I talk wildly, I have lost my wits, I and nobody else am the greatest traitor,

I hear the sound I love, the sound of the human voice,I hear all sounds running together, combined, fused or following

My voice goes after what my eyes cannot reach,With the twirl of my tongue I encompass worlds and volumes of worlds.

Through me many long dumb voices,Voices of the interminable generations of prisoners and slaves,Voices of the diseas'd and despairing and of thieves and dwarfs,Voices of cycles of preparation and accretion,And of the threads that connect the stars, and of wombs and of the father-stuff,And of the rights of them the others are down upon,Of the deform'd, trivial, flat, foolish, despised,Fog in the air, beetles rolling balls of dung.

With music strong I come, with my cornets and my drums,I play not marches for accepted victors only, I play marches for conquer'd and slain persons.

And such as it is to be of these more or less I am,And of these one and all I weave the song of myself.

The city sleeps and the country sleeps,The living sleep for their time, the dead sleep for their time,

And acknowledge red, yellow, white, playing within me,And consider green and violet and the tufted crown intentional,

The blab of the pave, tires of carts, sluff of boot-soles, talk of the promenaders,The heavy omnibus, the driver with his interrogating thumb, the clank of the shod horses on the granite floor,The snow-sleighs, clinking, shouted jokes, pelts of snow-balls,The hurrahs for popular favorites, the fury of rous'd mobs,The flap of the curtain'd litter, a sick man inside borne to the hospital,The meeting of enemies, the sudden oath, the blows and fall,The excited crowd, the policeman with his star quickly working his passage to the centre of the crowd,The impassive stones that receive and return so many echoes,What groans of over-fed or half-starv'd who fall sunstruck or in fits,What exclamations of women taken suddenly who hurry home and give birth to babes,What living and buried speech is always vibrating here, what howls restrain'd by decorum,Arrests of criminals, slights, adulterous offers made, acceptances,rejections with convex lips,

I am not an earth nor an adjunct of an earth,I am the mate and companion of people, all just as immortal and fathomless as myself,

The smoke of my own breath,Echoes, ripples, buzz'd whispers, love-root, silk-thread, crotch and vine,My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the pass-ing of blood and air through my lungs,The sniff of green leaves and dry leaves, and of the shore and dark-color'd sea-rocks, and of hay in the barn,The sound of the belch'd words of my voice loos'd to the eddies of the wind,

^^j,eachcase,theorientationseemstooconcernedbytheequilibriumofrhythmicsystems,bytheirharmonizationinahierarchyofinstants.

Anoverallmovementthattakeswithitalltheseelements...throughKthisdoubleaspect,.rhythmentersiptoageneralconstructionoftimt^,nfrnnvp-mentandbecoming.Andconsequentlyintoitsphilosophicalproblematic:rep-etitinn.aruLhficnmjpg

hythmfterbansjresupposes“aunityoftimeandspace:analliance

arguii^infactthatdurationis.merelyaneffectofintensity,in^positiontoBergsonsnotionofintprppn-^tratign.Theenduranceofasonicevent, th,elengthofanote,pertainsheretoasecondorderand“entailsakindofa

Hewarnedofthemisleadingapplicationofmelodyasametaphorforduration

wherevibrationatthemolecular,or evendeeperatthequanhrm,levelconstitutesthefundamentalyetabstractmovementofmatte

Ehythmanalysisofteninstallsitselfontologicallypriortothedivisionofspaceandtime,occupidngihedomainofintensivematter

Allthatisrequiredisthatanentitybefeltasanobjectbyanotherentity.

Whatisprioritized hereisthein-betweenofoscillation,thevibrationofvibration,thevirtuahtyofthetremble.

thenonhum,anparticipants

Soundcomestotherescueofthoughtratherthantheinverse,forcingittovibrate,looseningupitsorganizedorpetrifiedbody.

Theorganization ofsoundinterpretedhistorically,politically,socially.Likeaheadmaster,theoryteachestodaysmusicathingor2aboutlife

SoundismerelyathinsHce,thevibrationsaudibletohumansoranimals.Suchanorientationthereforeshouldbedifferentiatedfromaphehomenologyofsoniceffectscenteredontheperceptionsofahiunan subject,as aready-made,interiorizedhumancenterofbeingandfeeling.

