Readings Response #1 - Recording Basics/Oliveros
I found both readings useful in different ways.
The first is obviously good for basics in mic
connectivity and safety, although I was somewhat lost
on pp. 4-5 (fixed installations and grounding)...
perhaps some of this could be clarified in class. I
enjoyed learning some of the history of "classic"
mics, because it helps me on things to look for in a
cheaper mic with similar aims. The phantom power
explanation clarified some things for me too. I'm
beginning to compile a master vocab list because of
the reading (I'm that dense).
The Oliveros reading has its positives. It feels
loosely like it's building on John Cage's Silence. The
prose style can irritate me because I at times feel
like I'm being converted to a religion (somehow I
didn't feel this way with Silence though), but the
early sections certainly relate some truisms of
listening that we could all stand reminding ourselves
of from time to time. I gather that the focal/global
types of listening directly address this week's
listening assignment, which I'll do later today. What
I really think deep listening requires is an element
of imagination, to acknowledge the sounds that are
real and directly involved in the experience but to
also imagine what other sounds they could imply or
lead to. When she notes that babies are the best
listeners, it hits home because I need that license to
be naive, playful and first-time exposed in order to
find my own music, otherwise I will succumb to what
critics generally accept as real music and listen for
only those sounds as being valid. I also am in
agreement that protection of our hearing is severely
threatened, especially in big cities, and I plan to
make an audiologist appointment this month. I am less
in ethical agreement with the proposition that
technology should offer superhuman hyper-acuity in
hearing capacity... I think it would be too much on
our psyches and could cause insanity. I have enough to
deal with my own inner anxieties at night, this would
just be the tipping point. Better to let technology
offer means for creating new sound experiences that
can be turned on/off, the natural equipment with which
we were born will stand as the necessary human
component of that experience. I do support technology
that could regenerate hearing loss, however, as well
as supporting the aural facets of society on equal par
with the visual (I couldn't be a musician without
agreeing to this!).