Resources
Contributors: Hildegard Westerkamp and Katharine Norman
Books, Articles,Texts
Compact and DVD Discs
Web Sites
BOOKS, ARTICLES AND TEXTS
SOUNDSCAPE: The School of Sound Lectures 1998-2001
Available from the Wallflower Press.
Contact the Offstage Bookshop
Email: offstagebookshop@aol.com
Sonic theology: Hinduism and Sacred Sound.
By Guy Beck.
University of
South Carolina Press
Columbia, S.C. 1993
The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction
By J. Sterne
Duke University Press
Durham, N.C. 2003
Literature to listen to from Newfoundland and Labrador
Rattling Books is the audio publishing imprint of Alca Productions Inc. a Newfoundland based company founded in 2003. Rattling Books has a mandate to produce new media and traditional audio translations of Canadian literature with a particular focus on Canadian poetry, natural history and adventure based non-fiction, works for children and Newfoundland and Labrador works of all kinds. Rattling Books produce works of artistic, literary and historical merit from these genres in Audio and MP3 CD formats.
Rattling Books are distributed in Canada through House of Anansi Press www.anansi.ca and represented by Publishers Group Canada. Retailers and Wholesalers in Canada can order Rattling Books through Publishers Group Canada/Raincoast (1-800-663-5714).
To find out more about Rattling Books or to order online please visit www.rattlingbooks.com. Queries from wholesalers and retailers outside Canada are welcome as are inquiries from libraries and other institutions.
Rattling Books, Tors Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, A0A 4A0
Phone: (709) 334-3911
Email: info@rattlingbooks.co
Stillness: Daily Gift of Solitude
By Richard Mahler
Published in 2003
by Red Wheel/Weiser
http://www.redwheelweiser.com
368 Congress Street, 4th Floor
Boston, MA 02210 USA
US $21.95 CAN $29.95
ISBN 1-59003-042-7
The Highly Sensitive Person:
How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You
by Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D.
Copyright © 1999-2004 Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D
ISBN: 0-553-06218-2
US $15.00
The Highly Sensitive Person's Workbook
by Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D.
Copyright © 1999-2004 Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D
ISBN: 0-7679-0337-4
US $ 16.00
http://www.hsperson.com/
The author defines a distinct personality trait that affects as many as one out of every five people. According to Dr. Aron's definition, the Highly Sensitive Person
(HSP) has a sensitive nervous system, is aware of subtleties in his/her surroundings, and is more easily overwhelmed when in a highly stimulating
environment. The accompanying workbook contains discussions of ways to cope with noise.
The Caged Bird’s Song
An article by Micah L. Issitt
In: Environmental and Architectural Phenomenology Newsletter, Vol. 14, No. 3, Fall 2003, p. 8
ISBN 1083-9194
http://www.arch.ksu.edu/~triad
Editor: David Seamon
Architecture Department
211 Seaton Hall, Kansas State University
Manhattan, Kansas 66506-2901, USA
E-Mail:triad@ksu.edu
Tel: (785) 532-5953
Writer Micah Issitt considers his field and zoo experiences of two Costa Rican birds—black vultures and tawny-capped euphonias. The zoo birds, he suggests, are not themselves in the sense that they have been removed from the contexts of their original worlds: they are “In the process of becoming a photograph, or a drawing of the animal it once was.” How, asks Issitt, might we renew for the animal “the response of the world”?
The Stones
A Story/Essay by R. Murray Schafer
In: Environmental and Architectural Phenomenology Newsletter, Vol. 15, No. 2, Spring 2004, p. 13
ISBN 1083-9194
http://www.arch.ksu.edu/seamon/EAP.html
Editor: David Seamon
Architecture Department
211 Seaton Hall, Kansas State University
Manhattan, Kansas 66506-2901, USA
E-Mail:triad@ksu.edu
Tel: (785) 532-5953
His essay describes an observation exercise using stones in a way to facilitate individual and group awareness: “an exercise I do quite regularly with classes to train them in observation. It works well in countries with languages I don’t know because I don’t have to use many words to set it up and run it. In fact the fewer words the better.”
