Learning About the World – 28th February 2021
During my 1-1 meeting with Dr. Louise Gray I asked her about how to deal with people with opposing beliefs. I told her how I wanted to pursue an idea to bring attention to the UK’s arms sales propagating and inciting wars overseas. I’d thought of broadcasting live; these sounds of war on monitors in public spaces in the UK.
Dr. Gray mentioned about the risk of being arrested for disturbance of peace, which looking back now is a major contradiction by the government. So, with this in mind I will have to develop a stronger, more calculated plan for this. Dr. Gray also gave a reference in the form of an article published by “The New Yorker” from 2015.
– Reference; (Laurie Anderson, 23rd September 2015, Bringing Guantánamo To Park Avenue, Online Article, Viewed 28th February 2021, <www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/bringing-guantanamo-to-park-avenure>).
In the article Laurie Anderson whites about a project called “Habeas Corpus” which is a collaboration between herself and Mohammed el Gharani which was shown at the “Park Avenue Armory”.
I had to google what “Habeas Corpus” meant and I found that it is the title of a common-law writ which is used to bring a person under custody to court, typically with regards to unlawful treatment to the person during time in custody.
After reading this article I feel a strong sense of frustration. It appears to me here, without further investigation, based on what I already know and have head that there are countries that are regarded as world superpowers who are hammering and exploiting the lives of other people in countries that don’t have the same standing in the world and ae then using the backlash of these actions in a manipulative way to further their own gain still.
The issues of racism and exploitation are so deeply invested and made to be so complex that for these things to stop happening would be an enormous feat. Due to this immense value relying on atrocities found in the world, many people would be angered should thins cease to operate in this way. The whole idea of a prison system is wrong.
This article subjects a person who has found themselves being impacted greatly by things that simply do not concern him. It mentions that after Mohammed el Gharani had been through the ordeals at Guantanamo that he was further abused with the question “do you hate America?” which is ludicrous to ask someone who has been already so abused by that exact country.
The privatisation of prisons in evil. To have a person create a business to fund themselves by abusing other people is wrong on all levels. It fuels a sense of urgency in me rather than deterring me. There is so much to be done to make this world better.
I’ve thought about a concept since I left school. At first I had been entranced by the idea of colours holding a common sense of personality in culture. The way that red injects a sense of danger or pink is regarded as feminine. But it all goes so much deeper than these superficial examples. I began to think about how another person will hold a vastly different view on what certain colours represent, but also whether there was a common knowledge about what colours mean to people either in the perspective of a single society or more deeply on an instinctual level. Is there a common sense of what colours express, on an instinctual level, without influence of the opinions of others?
With this question on mind I turned to look at what colours mean to me. This is how I came up with the picture to identify myself [seen as the site picture in the top left of each page].
During this period of my life I came across the concept of The Flower of Life and how it can be used to represent a single person or single person’s consciousness. I looked to the colours that resonate with me most personally and placed them in order within the ellipses of this shape.
At this time I was also approaching the legal age to vote and I was frustrated with the options presented to me. I thought that the only way for changes in the world to be beneficial for everyone is to have everyone decide, collectively, on any matter. To have one person decide the fate of other people is insanity to me. The solution to this is simple and can be seen in certain aspects of our culture already: Social media.
A better idea: “Social Matter”.
A website can be made that could replace the concept of elected individuals meeting in an isolated room to decide other people’s fates.
With an ever-increasing amount of people having access to the internet, webpages and apps there is more and more reason to utilise it to create true democracy. It is simple.
Individuals have the ability to spread awareness and bring attention to specific matters. These matters are then discussed and concluded by everyone involved, with full transparency. These decisions and plans are then put into affect.
The only thing that is stopping this from being completely viable is that not everyone can afford or has access to the internet. So should there be in place; a right to information then free access to the internet could become a human right.
[Idea; A piece on people documenting their entire life through video and broadcast. “The deeper truth about the truth; is it a lie?”
If you document yourself through fear of authority, to prove no wrongdoing, will authority claim your document is in response to wrongdoing?]
Global Sound Cultures 1
Writing about what I learned from the article; Digitally Famous and Real Life Broke
by Angie Balata for Norient.com (2018)
In this article Angie Balata writes about the position that a lot of Egyptian music artists find themselves in. She mentions how there is a disconnect between having an online presence and a monetary income in Egypt and that the goal for some may be to gain a large online following in order to gain work overseas. This made me think about how life might be a constant struggle: That the thought of doing many difficult tasks in order to reach a point where we retire and everything becomes easy and simple, may not be the best option. I think now that the ideals of western society, such as having a big house, lots of money and nothing to do with it are rather pointless. I think that the whole point of life may be to deal with as many difficult tasks as possible over and over again simply to experience them.
The article also mentions that in 2011 the software piracy rate was above 50 percent. This means that so much of the music produced around the world is consumed for free in this country. It would be useful to know which peer-to-peer sharing sites are being used in Egypt as it would paint a better picture as to how this consumption is functioning. I am in the way of thinking that the right to Freedom of Information should be extended to music. As a form of communication I think it’s quite pretentious to have someone pay you to hear what you have to say. I think that the internet should be free to use and therefore making anything online free to consume. I do however believe that websites making money off of advertising should distribute this money to everyone who contributes to the traffic of the website. There should be more money available for artists working online.
Shows and concerts I believe are much more than a dialogue between the artist and the audience as it utilises a space for multiple people to involve one another in experiencing what the artist is projecting. I don’t know whether public performances and concerts are a common thing for people to go to in Egypt though this article makes quite clear that the bands that tour around the country would make more money touring around the rest of the world. I believe it would be a great opportunity to see Egyptian bands performing anywhere possible in the world so I hope that the bands mentioned in this article (“Go! Save the Hostages” and “Nour Khan”) can set a trend for getting artworks from this region pushed into global view.
– Reference; (Angie Balata, 6th November 2018, Digitally Famous and Real Life Broke, Norient Article, Viewed 10th May 2021, <https://norient.com/stories/digitally-famous-and-real-life-broke>).
