As we discuss your audiographies during class on Thursday, October 14th, we might find R. Murray Schafer’s “sonographic†tools productive:
- Keynote Sound: backgrounded, fundamental tone against which other sounds are perceived (e.g., the sea)
- Signal Sound: foregrounded sound to which the attention is particularly directed (e.g., a boat whistle)
- Soundmark: a community sound which is unique or possesses qualities which make it noticed by people in that community (e.g., church bells)
- The physical characteristics of the sound (i.e., acoustics–tempo, rhythm, pitch, envelope, tone)
- The way in which sounds are perceived (i.e., psychoacoustics)
- The sound’s function and meaning (i.e., social and cultural semiotics and semantics)
- The sound’s emotional or affective qualities (i.e., aesthetics).
During class, we’ll workshop the audiographies through these terms and approaches.