Ambiances et espaces sonores
Espaces et Sociétés n°115
ISBN : 2-7475-6064-3 • avril 2004 • 268 pages
Espaces et sociétés
http://www.espacesetsocietes.msh-paris.fr/
Ce numéro a pour but de suggérer des clés inédites d'analyse de la problématique du bruit, davantage ancrées dans la géographie sociale des conflits environnementaux. Les lectures diverses du phénomène sonore dans sa diversité donnent à penser qu'il faudrait construire une représentation plus qualitative et plus partagée de la gêne sonore.
Dès le titre de ce dossier, on sait qu'on est bien loin du mode de pensée qui voudrait que le mot bruit ne s'utilise qu'au singulier, c'est-à-dire comme synonyme de nuisances sonores. Car si ce numéro d'Espaces et Sociétés a pour but de faire connaître des travaux de sociologie, de psychosociologie, d'architecture, d'urbanisme, de géographie urbaine sur le bruit, il participe d'un commun refus, de la part des différents auteurs, de réduire le bruit à sa dimension négative.
Une telle attitude scientifique pourrait paraître choquante, tant la difficulté à apporter satisfaction aux victimes du bruit est grande et fréquente. Mais la matière sonore est ici prise dans sa diversité (voisinage, routes, avions) et dans son épaisseur historique. L'espace urbain est, lui, analysé sous le prisme de caractéristiques sociologiques et psychologiques fines, permettant ainsi une compréhension des vécus. Avec pour but avoué de construire une représentation plus qualitative et plus partagée de la gêne sonore.
Dans leur préambule, Bernard Barraqué (directeur de recherche au CNRS) et Guillaume Faburel (chercheur associé au Centre de recherche sur l'espace, les transports, l'environnement et les institutions locales) s'inscrivent à contre-courant de la pensée dominante, celle de l'approche psycho-acoustique ou sanitaire du bruit comme problème de santé. A une recherche trop souvent limitée à des considérations instrumentales, vouée à une spatialisation des produits statistiques de la psycho-acoustique, ils préfèrent une approche plus large et issue de disciplines plus variées : littérature et histoire, réflexions d'architecte, psychanalyse appliquée, sciences politiques, ...
Espaces et Sociétés est une revue interdisciplinaire de sciences humaines et sociales qui se propose de faire la synthèse des multiples savoirs sur les rapports des sociétés à leurs espaces. Elle s'est définie à sa naissance, en 1970, comme " revue critique internationale de l'aménagement, de l'architecture et de l'urbanisation ". Dans un esprit d'ouverture et de confrontation entre disciplines différentes, elle s'efforce de contribuer aux grands débats concernant ce champ, qu'ils soient spécifiques au monde de la recherche ou qu'ils concernent plus directement les acteurs. Son comité de rédaction assume entre autres les fonctions de comité de lecture.
Les contributions des auteurs :
- Une sociabilité à entendre, Jean-François Augoyard
- Au-delà du confort sonore : l'usager dans la maîtrise du confort sonore dans le protocole de mesurage acoustique, Mohammed Boubezari
- Trois utopies sonores pour la ville contemporaine, Olivier Balaÿ
- Bruit des aéronefs : formule mathématique ou forum hybride ?, Bernard Barraqué
- Vers une charte intersonique, Martine Leroux
- Lorsque des territoires locaux entrent dans l'arène publique : retours d'expériences en matière de conflits aéroportuaires, Guillaume Faburel
- Vous entendez-vous entre voisins ? De la signification des bruits, bref retour sur trente ans de recherches, Manuel Periañez
- Ignoti nulla cupido (on ne désire pas ce qu'on ne connaît pas), Bernard Delage
Ecological Psychoacoustics
Edited by John G. Neuhoff (The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio, U.S.A.)
2004, Hardback 368 pp.