Global Sound Cultures 2
Writing about the video recording of the installation; When Silence Rises From Earth
By IR :: Sankara Future Dub Resurgence at the Dub Museum, Kampala, Uganda. (2020)
This piece is an explicit preparation for the future. I think it shows that the way information is communicated between countries around the world is going to change. To me it expresses the need for a future that involves everyone in the leading conversations of the world. I have thought of ways that the UK can take it’s leading conversation out of a closed room (parliament) and into the public. So for me to see that this topic has been going on already for so long is (while sad for it’s necessity,) exciting and quite an amazing prospect. I really hope to see more calls for action and stances of positionality come to art spaces around the entire world and the more various the better. I also think that the way this piece brings information from many aspects of history to a conclusive and extremely powerful stand point is truly great art.
I think that where I grew up in North Wales, there is an atmosphere of anti-imperialism that may not always be evident but still exists none-the-less. I live in an area where the people that live there do not have a lot of money, the main jobs that have a higher than minimum wage income are the roles of the council. So there’s the idea that the money from the general jobs is being taken in by the councils and kept there. There is a lot of tourism in the area also so some towns have a more higher-end customer base and some tailor to lower income families. This leads to competition and ego between towns and isolates us even further. Then there are also the people who dislike the tourism of the area, it is seen in some places that there is only ever people around outdoors in the summer and spring half terms, people think that these tourist get in the way of their day to day lives. I think however that these people simply just don’t have enough other activities to fill their time with so they get displaced quite easily.
Then there is the historic knowledge of Welsh language and culture being oppressed and eradicated by imperial rule. This has lead to people who live in the area not knowing their own history as it’s not taught much. It also has seen a lot of people immigrate from England, so the identity of the people who live in the area sees concentrations of individuals who have roots in Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham. This has created a divide between those who can speak welsh and those who can only speak English. In some areas of North Wales you might be looked down upon by Welsh speaking natives for not knowing the language, the same goes in the other direction with the assumption that people who can speak welsh are rude and uncourteous.
North Wales is historically religious ground with sites like Anglesey and mountains in the Snowdonia National Park being places used by ancient Celtic and Druid peoples. This was largely wiped out and made extinct by the romans which can be evidenced in the great castles around such as Conwy Castle. This has then lead to other castles being made by Welsh people, for English people like Penrhyn Castle and the country being mined for resources that were shipped over to England and the rest of Great Britain.
The music of the area has been upheld quite proudly with events such as the Eisteddfod being put on each year and songs sung at national holidays like St. David’s Day. I think this is a major factor in keeping the culture of the country alive.
– Reference; (IR :: Sankara Future Dub Resurgence, 2020, When Silence Rises From Earth, Video Recording of Installation at the Dub Museum, Kampala, Uganda, Viewed on 11th April 2021, <https://vimeo.com/509852776>).
Global Sound Cultures 3
Notes and writing from listening to the Audio Broadcast; The Vibe of a Piece of Sound
By Ethiopian Records via MixCloud.com (2017)
Notes;
“World Music” is from the idea of “tribal fetishism”.
A lot of the digital and online society is tailored to western culture.
People from Ethiopia are creating new music.
– “I think it’s quite arrogant to say that traditional music… is a thing of the past”.
Don’t listen too much about what other people say about your music. “you will feel lonely after that”. The process needs to feel right to you in the moment.
Endeguena Mulu says the most important thing is that you share your work.
“If you can connect to that energy you won’t feel lonely. If you can connect to that energy, people will feel it.” – Talking about how artists in Africa are very spiritual people.
This piece subjects the words of Endeguena Mulu (Ethiopian Records) on feeling lonely as an artist from Ethiopia, Africa. He states that the terms used to describe works of art from this region of the world or anywhere that is not typically western, are too far removed from the actual works. “World Music” is used to describe musical works from areas outside of Europe. I think it is a shame that there has not been enough interest in the rest of the world over the history of our society, it has lead to this term essentially white washing all of the hard work that artist’s from around the world do.
Endeguena Mulu also mentions how tradition is used today. He says that young artists are using methods and sounds handed down through tradition to identify themselves and propel their works of art into the future. I think he cleverly says “I think it’s quite arrogant to say that traditional music… is a thing of the past”. Mulu talks about how listening too heavily to what other people think of your work is very isolating. It will put you in a headspace that second guesses your judgement and will lead to that feeling of loneliness. He stresses the importance of sharing work, especially the work that you feel most passionate about as it will resonate with others.
As a British national from birth and heritage I think that it’s interesting that I might feel lonely in relation to the topics discussed by Endeguena Mulu. It seems the internet in majority is in my native language and I can easily talk and communicate with people from a similar background to me. I think though that it is natural for everyone to feel a sense of alienation when online: There is such a saturated network of people pushed toward you and once you are in it, it can become so consuming that anything else feels out of place. So I think the idea of a specified identity is craved by many people in western society.
I think that with so much attention and hype given to western society it is a duty to any artist living there to give voices to those without such attention. I have posted work to Instagram inspired by the work of Éliane Radigue as I find it to possess an emotive quality that lacks the burden of ego and identity, and when attached to the concept behind my logo; of everyone being represented by the colours that come instinctual to them individually, it fits quite well. I question the ethicality of taking inspiration from cultures with less media presence, as someone with such privilege, though should all people on the world be entitled to the information of the worldwide web and thus had access to it; I believe society would function and grow in a much better way.
– Reference; (Ethiopian Records, The Vibe of a Piece of Sound, 2017, Online Audio Broadcast, Viewed 4th May 2021, <https://norient.com/podcasts/the-vibe-of-sound>).
Academic Reading 1
Quoting from and analysing the paper; Human emotions track changes in the acoustic environment
By Weiyi Ma (马维毅) and William Forde Thompson (November 24th 2015)
Source; – (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 112, No. 47 (November 24, 2015), pp. 14563-14568).
