Musical Mapping

Before answering the Week 6 question, I would like to post some thoughts I have about musical mapping at the Faculty of Music. These observations are not meant to be accusatory as criticism, but just my own thoughts prompted by Prof. Averill's lecture notes.

Prof. Averill addresses a central problem with artistic urban planning and Toronto's so called "renaissance of the arts." He points out that the city links revitalizing the arts with revitalizing building spaces. This is exemplified in the millions of dollars invested in buildings such as the RCM, ROM, AGO, Four Season's Centre, etc. This funding is invested in these projects with a largely ethnocentric attitude: that Western European art music (and art in general) needs to be displayed in architecturally impressive buildings that attract tourists and effectively "put Toronto on the map." These building projects are fantastic for this "elite art" but does very little for the everyday grassroots art of the common people. This art does not live in buildings. It gathers and forms where people are, but transcends mere physical space. Thus, what do these projects do for the jazz clubs that are closing down, and the community groups that can't afford to rent rehearsal space? Even the TSO has more office space than rehearsal space at Roy Thomson Hall. Will the same happen at the RCM?

This is not directly related, but think about the musical mapping, or allocation of space at our own Faculty. How much of it is dedicated to "elitist" music? The Faculty is progressive with the addition of many world music ensembles and even a world music artist-in residence. But do we have a space that is just dedicated to the sound of the students, when we remove ourselves from the music we study, and just play? We have to main performance spaces: one designed for opera, and one designed for chamber music. Obviously both spaces see a lot of different genres and student groups, but the common theme is that they only see the music we study...either through recitals or ensemble performances. I would like to see a space that does not have professional stipulations, but that just promotes our personal music. What about the classical pianist who is also a singer/songwriter? What about the jazz drummer that fronts an emo band? What about the flute major who also plays sitar? (These are fictional, without any real associations :)). We lock ourselves into boxes and label each other as the pianist, or guitarist, or flautist but we have to go elsewhere to see the other sides (musically) of each other.

Regarding the ethnography of Toronto, I find hidden musical communities on Myspace! This is a new type of musical community that truly transcends physical space: the artistic vision of these artists is accessible worldwide. I don't know that I can apply one style to music I hear coming out of Toronto, or if I can recognize a distinctively Toronto sound - I think I'd have to do much more critical listening of music from various regions to make this judgeent. But I think that with Myspace and the Internet, style and genre barriers are falling down as people become exposed to so much more music. What I do see more and more is musicians rebelling against the "schooled" music taught in universities and conservatories. This is the classical musician by day and rock star by night conundrum. I think this is in itself a new style of music - jazz and classical training that informs rock, or other style totally.

Here's a link to an article originally from the New York Times about the principal percussionist of the Chicago Symphony who quit his position and started a band:

New York Times Article

Well, that's enough writing for now. I've typed more than I intended to.

The Bathroom

This assignment, for Musical Toronto, was to examine a soundscape, and see how it changes over time. A soundscape, a concept R. Murray Schafer describes vividly in The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World, is "our sonic environment, the ever-present array of noises with which we all live." I thought the environment of the bathroom, one in which we all partake, can be full of especially interesting sounds that are familiar to all of us. I have tried to not vividly describe too many things, but instead euphemistically portray what we all know.

The bathroom is a place of solace for me. It is a place for me to be alone with my thoughts; a place where I can close the door on the world. Conventions of social interaction usually inhibit much discussion in the bathroom, well at least for me, I feel awkward carrying on conversations with fellow bathroom-goers. Have you ever entered a public washroom, closed the door on a cubicle, and just listened? I have...

I enter the washroom ready to be alone with my thoughts. I scout out both cubicles and choose the one that has less dribble on the toilet seat. I close the door and the sound of struggle entails as I try to force the antiquated lock closed. Remnants of opera, coming from down the hallway, is the soundtrack for this journey. I will not describe the sounds that I make, as this is not the interesting part of the environment we live in, but will share with you the sounds of the company I soon have. After about two minutes of sitting, praying to the porcelain god, or just being the lord of the ring (or more realistically, reflecting), a gentleman (since this washroom is just for guys) enters and takes the only remaining, less tidy cubicle beside mine. First, he struggles with the lock, then plays a short sonata: the zip of his fly (EXPOSITION), the lowering of his pants and the clank of his belt against the floor (DEVELOPMENT), and my favourite part: the cathartic sigh of relief as he makes contact with the toilet seat and his body begins the natural process of emptying the excess waste (RETURN OF THE THEME, CODA, AND FINAL V-I CADENCE ALL IN ONE). The soft trickle of waste follows with several interludes of flatulance and groaning. A soft splashing sound results as the waste falls into the water, and sinks. The magnitude of the splash varies based on the weight of the avalanche of waste. The feathery sound of cleanup begins, as the toilet paper unwinds, is ripped off, and gently passes through, and cleanses the garbage chute.

Another sigh, not quite as cathartic as the first, follows, marking the end of his visit. All of the excess waste from thus far into the day is whisked away as the toilet is flushed and the sound of drowning commences.

It is amazing what we can deduce just by listening. Through common, shared experiences, a hint of sound is all we need to follow in, and comprehend another's experience.

Cool Videos

Dear Internet World,

I know that this will be my third blog of the day. But this is the first blog site I have ever had, which is quite fascinating really. So, please excuse my mass blogging. Don't get too used to it, but I must admit, this is pretty fun. Much better than facebook and myspace.

As I have not formally introduced the purpose of my blog, I will attempt to do so now. This blog is for a course I am currently taking called "Musical Toronto." It is all about how we as musicians interact with society.

I have two videos to share with you. This is one everyone who has ever taken a theory class should watch. Pure brilliance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgDcC2LOJhQ

Here is one I took on my cell phone. It is of Greg Samek playing his drumset which was recently toilet-papered by the cunning Michelle Hwu (pronounced WHO):

http://www.willderness.ca/MOV00019.3gp
(you should be able to open this with Quicktime)

Goodbye, Internet World.

Art's Birthday

For my celebration of Art's Birthday, I was inspired by the idea of "exchange and telecommunications-art." In keeping with the course idea of soundscapes and how we are surrounded by music, I decided to record a brief improvisation using a phone. I took the dial tone, busy signal and operator's voice as musical material. I recorded these first, and then did some cut and paste, multi-tracking and ran some of these sounds through effects like compression, EQ, delay and reverb. I even attempted some phasing!

The premise of this piece is really the futility of communication and social interaction. The presence of the busy signal emphasizes how lines are so often busy and how channels of communication – even socially, and not through a phone – are often so inhibited by emotion, tension, hate, etc. I fear with the rise of technology, we often neglect real face to face communication and replace this with phones, text messaging, blogs, MSN and all of those social utilities the Internet has created for us. When this escalates, we link our self-worth and self-identity to how others see us through false facades such as the Internet. The screen, or the speaker in a phone is not where life happens, but if we allow technology to strip us of basic human interaction, we enter a life that is portrayed in this recording: a life of busy signals, dial tones and the futile dialing trying to get past the operator.

Happy Birthday to Art who tries to keep creativity and interaction alive.

http://www.willderness.ca/art.mp3

Welcome to the willderness

Welcome to the willderness.

The willderness is a noisy place.
Listen intently.