Publisher:Elsevier
ISBN: 0-12-515851-3
USD69.95/GBP38.95
Ecological Psychoacoustics outlines recent advances in dynamic, cognitive, and ecological investigations of auditory perception and ties this work to findings in more traditional areas of psychoacoustics. The book illuminates some of the converging evidence that is beginning to emerge from these traditionally divergent fields, providing a scientifically rigorous, "real world" perspective on auditory perception, cognition, and action. In a natural listening environment almost all sounds are dynamic, complex, and heard concurrently with other sounds. Yet, historically, traditional psychoacoustics has examined the perception of static, impoverished stimuli presented in isolation. Ecological Psychoacoustics examines recent work that challenges some of the traditional ideas about auditory perception that were established with these impoverished stimuli and provides a focused look at the perceptual processes that are more likely to occur in natural settings.USD69.95
Read More: Reviews Online.
COMPACT and DVD DISC
CD-recording: Momentum
By
Petri Kuljuntausta:
Publisher: Aureobel 3AB-0103, 2004 Finland.
[http://www.nic.fi/~petriear/MomentumCD.htm]
Composer notes: The works on this recently released CD are based on short samples of instrumental sounds. The final track, In The Beginning [2001, 12:45], is based on sounds of a bird nest. If you listen to with headphones you can clearly hear the closeness of the birds, flying around your head...
"In July 2001 I made a recording by installing a binaural microphones at the left and right sides of a hand made wooden bird nest. The recording place was in my home garden at Meadow Path, Helsinki.
While young birds waited their food they kept chirping every now and then. Behind the bird sounds it is possible to hear sounds of human culture; traffic (passing cars and trucks), distant trains (whistles and brakes), an aeroplane, my footsteps... When the bird parents come back to the nest, this happens a few times during the piece, the nest is immediately full of joyous sounds; sounds of chirping and flapping wings.
Only a few hours after this recording the young birds (in Latin: Ficedula hypoleuca, in Finnish: Kirjosieppo) left the nest. It was the time to start their own life.
I shortened the original soundscape recording only very slightly at a few points, mainly cutting out (a few seconds) of my own walking noises. I also loudened the original recording few decibels to reach clearer view about the environmental sounds."
From a CD review: "The closing track 'In the Beginning' is like a symphonic poem for environmental sounds. Beautiful and mysterious music. It is good to stop by on these sounds." — Jukka Mikkola / Rytmi magazine 2004
Birds In Song
Two new CDs by Richard Fairman
£9.95 each plus postage
Available from the British Library Online Bookshop
http://www.bl.uk
or by phone: +44 (0)20 7412 7735
Dawn Chorus, A sound portrait of an British woodland at sunrise. This CD brings together five uninterrupted recordings depicting British woodlands at sunrise. The recordings here range from Brock Wood in east Sussex to an early morning in May on Dartmoor in Devon. Phil Riddett, who made the recordings, is an active member of the Wildlife Sound recording Society and has recorded nature sounds in Britain, Hungary, Canada and India.
Songs of Garden Birds, the definitive audio guide to british garden birds. This CD features recordings of the songs and calls of 52 birds most likely to be found in gardens in Britain throughout the year. All 52 birds are identified with a description and details of the recordings in the accompanying 16-page booklet.
Source: Playback, The Bulletin of the British Library Sound Archive, Issue 31, Summer 2004.
Sound2Picture CDROM or DVD
c/o Dr J. Savage
Institute of Education
MMU
799 Wilmslow Road
Didsbury, Manchester M20 2RR
Please note that Sound2Picture will be available from the 1st September 2004.
Sound2Picture is an innovative multimedia resource that introduces teachers and pupils to the working practices of a sound designer. It has been produced by researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University (UK), Andrew Diey (lead sound designer at Alchemy Audio Lab) and Jason Butcher
(Head of Expressive Arts at Egerton High School, Manchester, UK).
Sound2Picture contains:
- A selection of six digital video clips and animations minus any sound;
- The same clips with sound designs composed by Andrew Diey, lead sound designer at Alchemy Audio Lab;
- Nearly 1 gigabyte of high quality audio sample material including the library of sounds that Andrew Diey has used to create his sound designs;
- Written and video materials that illustrate the working process of a sound designer;
- Extensive teaching notes to assist teachers in the teaching of sound design to Key Stage 3 pupils;
- Links to free web resources and other commercial products that can be used alongside the Sound2Picture materials;
- Free email support to assist you in using Sound2Picture in the classroom and the opportunity to have personal tuition in using this product at your school (at additional cost).