Page 1;
– “The findings illustrate that human emotions are highly attuned to changes in the acoustic environment, and reignite a discussion of Charles Darwin’s hypothesis that speech and music originated from a common emotional signal system based on the imitation and modification of environmental sounds.”
This quote is explaining that we as humans understand and respond to the effects of the natural world and our communication has developed from it. This makes me think that should there ever be aliens landing on Earth and communicating with us, that their use of expression will in some way relate to our own. This is from my understanding that planets are formed in a specific set of ways and it may simply be a case if reacting to and learning from their similarities and differences.
It also relates more closely to understanding the language of people from other countries. When I watch and listen to foreign media I can grasp the emotions of the characters based on their posture and tone of voice. This can allow me to understand what is happening in the scene without knowing the words that they’re using.
It also makes me wonder how much control we have over our emotions when responding to our natural environment. If humans have evolved to so deeply connect to their environment and respond instinctively, does free-will really exist?
– “In contexts that have implications for survival and reproduction, the amygdala transmits signals to the hypothalamus, which releases hormones that activate the autonomic nervous system and cause physiological changes, such as increased heart rate, respiration and blood pressure (1).”
This is a great source for information as it explains what is physically going on in the human brain in response to environmental changes. From my current understanding hormones are the signals used to effect the mood and actions of humans and can also attribute to physical growth and development. So it could be understood that changes in the acoustic environment could impact the physical growth and actions of humans as well as their mood and way of thinking.
– “”musical protolanguage hypothesis”: speech and music share a common ancestral precursor of a songlike communication system (or musical protolanguage) used in courtship and territoriality and in the expression of emotion, which is based on the imitation and modification of environmental sounds (6-10). Environmental sounds carry biologically significant information reflected in our emotional responses to such sounds.”
This quote outlines what a “musical protolanguage” can be. It is to my understanding the fundamental dynamics of expression that we use in both speech and music, which relates to the acoustic environment. This acoustic environment then also develops due to the effect of our own production of sound creating an everchanging exchange of information. This can be apparent in accents and how they form and change depending on area and time.
– “To express an emotional state, early hominins might have selectively imitated and manipulated abstract attributes of environmental sounds that have broad biological significance, vocally modulating pitch, intensity, and rate while disregarding the attributes of sound that are specific to individual sources. Extracting and transposing biologically significant cues in the environment to contexts beyond their original source allowed a new channel of emotional communication to emerge (11-14).”
This makes me think about the communication used by birds. Some birds have the ability to produce the same sounds as humans and so imitate our own languages. Others cannot and instead communicate in an immense array of ways. They are the only animals I can think of that communicate in sounds so close to single tones or that utilise specific fundamental frequencies. Given that they have a reputation for being one of the oldest forms of animal on our planet today I think that there is a lot we might be able to learn from them and they way they communicate.
– “In their review of emotional expression in speech and music, Juslin and Laukka found that higher pitch, increased intensity, and faster rate were associated with more excited and positive emotions in both speech and music (23). More recently, it has been demonstrated that the spectra associated with certain major and minor intervals are similar to the spectra of excited and subdued speech, respectively (26,27), a finding corroborated in acoustic analyses of South Indian music and speech (28).”
This part of the paper relates more to music theory and musical written language. This area of study is what I’m looking more specifically for at the moment so it’s good to have a further explanation as to why we have major and minor intervals and chords and what has contributed to their creation.
– “a study on individuals with congenital amusia, a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in processing acoustic and structural attributes of music, showed that amusic individuals were worse than matched controls at decoding motional prosody in speech, supporting speculations that music and language share mechanisms that trigger emotional responses to acoustic attributes (32).”
This quote gives further information about how one person’s understanding and recognition of an acoustic environment can differ from another person. It also states the title to a condition [Congenital Amusia] whereby some people’s ability to recognise dynamics in sound is less acute other people. This reminds me of being back in school where there was a person with Asperger’s syndrome who told us that he could not always recognise the moods and emotions of other people. He experienced a lack in understanding another person’s facial expressions. So it would seem that different people acquire a different ability to understand and respond to the electromagnetic spectrum.
Page 2;
– “Changes in three acoustic attributes are especially important for communicating emotion in speech and music: frequency spectrum, intensity and rate (23-25).”
This gives three distinct areas to work with in my sound pieces to guide the emotional responses in an audience:
Frequency Spectrum – Our recognition of the sound source can indicate whether it is a safety or a danger. This could also have us react to a sound source of an unknown being or object.
Intensity – I assume the intensity of a sound source van also become a more prominent factor of emotional reaction as what is silently warning can be as unnerving as an overly loud warning. If intensity is in a mid range the I would believe that the frequency spectrum and rate of the sound source would provoke the more prominent responses in the listener.
Rate – This reminds me of what Dr. Ed Baxter told my group during our Sonic Doing and Thinking lectures about not bombarding the audience with a lot of varying degrees of sound in a short space of time. He instructed to instead allow the whole piece to progress from one set of dynamics to another more slowly to allow the listener more time to take in the sounds and direct more of their attention. Between active and passive listening, if someone speaks in a very dynamic tone it can capture the listener’s attention, though if the rate of change in dynamics is too great the listener may give up trying to hold their attention, the same if it is too little.
I was once on a path in the woods and I came across an exhausted badger. It gave a very sure warning in the form of a growl. This low, unsettling sound was drawn enough out and loud enough to allow me to understand that it didn’t want me near it and to leave it be. Although I felt sympathy for it being so tired from the sound I knew to stay away.
– “Although not all environmental sounds have a clearly perceptible fundamental frequency. Research on pitch for nonperiodic sounds confirm that individuals are sensitive to salient spectral regions and can detect wen such regions are shifted.”
This can indicate that only certain areas of tone in environmental sounds are actively listened to by humans, which goes back to the point about “Congenital Amusia”. I wonder to what degree are the difference in individuals who are in more urban environments to those in more rural environments, or even to people that live solely in nature. Do these different setting allow for a broader ability to listen actively and if so, in what ways?
