE online services
Production: Justin Winkler (coordinating editor)
The production of this edition of The New Soundscape Newsletter was made possible through membership fees and/or donations. Wfae membership information 1. Affiliate organizations As a member of an Affiliate Organization you automatically become a member of the Wfae. If you want to become a member of one of the already existing groups please send your fee directly to the appropriate address (see below). Australia: Australian Forum for Acoustic Ecology (Afea)
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Canadienne pour l'Écologie sonore (Acés)
Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz, Italien: Forum für Klanglandschaft
(Fkl) - Forum pour le paysage sonore (Fps)
2. Affiliated individual membership
World Forum for Acoustic Ecology (Wfae)
3. Other opportunities If you are interested in forming your own Affiliate Organization under the umbrella of the Wfae in your part of the world, or if you represent an organization which has an interest in acoustic ecology and wish to support the Wfae please contact the board of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology. 4. Donations Additional donations (in CAN$, US$, or Euro funds) will be gratefully accepted. Donations will be used towards the production of the journal and to subsidize those who cannot afford membership or who come from countries with disadvantageous exchange rates. |