Keynotesoundsdonothavetobehstenedtoconsaously;heyareoverheardbut cannotbeoverlooked, forkeynotesounds become hstemnghabitsinspiteofthemselves

ForsometimeIhavealsobelipvpHtHofjsocietycanbe readasanindicatorofsoZA-^environmentofausranchabout thetrendingandJlnZnodgh.alp^hlicafion,,willfupestma„psn^S:Z

Thereforethemusicofawell-orderedageiscalmandcheerfulandIfm^^lel

Todefinemusicmerelyassoundswouldhavebeenimthinkableafewyearsago,thoughtodayitisthemoreexclusivedefinitionsthatareprovingunacceptable.Littlebylittlethroughoutthetwentiethcentury,alltheconventionaldefinitionsofmusichavebeen explodedbythe abundantactivitiesofmusiciansthemselves.

oss-cultmalevidenceffomaroundtheworldmustbecarefullyassembledand mterpreted

Fromthearts,particularlymusic,wewilllearnhowmancreatesidealsoundscapesforthatotherlife,thelifeoftheimaginationandpsychic reflection.Fromthesestudieswewillbegintolaythefoundationsofanewinterdiscipline—acousticdesign.

Noisesarethesounds wehavelearnedtoignore

universal deafnessasthq-ultimateconsequenceunlesstheproblemcanbebroughtquicklyundercontrol

Noise pollutionisnowaworldproblem

Wemustdothehardworkofmakinga‘Tjreak”with pregivenorcommon-sensenotions,regardlessofwheretheycomefrom

Knowledgeisalsoaproblemforthefieldinthesensethattherearemanycompetingknowledgesofsoundintheworld,theyhavetheirownpoUtics,historicityandculturaldomains,

manyclassicstudiesofsoundbeginbycontrastingtheauditoryandvisualregisters.Whentheymakethismove,authorsmoreoftentalkaboutearsandeyesthansoimdsandhght.

Rather,theboundarybetweensoundandnot-soundisbasedontheunderstoodpossibilitiesofthefacultyofhearing—^whetherwearetalkingaboutapersonorasquirrel.Therefore,aspeopleandsquirrelschan

?Mustwealwaysstarttheculturalstudyofsoundfromthepositionofpeople?C

Methodmatters,butitshouldarisefromthequestionsaskedandtheknowledgefieldsengaged,nottheotherwayaround.

Thesociologicalimagination isbasedin“thecapacitytoshiftfromoneperspectivetoanother.[

TheseHmitsinturnworklikeaffordances—^baselineassumptionsandmassivetraditionstobuildfrom,aswellasconventionsworthplayingwith orstrugglingagainst.

“seriousresearchleadsonetounitewhatIsordinarilyseparatedortodistinguishwhat isordinarilyconfused.”

arbelowtheconsdouslevelsofthoughtandfeehng,invigoratingeveryword;sinkingtothemostprimitiveandforgotten,returningtotheoriginandbringingsomethingback,seekingthebeginningandtheend.

Sonicimaginationsarenecessarilyplural,recursive,reflexive,driventorepresent, refigure andredescrib

Soundstudiesisanintellectualexercise,onethatfor the momentis mostgroundedinacademia,thoughcertainlynon-academicsproducefascinatingworkaboutsoundallthetime,andsoundstudentscananclshouldmove beyond theacademyto try andeffectchangeintheworld.

partiahty

Ifyouhearthesamesoundintwodifferentspaces,youmaynotevenrecognizeitasthesamesound.

Thismeansthatifweuseconceptsdrawnfromthestudyofhumanauditoryperception,wemust accountforthehistoricity ofthatknowledge(ratherthansimplysaying“thisishowyourearworks”asiftheearisthesameinalltimesandplaces)

soundstudentsarenotstrictlyspeaking-osophers,-ologistsor-ographers.Inhis1997attackonculturalstudies,ToddGitlinusedthephrase“culturalstudents”todescribepractitionersoftbefield.

utitisalsoaproductof changesinthoughtandtheorganizationofthedisciphnes.

For.SigmundFreudin1929,soundrecordingallowedfortheretentionof“fleeting”auditory memories.

rlanguages. °ItIStemptingtocallsoundstudiesaresponsetoourchangingsonicworld__anditisthat.Butsohavebeenmanyotherimportantintellectualmovementsaroundsoundinthe20thcentury

Itisaglobalphenomenonaswell.

architecture,

Howmanyofthesoundsineverydaylifeexistedtenyearsago?Twenty?Thirty?Fifty?