Page 3;
– “These findings confirm a close correspondence between attributes that carry emotional information in speech and music and the attributes that carry emotional information in environmental sounds.”
This means that humans recognise and respond to changes in environmental sound and vocal communication in the same way. Though it is shown in the experiments that the tested individuals were more perceptible to the changes in human voice than other sounds. This shows that humans are more connected to other humans in terms of audio understanding. It also means however that human language, vocalisation and music are closely connected to the ways that emotions are expressed in the natural world. This is one of the things that lead me to believe that any and all forms of communication are inherently works of art.
– “Frequency, intensity and rate may interact with human emotions because they carry biologically significant information about the size, proximity, and degree of energy of a sound source. For example, larger species tend to produce lower-pitched calls than smaller species (39); intensity is inversely related to the distance (40) and positively related to the body size and muscle power (41) of the sound source; rate is inherently determined by the speed of motion.”
This outlines what characteristics of other beings may correlate to the audio triggers of Frequency, intensity and rate. These could be seen as the building blocks of human communication as it is from these primal factors that we could indicate a life or death situation.
– “the mere presence of changes in (irrelevant) background sounds affected the emotional decoding of facial expressions by participants, suggesting that human emotions continuously and automatically track changes in the acoustic environment. The results also suggest that the acoustic environment can shape our visual perception of emotion: our interpretation of what we see is affected by what we hear.”
These results support the idea that sound in film contributes to the guidance of audience emotion in moving image media. It also relates audio and visual information from the context of Congenital Amusia and Asperger’s syndrome. This also means that the sound of an object or being creates it’s identity and expression along with it’s visual state and that changes in it’s sound can effect the way that it is seen visually.
– “Contemporary theories of cognitive evolution posit a sequence of critical transitions (8, 42), including a transition in which a concrete, time-bound representation of the environment evolved into an abstract representation by extracting key features from the environment. An abstract representation provided individual with an understanding that sensory attributes were not tied to specific environments but had significance independently of circumstances. This transition would have made it possible for individuals to communicate the meaning of stimulus attributes in novel contexts and channels of communication, including vocalizations. This evolutionary stage has been referred to as mimetic cognition.”
This is explaining how communicating beings have taken information from their environment and developed it into a separate audio language, to communicate between themselves. This form of abstracting audio from the natural world for personal use has been named mimetic cognition.
Page 4;
– “emotional mimesis may have allowed early hominins to share biologically significant information efficiently. Human memory everntually became inadequate for storing and processing our accumulating collective knowledge, creating the need for a more efficient and effective communication system. This led to the next transition: the invention of language, revolutionary for the evolution of human cognition (7, 8, 12, 43).”
This is incredibly interesting; to know that when faced with a physical and biological problem, that humans have instead of physically changing over a long period of time, they adapted the way they use communication so that it compresses information. This has allowed for the same information to be stored and shared in a more efficient way.
The compressed information has then been developed into a languages that can communicate a vast array of topics. It is now at a point where some languages have words to express certain emotions or topics that other languages do not have words for. This shows the differences in developments of communication in different societies around the world.
Conclusion;
This has taught me about the relation between natural sounds and the development of human speech and music. It tells me that there are ties between the way we communicate audio information and the audio environments of the natural world. I have also learnt that audio is tracked by human emotion continuously without having to actively listen which has been backed up by tests that track responses to audio and visual emotions. They indicated that a person can unknowingly be affected by their audio environment, altering their perception of their other senses. The paper also outlines key factors that alter the perception of emotions in sound such as the stated frequency spectrum, intensity and rate of sounds, which give biological information about the sound source. These ways of deciphering information from sound sources is a way of protecting one’s self from dangers, this has then lead to the imitation and abstraction of natural sounds to communication within groups of humans and has then developed into a compression of sonic information to the form of spoken language and speech. It is mentioned as well that music and speech has become generally separated between the more functional “speech” and the more expressive “music”.
Author’s References;
– (1) (Phelps EA, LeDoux JE (2005) Contributions of the amygdala to emotion processing: From animal models to human behavior. Neuron 48(2):175–187.)
– (6) (Fitch WT (2006) The biology and evolution of music: A comparative perspective. Cognition 100(1):173–215.)
– (7) (Brown S (2000) The “musilanguage” model of music evolution. The Origins of Music, eds Brown S, Merker B, Wallin C, Wallin NL (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA), pp 271–300.)
– (8) (Mithen SJ (2006) The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body (Harvard Univ Press, Cambridge, MA).)
– (9) (Fitch WT (2004) The evolution of language. The Cognitive Neurosciences III, ed Gazzaniga M (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA).)
– (10) (Fitch WT (2010) The Evolution of Language (Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge, UK).)
– (11) (Richman B (1993) On the evolution of speech: Singing as the middle term. Curr Anthropol 34(5):721–722)
– (12) (Dissanayake E (2000) Antecedents of the temporal arts in early mother-infant interaction. The Origins of Music, eds Brown S, Merker B, Wallin C, Wallin NL (The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA), pp 389–410.)
– (13) (Trehub SE (2003) The developmental origins of musicality. Nat Neurosci 6(7): 669–673.)
– (14) (Levitin DJ (2008) The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature (Dutton Penguin, NY).)
– (23) (Juslin PN, Laukka P (2003) Communication of emotions in vocal expression and music performance: Different channels, same code? Psychol Bull 129(5):770–814.)
– (24) (Ilie G, Thompson WF (2006) A comparison of acoustic cues in music and speech for three dimensions of affect. Music Percept 23(4):319–329.)
– (25) (Ilie G, Thompson WF (2011) Experiential and cognitive changes following seven minutes exposure to music and speech. Music Percept 28(3):247–264)
– (26) (Bowling DL, Gill K, Choi JD, Prinz J, Purves D (2010) Major and minor music compared to excited and subdued speech. J Acoust Soc Am 127(1):491–503.)