Sound2Picture has been designed for use on PC or Mac computers with no additional commercial hardware or software. All its materials are copyright free and can be freely used on all networked computers within the purchaser's institution.
Sound2Picture is available on a DVD (cost £40) or on three CDs (cost £45). It can be ordered by post via the website: www.sound2picture.net where you can also find further information.
Web Sites
The Online Guide to Whistling Records. Whistling seems to have acquired a poor reputation in recent decades, with some people finding the habit rather obnoxious. What people may not know is that the practice of whistling remains immensely popular, and that there are several international whistling competitions held each year. Of course, some six or seven decades ago, there were a number of whistlers who honed their craft on records, often providing the backdrop to the vocal choruses of artists such as Perry Como. This fine site provides a host of information about the great whistlers of the past, such as the amazing Fred Lowery, Muzzy Marcellino, and Brother Bones, who is best known for his recording of Sweet Georgia Brown (which visitors can listen to on the site). There are a number of audio selections here that are a great deal of fun, and also some nice cover art for albums such as "Whistling on the Beach of Waikiki" and the rather intriguing "The Birds Sing His Praise". Finally, there are some whistling discographies, including one dedicated to those records that were intended to teach people how to whistle for fun and relaxation. Source: Scout Report.
Omaha Indian Music [RealOnePlayer]
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/omhhtml/omhhome.html
The oral traditions of many North American Indian groups are generally well known, though access to existing sound recordings and the like can often be limited to on-site listening booths at major museums and archives. This nice collection of traditional music from the Omaha tribe is a fine way to begin learning about these traditions. The online exhibit was created by the American Memory project at the Library of Congress and includes traditional Omaha music both from the 1890s and the 1980s. The selections from the 1890s include 44 wax cylinder recordings made by Francis La Flesche and Alice Cunningham Fletcher. Equally compelling are the 323 songs from the 1983 Omaha harvest celebration powwow that are also available here. The collection also includes a brief introductory essay, fieldnotes from the 1983 powwow, and an original program from the 1983 celebration. Source: Scout Report.
Sounds from the cicada invasion:
http://silvertone.princeton.edu/~skot/cicada/
You will find sounds from the May and June, 2004 cicada, recorded at Princeton University by Scott Smallwood. It also contains some pictures as well as links to other pages covering this phenomenon.
The Way We Speak
Accents and Dialects on the Web
http://www. collectbritain.co.uk/collections/dialects/
This website was made possible by the fact that the Sound Archive’s oral history holdings include two wonderful collections: the Survey of English Dialects, carried out by Leeds University during the 1950s and still the only systematic survey of spoken English, and the Millennium Memory Bank, a joint British Library/BBC project in 1998/99. Visitors to the website can already listen to 131 voices from the north and by the end of the summer further extracts covering the whole of England will go online, amounting to over thirty hours of recordings from some 600 locations. Source: Playback, The Bulletin of the British Library Sound Archive, Issue 31, Summer 2004.
Frogs: A Chorus of Colors [RealOne Player]
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/frogs/?src=e_ce
Frogs have been on Earth for more than 200 million years, and range in size from half an inch (the Cuban tree toad) to the much larger goliath frog of West Africa, which can grow to 15 inches and weigh up to 7 pounds. As a public service, the American Museum of Natural History has created this thoughtful online site that introduces visitors to the world of frogs, and as a way of highlighting their own work with these amphibians, both in the field and at the Museum. After reading an introductory essay, visitors can peruse a section on a number of frog species, which include some fine photographs and general information. Visitors will want to take a look a the Budgett's frog, which can puff up its body with air, arch its back, and scream like a cat in order to frighten intruders. The rest of the site is equally delightful, including a nice area on the reproductive cycle of frogs, a live "FrogCam" direct from the Museum, and a great section containing the sounds of frogs from the island of Madagascar. Source: Scout Report
