nomikstay

Both our class soundmap and Hildergard Westerkamp’s soundwalk draw our attention to the environment by providing a unique type of focus on pieces of our environment that we do not normally have or use. When someone creates a soundwalk or soundmap they create a way for a person to hear the sounds of a particular location and become aware of the sounds in that area. We as people are constantly using our senses but because we are so accustomed to certain things in our environment they are ignored by our minds. This is what happens to common sounds in our lives such as birds chirping. We are so used to hearing the sound of birds that our brain chooses to ignore it because it is always there. When we are forced to focus on these sounds then they become noticeable. For example it is possible to walk past any of the locations on our class soundmap and still be unaware of what sounds occupy that space. However, once someone uses a soundmap of that location or hears a soundwalk, from that moment on that person becomes more aware of the sounds present in that location, not just in the moment when using the map, but in person afterwards as well. Additionally soundwalks and soundmaps allow us to “capture” sound as if it is a physical/material object and then sort it how we want to. In a way these maps allow us to preserve the soundscape of places in the past. Soundwalks of areas in the past that are now very different serve as a way for people to study the history of a location by allowing us to use our senses without actually being present at the location. This has also been done in videos that allow us to use our sense of vision to make judgements on the past that we may or may not have been present for.

After going back and looking at the Frederick Douglass text I found a non traditional way to view the slave songs that are described and relate it to what was discussed the past few class periods. In class we spent a good amount of time discussing modern day sampling in music as well as cover songs, and how these samples and covers affect us as listeners. One recurring theme that seemed to be agreed upon by almost everyone who read the articles was the idea that a cover has the ability to completely change a song’s feeling and meaning. Generally covers or samples seem to stay closer to the original work stylistically but we can see this change in feeling or meaning in certain instances. This happens when the artist of the cover changes a fundamental aspect of the song. This can be the beat, singing style, lyric changing or a combination of these things. Frederick Douglass describes that the slaves, “Would sometimes sing the most pathetic sentiment in the most rapturous tone, and the most rapturous sentiment in the most pathetic tone.” In a way it can be said that when the slaves sung of the worst of their hardships in the happiest of styles, this is similar to a cover in a way. When covers of songs are sung and there are large changes to some aspect of the song we can have a very different perception of the song, and the song itself can appear to no longer be a part of the music it is accompanied by. When the slaves described by Douglass chose to sing the words of a very deep and saddening song in a generally positive style they changed how everyone who was not a slave perceived the music, as well as even some of the younger slaves (Douglass himself acknowledges he was no always aware what was being communicated through song.) The people who lived outside slavery paid more attention to how the songs were sung as opposed to the words themselves and ended up being deluded and thinking the slaves themselves were singing joyous songs, when in actuality they are singing of the most horrible things in their lives.

In the mid 1970’s Bob Marley released the famous reggae song, “No Woman, No Cry”, and nearly 20 years later The Fugees released a very similar cover of the track. When first listening the thing I immediately noticed was the beat change along with the speed. In the original song, the beat is relatively slow with not very much exaggeration of the instruments in the background other than a clear organ/piano. In the cover, the song has the same rhythm but it is sung faster with a more hip hop influenced beat. Instead of the piano/organ instrument that was most noticeable in the original version, the cover has a noticeable percussion element while maintaining a very similar guitar sound to the original. Vocally, other than the speed change,The Fugees in their cover seem to make an effort to replicate the emotion and sound of Marley’s voice in the original song. Both songs have vocals that are drawn out into an almost throaty sound at points as well as tempo changes from long slow words to faster singing. Also in the original piece it seems as if the singing itself was the key element of the song and what the focus was on while the beat just sort of hung around in the background. This makes the listener focus heavily on the words being sung. In The Fugees cover the instrumental is more present and almost seems to take the focus off the words to a point and allow the listener to just appreciate the sounds of the drums without thinking about the words quite as much. Finally, although not very important, is the changing of the original lyrics involving Trenchtown to Brooklyn in the cover. This is just to differentiate the song and covers roots and the way the music flows with the vocals reflects this as well. Hip-hop is a primarily american genre and the Fugees have a clearly hip-hop style drum beat in the background of their cover while the original maintains a traditional jamaican roots style beat.

The Lyrebird team has pioneered text-to-voice technology, specifically with the creation of custom voices users can make based on their own voice, as well as recreation of existing people’s voices such as celebrities or politicians. The technology has obvious and beneficial applications in the fact that it can help people have a voice to use if for some reason they don’t/have lost the ability to speak themselves. Lyrebird in fact has a project dedicated to this very situation that they call “Project Revoice”. “Project Revoice is a non-profit initiative with the ultimate goal to ensure that no one living with ALS will ever have to suffer being robbed of their voice” (Projectrevoice.org). While projects like this clearly seem like a reason this technology will help society, there are ethical issues that can occur with it. The Lyrebird team themselves has an ethics page where they address how they use the technology but if in the wrong hands others may use this technology in a less innocent manner. The ability to copy voices, particularly of people in power is dangerous for obvious reasons. As covered in the article on risks of Lyrebird, conversations could be faked leading to conflict or other issues. At the same time real conversations that may be incriminating can simply be called fake by the people/person being accused.

https://beta.myvoice.lyrebird.ai/g/egcdajso69

Throughout my life and the majority of the population’s lives, sound plays a large part of daily life. In particular it reminds me to do things in my daily routine such as wake up when I hear the harsh ringing of my phone’s alarm, close the fridge when i’m done using it because I hear the machine start to work harder, or turn off the sink or shower water if it’s not already fully turned off. The slow “drip drip” sound of the water droplets falling one at a time into the sink is at first hardly noticeable background noise but eventually grows in strength until I can’t simply ignore it and become stressed from the never-ending sound of water splashing granite. Similarly if i’m in one of my parents’ cars while they go to get gas the persistent car beeping plays the role of the water droplets by forcing me to open the door to avoid the uncomfortability caused by a particular sound that is typically background noise suddenly becoming a noticeable part of our lives.

When listening to the Lucier recording, one thing jumps out at me and that is the fact that depending on how deep you are invested into the recording itself, your view on the work is affected and so is what you take away and that is something I experimented with myself. When I was heavily invested with listening to every word that Lucier said I could notice over time how the voices were overlapping to form something new rather than what the words themselves actually mean. However when I played the recording as background noise It was easy to forget what exactly you are listening to and what purpose it has. Based on my deeper listening I assume that Lucier was attempting to bring forth the idea that anything can become more than what it first seems and that repetition/acceptance is effective in taking away negative attention from something such as Lucier’s stutter. Over the 40 plus minute recording we observe a monotone statement with a stutter transform into a work of art resembling music with nothing but layered voices.