– (27) (Curtis ME, Bharucha JJ (2010) The minor third communicates sadness in speech, mirroring its use in music. Emotion 10(3):335–348)
– (28) (Bowling DL, Sundararajan J, Han S, Purves D (2012) Expression of emotion in Eastern and Western music mirrors vocalization. PLoS One 7(3):e31942.)
– (32) (Thompson WF, Marin MM, Stewart L (2012) Reduced sensitivity to emotional prosody in congenital amusia rekindles the musical protolanguage hypothesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109(46):19027–19032.)
– (39) (Hauser MD (1993) The evolution of nonhuman primate vocalizations: Effects of phylogeny, body weight, and social context. Am Nat 142(3):528–542)
– (40) (Marten K, Marler P (1977) Sound transmission and its significance for animal vocalization. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2(3):271–290.)
– (41) (Bennet-Clark HC (1998) Size and scale effects as constraints in insect sound communication. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 353(1367):407–419)
– (42) (Donald M (1991) Origins of the Modern Mind: Three Stages in the Evolution of Culture and Cognition (Harvard Univ Press, Cambridge, MA).)
– (43) (Christiansen MH, Kirby S (2003) Language evolution: The hardest problem in science? Language Evolution, eds Christiansen M, Kirby S (Oxford Univ Press, NY), pp 77–93.)
– Reference; (Weiyi Ma, 马维毅 and William Forde Thompson, November 24, 2015, Human emotions track changes in the acoustic environment, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 112, No. 47, pp. 14563-14568, <https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26465858>).
Academic Reading 2
Relations Between Musical Structures and Perceived and Felt Emotions
by Ai Kawakami, Kiyoshi Furukawa, Kentaro Katahira, Keiko Kamiyama and Kazuo at the Emotional Information Joint Research Laboratory, RIKEN, BSI, Saitama, Japan
17th July 2012 Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan
Okanoya
This paper is testing the felt emotions of individuals whilst listening to sad music (Minor-key, dissonant and high-note-density) and the emotions they perceived the music to project. It is a way to further understand why people enjoy listening to sad songs and music.
Page 407;
This page talks about past experiments to explain two types of reactions to specifically emotive sound pieces. It talks about the difference between emotions that the pieces evoke, distinguished by the listener and the feelings felt by the listener. It states that “Killinen and Ravaja (2006)” examined the relationships between the two types of emotion and found that while generally the two linked towards the same result after listening, that sometimes people felt differently to the emotions projected by the music, it states that Kallinen and Ravaja (2006) felt that the listener’s personality could be the leading factor of this. The writers of this paper; Kawakami, Furukawa, et.al. (2012) thought to “musical experience” as a factor. I would question however the bases on which Kallinen and Ravaja (2006) define “personality”. I believe it would be dependent on the overall mood of the person, at the time of taking the test. I have found that some times when listening to more experimental music, dissonant tunes or sound piece that project a feeling of negativity when I visit university; sometimes it can be completely exciting and interesting and other times it can feel like a form of emotional abuse. This I can relate to my personal experiences throughout that week leading to my lectures and their effects on my mood. I do not think that my “personality” is a fixed factor to determine my emotional responses to music as I see personality and mood as different. Mood is an immediate state of emotion that can determine results of incoming and outgoing expression and personality is the building blocks that can be swayed in any direction by mood.
I think if I were to test people’s emotional responses to pieces of music that it would have to be a long process where the individual determines their own times of performing tests and that their overall mood and specific salient emotions should be documented before and after each test.
Page 408;
This paper includes test of three hypothesis; “that people do not always experience negative emotions when they listen to sad music (Kallinen & Ravaja (2006) and that people sometimes enjoy sad music (Schubert, 1996)”, “that perceived and felt emotions might differ when people listened to dissonant music and music in minor keys” and “when people listened to dissonant music the emotions felt by the listeners with more music experience would be more unpleasant that those felt by listeners with less music experience”.
The third hypothesis is based on the findings of Dellacherie, Roy, Hugueville, Peretz and Samson (2011) that “listeners with substantial music experience have been found to rate dissonance as more unpleasant than do listeners with little music experience”.
page 410 – 411;
I lack a significant amount of knowledge about music theory and language so a lot of this paper does not make sense to me despite reading is multiple times over. Their use of mathematics is also confusing to me as I do not know wat certain letters represent.
In conclusion however it was found by the authors that the measure of musical experience and non musical experience did result in the difference of felt emotion. It was also found that in individuals with higher music experience that the perceived emotions in the music and the felt emotions in the individual differed, furthering the “study about the fascination of sad music”.
Author’s References;
– (Kallinen, K., & Ravaja, N. (2006). Emotion perceived and emotion felt: Same and different. Musicae Scientiae, 10, 191-213. doi: 10.1177/102986490601000203)
– (Schubert, E. (1996). Enjoyment of unpleasant emotions in music: An associative network explanation. Psychology of Music, 24, 18-28. doi: 10.1177/0305735696241003)
– (Dellacherie, D., Roy, M., Hugueville, L., Peretz, I., & Samson, S. (2011). The effect of music experience on emotional self-reports and psychophysiological responses to dissonance. Psychophysiology, 48, 337-349. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2010.01075.x)
– Reference; (Ai Kawakami, Kiyoshi Furukawa, Kentaro Katahira, Keiko Kamiyama and Kazuo Okanoya, 2012, Relations Between Musical Structures and Perceived and Felt Emotions, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan, Emotional Information Joint Research Laboratory, RIKEN, BSI, Saitama, Japan, Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal , Vol. 30, No. 4 (Apr. 1, 2013), pp. 407-417, Viewed 19th May 2021, <https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/mp.2013.30.4.407>).
Experience of an acoustic environment
When thinking of an acoustic environment I first thought of gigs and festivals. I’ve been to raves, though the best experiences in sound I have had is when I have had my earphones in, listening to music as I travel on the bus to and from school and college. In school it was an escape. I could isolate from people that did not like me and instead of dealing with them; I could experience my own perception of the world. I chose and discovered songs that I would associate with my green surroundings.
