R. Murray Schafer and the Preservation of the Sonic Environment of the Natural World
Jonathan Yeoh 10100149
MUSI 333 Dr. Friedeman Sallis
R. Murray Schafer and the Preservation of the Sonic Environment of the Natural World
R. Murray Schafer (1933-) is arguably one of the most influential living composers in the world today, and has developed extremely pertinent thoughts regarding the link between music, sound, and environmentalism. Through his music, writing, and pedagogy, he has become established as the leading figure in environmental music, and has hence made significant strides towards the preservation of the sonic environment and the natural world. Hailed as one of Canada’s most successful composers, Schafer has created significant contributions to the fields of music, ecology, and pedagogy, and continues to influence others through his theories on these concepts. Amongst his writings, he often mentions the dangers of noise pollution to the world soundscape, and in order to combat this, that we need societal awareness of the acoustic setting in which we live in.
Schafer has worked towards this goal in a variety of ways. Firstly, his compositions are placed within what he calls “the environmental theatre,” in which music is to be performed in a natural setting, hence participating with the soundscape. Schafer believed that the greatest and most momentous changes to art were achieved through context as opposed to stylistic changes, and has led to his ruling that these environmental compositions would be the most salient medium to create awareness for the natural soundscape.
Secondly, Schafer has established himself as a leading figure in soundscape studies and is considered as th...
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...on between environmentalism and the arts. As the founder of the World Soundscape Project, he has created significant awareness to noise pollution while presenting various solutions to it to the academic community and the public. Through his compositions, he aims for a transformative experience that explores the relationship between nature and the arts, and how crucial the soundscape is to human culture. In his foresight, he also focuses on pedagogy in order to influence and inspire the future to take initiative to preserve and improve the condition of the world soundscape. Not only does R. Murray Schafer establish his place in the world as the leading figure for the preservation of the environment, but he has also strived towards progress in the soundscape, through the collaboration of all disciplines in order to create a healthier sonic environment for the future.
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I want to discuss the function of music to combine intention and perception. I believe in the prehistoric, people sing or beat on the tough surface because they want to express their emotions, otherwise they have no reason to sing. Similarly, the composers also write the songs to express their feelings. Nevertheless, a piece of music which cannot trigger the change of feeling to audience cannot regarded as a musical sound. According to Thomas Schafer, "When people listen to music they usually try to attain specific goals. Those related to self-awareness and the regulation of mood and arousal are relatively important to them and those related to social relatedness less so"(12). From the research, Schafer get a conclusion that the music which can let people attain goals related to self-awareness and the regulation of mood and arousal will increase the strength of music preference(12). Hence, the function of music is to express the emotion and then influence the audience to let them have the same feeling as composers or performers. For example, Beethoven composed the famous Fate Symphony, or called Symphony No.5 in C major to show his determination to fight with the fate, for Beethoven the fate is the loss of his lover. While it is not the only purpose to write this symphony. The final goal is to move the
If one were to look back into the world’s history, one would find that an important and consistent element is the world of music. Music has presented itself in various forms throughout its spread and through our identification of its magical realm, people have been fortunate enough to come across a means of relation. Whether it is blues and reggae or rap and pop rock, there is music out there for everyone. Music can serve as a stabilizer for some, a relaxant to others, and to many a form of inspiration.
For this essay I will be looking at the work of Hans Zimmer to discuss how music in film engages the viewer and evokes emotion and pulls the viewer toward the film. Hans Zimmer is a German born music composer. Hans Zimmer’s love of music stems from his childhood when he learned how to play various instruments. Before Zimmer began composing music for films he was in a well-known band. The band was called The Buggles whom were famous for their song Video Killed the Radio Star. After the Buggles Zimmer played in other bands but never had another hit. As Zimmer has progressed as a film composer so has his list of nominations and awards. Zimmer has won 4 Grammy Awards and 2 Golden Globes and many more for his outstanding film scores. The reason I chose to write this essay on Zimmer was that his genres and music score are extremely versatile ranging from animations to comedy to dark thrillers. This is important to highlight as it shows Zimmer can create almost any atmosphere with his music whether it be sad or creating tension that all cause us to engage with the film. Zimmer's use of themes and introduction of different instruments allowed him to create these wonderful engaging film score. In this essay I will look at three films by Hans Zimmer these are The Holiday Rush and Rain Man.
The history of the Concert Band and Wind Ensemble will be reflected through a timeline of events, including an analysis of significant events, groups, composers, and advancements. When society envisions a Wind Ensemble, talented musicians, grand music halls, and difficult arrangements typically come to mind. However, a modern-day Wind Ensemble includes a variety of musicians, each with positive and negative aspects. In society today, music is greatly appreciated and accepted. It is considered an honor and a privilege to expose our ears to the music.
Banfield emphasizes how important music is to people of all nations and that without its impact on our culture, lives, and the way we think helps make the world go round. This triple threat multi-talented musician and teacher educates people to understand the essential values and love that comes from music, giving it the power to move people and make a
As time goes on and technological capabilities increase, so too will knowledge of how music affects our brains. Scientists will be able to discover the full potency of the effects of music on our psyche, and how improvisation and creativity in music affect the brain along with immoral lyrics in certain music. Understanding this subject is relevant to becoming and better musician, student, and teacher.
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John Cage (1912-1992) presents an attractive challenge to a music GSI teaching a class of non-majors. As much an idea man as a pen-on-paper composer, Cage proposed through his writings and artistic approach that all sound, whether deliberate or accidental, whether inside or outside of the concert hall, is in fact a macro-series of musical events. In effect, according to this way of thinking, all ambient sound is music. Considering the way most of us have been brought up to think about music, this is a significant imaginative leap as well as an important door to open for those who might not come across the idea elsewhere.
Sound is what brings movies to life, but, not many viewers really notice. A film can be shot with mediocre quality, but, can be intriguing if it has the most effective foley, sound effects, underscore, etc. Sound in movies band together and unfold the meaning of the scenes. When actors are speaking, the dialogue can bring emotion to the audience, or, it can be used as the ambient sound. Music is one of the main things to have when filmmaking. The use of Claudia Gorbman’s Seven Principles of Composition, Mixing and Editing in Classical Film gives audiences a perspective of sound, and, how it can have an impact on them.
We human beings can not separate from nature. No nature, no human beings. As far as poetry is concerned, nature plays a great important role on it, for uncountable poets have been writing lots and lots of great poems on it along the history of human beings. America is not an exceptional. My paper is right to deal with nature in American poetry.
In William Wordsworth’s poems, the role of nature plays a more reassuring and pivotal r ole within them. To Wordsworth’s poetry, interacting with nature represents the forces of the natural world. Throughout the three poems, Resolution and Independence, Tintern Abbey, and Michael, which will be discussed in this essay, nature is seen prominently as an everlasting- individual figure, which gives his audience as well as Wordsworth, himself, a sense of console. In all three poems, Wordsworth views nature and human beings as complementary elements of a sum of a whole, recognizing that humans are a sum of nature. Therefore, looking at the world as a soothing being of which he is a part of, Wordsworth looks at nature and sees the benevolence of the divinity aspects behind them. For Wordsworth, the world itself, in all its glory, can be a place of suffering, which surely occurs within the world; Wordsworth is still comforted with the belief that all things happen by the hands of the divinity and the just and divine order of nature, itself.