I felt euphoric in the depths of the songs, allowing the basslines, melodies and rhythms to fuel my passion to discover more. Whenever I would find a texture or sequence that I could not relate to anything I’d found before, it would resonate in my entire mind. I felt as thought the music surrounded me physically but also spiritually. As if I could float, I allowed the bass and sub-mid range of frequencies to propel me, or, to ground me as the higher frequencies used to decorate the pieces led me in any given direction.
I’d often turn the volume of the songs up higher than was most likely healthy but it is when you hear pieces at an increased volume that you more easily invest yourself and find more detail to pick out and discover. The songs I would listen to would be made up of layers; percussion, bassline, melody, occasional additional melodies and decoration. I distinctly remember trying to pick up the transitional sections of songs by Sia. I remember that she would use a melody to lead the listening whilst another section took it’s place in the back of your mind. These sub tunes would then take place of the lead, though due to them being subconscious initially, it made the transitions seamless. It’s in these depths of songs that I feel alive, as if it encloses you in it’s environment and you are given free reign to look and take note of whatever you found in front of you, beneath you or behind you.
There is often a lot to look at through the windows of a bus and the journeys I took have insanely beautiful views. This was mostly the routes when in college. My first college was Coleg Cambria in Wrexham which I took a two hour bus each way too and from, five days a week. The journey would go from more plain areas of fields to towns, to deeply wooded areas to high hilltop valleys where you could see a picture from every angle. It was as though I could drink in the views which changed everyday by the seasons whilst being encapsulated by the sounds from my earphones.
Decorative tones that break away and cling on to soft and sturdy basslines were what resonated with me the most. The lower frequencies would hold you like a hug whilst the higher, more delicate tones would excite the colours and images before me. A feeling of progression was my strongest attribute at these times, the world felt vibrantly fresh and incredibly vast. I think that what possibly heightened this experience was the uncontrolled speed at which I travelled, as the bus was driven by someone else, uninfluenced by the sounds I was hearing. There was a newness that I experienced every day. Never was any one visual frame ever the same, due to angles and the effects of each days weather and temperament. There was also the ability, with online services, to find many different and new songs along each journey. If I would find a theme of frequencies and their placement that I found incredible then I could find an sift through multiple songs and artist with similar themes and vibrancies.
I am enthralled by the colour green and when moving through a natural environment it’s depth and range is unparalleled. I feel that this relates to the music I would find as its their depth and diversity that I would find myself succumb to. In my second college, Coleg Llandrillo, the journey was not so lush. It was not a public bus but rather a coach that the college employed that I would use music on to merely make the journey pass more quickly, like in high school again, but with less enthusiasm. I quickly had to switch to public busses, though it was the small busses designed for the elderly people in the area. I had to take two of them from where I lived, though on the second we did pass Abergele Castle Gwych which was a great highlight. So the music helped me; waiting at the bus stops where I would lightly dance despite the awkwardness of people around me, it helped me forget the cold and decorated the great amount of grey stone and concrete that was around me. On the public busses it did become again, more inviting and from the influences of my brother who DJed in Rhyl and Liverpool I found that the fixed genres of dance music at the time, influenced my personality and to wear more blue. The music became less about subdued basslines that stretch and slow you down and more about an intense liveliness that took the same basses though hit you with them more fiercely.
Week 22 – Draft of Abstract
How expression flourishes like the branches of a tree
Art at its core is the result of an expressed emotion and electromagnetism is it’s translator. If you think to how objects come into being, then there are always things that create and shape them. This idea of objective beings translating to other beings is exciting and the perpetuality of it is thrilling to me, so I wish to look further into this. How society and organisms commune, what may have caused this and in response; what this means.
I plan to look into the different categories of living beings and find out what it is that they use to create and understand art. These categories may be; mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, plants with flowers, plants without flowers, insects, fungi and bacteria. I shall research the ways that these beings communicate by finding supportive academic writings. I’ll then give thought to how these various types of expression relates to our own lives.
I hope that by the end of this both myself and any readers may find something new or may bring together what is already known, so as to form a more simplified view of our interactions with things around us. I think that this could be beneficial in trying to tackle broader issues that are apparent in today’s society.
I wrote this very freely. I thought I’d go about it as I see comfortable and interesting. I received feedback from Dr. Milo Taylor though I did not receive feedback from a classmate. I was told to reference and back up what it is I’m saying in order for it to be able to hold informative value, I wrote notes seen bellow:
Essay Attempt 2
Thursday 20th May; Positionality: Fashion and Politics
Global Sonic Cultures
Ai Kawakama and Kiyoshi Furukawa (2012) questioned why people enjoyed listening to sad music. They performed tests to demonstrate that people don’t hold the same level of emotion that a piece of music projects at the time of listening.
These tests were performed at the Emotional Information Joint Research Laboratory, RIKEN, BSI, Saitama, Japan.
The positionality of the above mentioned authors has led them to perform tests on a topic which involves the transmission of emotions through sound. This is very similar to Ugandan IR :: Sankara Future Dub Resurgence as they performed their piece “When Silence Rises From Earth”. In this piece members of the S I wonder how is it that I find myself on a “Sound Arts” course in London as the definitions of the words are as follows;
Sound
As a noun
Vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard when they reach a person’s or animal’s ear.” and “sound produced by continuous and regular vibrations, as opposed to noise.”
As a verb
“Emit or cause to emit sound.” and “convey a specified impression when heard.”.
Arts
As a noun
“The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.”, “the various branches of creative activity, such as painting, music, literature, and dance.”, “subjects of study primarily concerned with human creativity and social life, such as languages, literature, and history (as contrasted with scientific or technical subjects).” and “a skill at doing a specified thing, typically one acquired through practice.”.
Up to this point I have been extremely stuck as to what to write about. I’ve become fixated on backing up my point so much that I am caught up in what I am allowed to say. On Friday 28th May I spoke with Jose Macabra and voiced my concerns, he told elaborated further on the ways we can gather information and form a written essay on what we find. He also gave examples of subjecting sound from moving image, so I have thought towards the sound used in fashion shows and the rivalries that exist in fashion, between countries.
– [Who owns the Victoria and Albert Museum and who owns UAL?]
– [What is it that distinguishes humans as separate from other animals in the ability or desire to keep steady beats and move to them?]
Essay Attempt 3
Positionality; Sound for Runway, Britain and Italy
Sunday 30th May
Questions;
Who creates and organises the sounds used during the Vivienne Westwood Couture collection showcases and who does the same for brands such as Burberry? As Burberry’s clothes are designed by Recardo Tiscci at the moment, who is an Italian designer, I also want to know about the sound used in Italian fashion showcasing from houses and labels such as …
I have a friend named Francesco Petruzzellli who lives in Italy and works in Rome, Milan and elsewhere around his country and I asked him if there are any streets in Rome that are similar to Savile Row and Bond Street which are notorious for tailoring and couture designer shops in London. He told me that in Rome there are three streets that are historically known for their fashion brands and tailoring. He also told me that Milan has two streets known for the similar types of shops. I have since looked through Google Street View and listed these streets and the British and Italian fashion brands that are seen on them below:
Rome;
Via Condotti
– Max Mara
– Dolce & Gabbana
– Tod’s; Italian [Boutique]
– Bottega Veneta
– Buccellati [Jeweller]
– Loro Piana
– Pomellato [Jeweller] 1967
– Brioni
– Salvatore Ferragamo
– Ermenegildo Zegna
– Alberta Ferretti
– Bolaffi
– Sergio Rossi
– Valentino
– Prada
– Gucci
– Falconeri
– Eleuteri [Jewellery]
– Damiani [Jewellery]
– Church’s [English Footwear]
– Moncler an Italian brand with an Italian creative director though Craig Green designs for them also, he is
British]
Via Del Babuino
– Hogan
– GCDS
– Compagnia Italiana
– Mattioli [Jewellery]
– Etro
– Ermanno Scervino
– U-Boat [Watches]
– Pinko
– Panerai
– Miu Miu
– Monnalisa
– Piazza Sempione
– Emporio Armani
– Gente
– Chiara Boni
– Giovanni Raspini
– Aspesi
– Marni
– Roberto Coin [Jewellery]
– Baldinini [Footwear]
– Serapian
– Corneliani
– Kiton
– Pollini
– Blue Les Copains
– REDValentino [Collaborated with Central Saint Martins MA Fashion Image Course for SS21]
– Fratelli Rossetti
– TUMI
– Brunello Cucinelli
– Rucoline [Footwear]
– Rosato [Goldsmiths]
– David Naman
– A. Testoni
– Vhernier [goldsmiths]
– Sandro Ferrone
– Moschino
– OMAI
– Fabiana Filippi
– Jo Malone [British Fragrance]
– Momoni
– Fabriano Boutique [Stationary]
– Stone Island
– Mia Bag
– Frau [Footwear]
– Off-White
– Boggi Milano
– Fabi
– Vincenzo
– Aurora Penne [Stationary]
– Pasquale Bruni [Jewellery]
– Ottica Spiezia [Eyewear]
– Golden Goose
– Borsalino [Oldest italian Milliner]
Via Frattina
– Luisa Spagnoli
– Acqua Dell’Elba [Fragrance]
– Gente
– Andrew’s Ties
– Baldinini
– P.A.R.O.S.H
– Flavio Castellani
– Calzedonia
– FABIO D
– Rebecca [Rebecca Gioielli]
– Pinko
– Nicotra di San Giacomo
– Manila Grace
– Chopin Roma
– Emanuela Caruso Capri
– Pelletterie Giudi
– Gioielleria Micarelli [Jewellery]
– Save My Bag
– FREDDY Sport
– Moreschi
– Nomination Italy [Jewellery]
– Alviero Martini
– Patrezia Pepe
– Marella
– Graziella Braccialini
– Cesare Paciotti
– Falconeri
– Fausto Santini
– Pennyblack
– Emporio Armani
– Gallo 1927
– Stefanel
– Liviana Conti
– Andrea De Marco
– Max Mara
– T’ Trussardi
– Roberto Botticelli
– Intimissimi
– Camicissima
– Castelli
– Elisabetta Franchi
– Doppelgänger
– Elena Miró
– Brighenti
– NeroGiardini
– Nashi Argan [Cosmetics]
– Jeckerson
– Alexander Piazza di Spagna
Milan;
Via Montenapoleone
– Falconeri
– Ermenegildo Zegna
– Pinko
– Brunello Cucinelli
– Giuseppe Zanotti
– Bottega Veneta
– Salvatore Ferragamo Man
– Loro Piana
– Valentino
– Emilio Pucci
– Salvini [Jewellery]
– Alberta Ferretti
– Baldinini
– Malo
– Buccellati [Goldsmiths]
– Rubinacci
– Acqua di Parma [Fragrance and accessories]
– Devi Kroell
– Vhernier
– Paul & Shark
– La Perla
– Pomellato [Jewellery]
– GIADA
– Burberry [British brand currently designed by an Italian]
– Tod’s
– Versace
– Damiani
– Larusmiani
– Gucci
– Prada
– Etro
– Pasquale Bruni [Jewellery]
– Hogan
– Roberto Cavalli
– Herno
– Santoni [Footwear]
– Fendi
– Dolce & Gabbana
– Salvatore Ferragamo
– Moncler
– Sergio Rossi
– Panerai [Watches]
– Fratelli Rossetti
Via della Spiga
– Fausto Puglisi
– Dolce & Gabbana
– Cromia
– Falconeri
– Chimento [Jewellery and Goldsmithing]
– Ermanno Scervino
– Car Shoe
– Gio Moretti
– Kurt Geiger [Austrian founder opened in London and is based in London]
– Marco Bicego [Jewellery]
– Gherardini
– Campomaggi
– Peuterey
– Moncler
– Pasquale Bruni
– Sicis Jewels [Jewellery]
– Colombo 1955
– Scavia [Jewellery]
– Prada
– Pollini
– Tod’s
– Belstaff [British – Staffordhire]
– Moschino
– Blumarine
– Krizia
– L.B.M.1911
– Brunello Cucinelli
– Lorena Antoniazzi
– Serapian
– Pinco Pallino
– Fabiana Filippi
– Gusella
– Roberto Botticelli
– Sermoneta Gloves
– Les Copains
– Frette
– Blugirl
– Dondup
– Rocco Barocco
– Castello d’Oro
– Monnalisa
– Pakerson
So now I will first look into the British designers found in Italy and document how they use sound in showcasing their work;
Church’s
– Reference; (Church’s, 23rd April 2021, Church’s Spring/Summer 2021 Collection, YouTube Video, Viewed 2nd June 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjpWLJHpi2M>).
– Reference; (Church’s, 23rd April 2021, Church’s Spring/Summer 2021 Collection: Dear Thomas…, YouTube Video, Viewed 2nd June 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTj_OxTnSKo>).
– Reference; (Church’s, 21st October 2020, Church’s Urban Crossover Collection, YouTube Video, Viewed on 2nd June 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH7RKUAqdI0>).
– Reference; (Church’s, 18th September 2020, Church’s Spring/Summer 2021 Collection: Dear Thomas…, YouTube Video, Viewed 2nd June 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HnRBnfGgnc>).
Craig Green
– Reference; (Moncler, 13th April 2021, 5 MONCLER CRAIG GREEN, YouTube Video, Viewed 2nd June 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKkChKmmJ1Y>).
– Reference; (Moncler, 3rd December 2019, 5 MONCLER CRAIG GREEN, YouTube Video, Viewed December 2019, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6iLzRWsZts>).
Burberry
– Reference; (Burberry, 29th April 2021, Riccardo Tisci on ‘Femininity’, YouTube Video, Viewed 2nd June 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgdW26ttsVA>).
– Reference; (Burberry, 21st April 2021, The Burberry Autumn/Winter 2021 womenswear presentation, YouTube Video, Viewed on 2nd June 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naYcSM-GqeQ>).
– Reference; (Burberry, 1st March 2021, Burberry Spring/Summer 2021, YouTube Video, Viewed on 2nd June 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZDUwuBamMg>).
– Reference; (Burberry, 18th September 2020, The #BurberrySpringSummer21 show experience, YouTube Video, Viewed September 2020, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsYRlHLadpU>).
– Reference; (riccardotisci17, 17th May 2021, Coming soon – The faces of Olympia @burberry #TheOlympiaBag, Instagram Video Post,
Kurt Geiger
– Reference; (Kurt Geiger, 7th December 2020, Kurt Geiger Christmas 2020 | In Partnership With UNICEF UK, YouTube Video, Viewed on 2nd June 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSGcOWLcTnM>).
– Reference; (Kurt Geiger, 2nd November 2020, Kurt Geiger AW20 Campaign | In Partnership With UNICEF UK, YouTube Video, Viewed 2nd June 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3zhptwHp6k>).
– Reference; (Kurt Geiger, 15th October 2020, Kurt Geiger AW20 Rainbow Collection, YouTube Video, Viewed 2nd June 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ5bo7EvU3U>).
– Reference; (Kurt Geiger, 3rd July 2020, The Monogram Edit, YouTube Video, Viewed 2nd June 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkd0l1GisEM>).
BELSTAFF
– Reference; (Belstaff, 9th April 2021, BELSTAFF | The Art And Craft Of A Leather Jacket, YouTube Video, Viewed 2nd June 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMfPzDk0yik>).
– Reference; (Belstaff, 18th September 2020, BELSTAFF | Long Way Up, YouTube Video, Viewed 2nd June 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILzltdy4jy8&t=1s>).
Rome, Italy;
– Reference; (Google Maps, August 2020, Via Condotti, Map of Italy, Viewed on 30th May, <https://www.google.com/maps/place/Via+dei+Condotti,+00187+Roma+RM,+Italy/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x132f6054507d9da7:0xf7a4ecac27548b0b?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjc84az4PjwAhUOLewKHZRvAoQQ8gEwHXoECDIQAQ>).
– Reference; (Google Maps, August 2020, Via Del Babuino, Map of Italy, Viewed on 30th May, <https://www.google.com/maps/place/Via+del+Babuino,+00187+Roma+RM,+Italy/@41.9084575,12.4767731,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x132f6055f62e6efb:0x736b28283981538b!8m2!3d41.9084575!4d12.4789618>).
– Reference; (Google Maps, August 2020, Via Frattina, Map of Italy, Viewed on 31st May, <https://www.google.com/maps/place/Via+Frattina,+00187+Roma+RM,+Italy/@41.9041814,12.4789527,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x132f60548a18f83d:0x61cf934d5a7ee5c3!8m2!3d41.9041814!4d12.4811414>).
Milan, Italy;
– Reference; (Google Maps, September 2020, Via Montenapoleone, Map of Italy, Viewed on 31st May, <https://www.google.com/maps/place/Via+Monte+Napoleone,+20121+Milano+MI,+Italy/@45.4683373,9.1929535,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x4786c6b046e886ed:0x30dd2847bfbfd4b4!8m2!3d45.4683373!4d9.1951422>).
– Reference; (Google Maps, September 2020, Via della Spiga, Map of Italy, Viewed on 31st May, <https://www.google.com/maps/place/Via+della+Spiga,+20121+Milano+MI,+Italy/@45.4703758,9.1944195,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x4786c6b0995f4a6f:0xb886c37e53b2de53!8m2!3d45.4703758!4d9.1966082>).
Sources:
– ArtFundUK, 4th April 2014, The Glamour of Italian Fashion 1945-2014, YouTube Video, Watched 30th May, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrWrZ_hAB6w>
- “February 1951”
- “Savile Row”