Readings Response #2 - Noise Art
Matthew Steckler
Audio Art - ITP
02.08.07
Reading Response: "The Art of Noises" by Luigi Russolo
This turn of the 20th Century crackpot is really
amusing in his manifesto rendering of the future of
music. I love especially his disclaimer at the end, "I
am not a musician". While I joined the class primarily
to learn musical ideas from non-musicians who in a new
technological age are able to make very effective
music, I don't get the sense that Russolo is really
seeing the full potential of the sounds he espouses,
musically-speaking. Sure, new sounds vs. old sounds,
it can be refreshing for a minute, but ultimately what
makes a lasting impression is the organization of
those sounds. The sounds alone cannot endure
criticism for mere novelty's sake. Interesting is his
view of the development of Western art music as one
that eschews vertical constructs in favor of
horizontal ones, but I do think the Greeks had an
acute awareness of the complexity within one sound,
otherwise they wouldn't have invented the monochord,
which visually and aurally outlines the harmonic
overtone series with clear, easy divisions of a single
taut string. Likewise, the development of polyphonic
music in the Middle Ages to Renaissance had
nonetheless great sensitivity toward intervallic
relationships, albeit this is when the subjective
divisions between consonance and dissonance ensued
(but not altogether unjustified - again, consonance is
a function of the harmonic series and dissonance is
merely a different, equally important state that
creates tension in music before it must be resolved,
according to early music theorists... nowadays it is
known that tension can be created using previously
assumed consonant intervals and their resolution can
be toward a harmony more traditionally accepted as a
dissonance, depending on the organization of these
harmonies). I am glad that the Futurists bring the
sounds of the natural world and the noises of industry
into the conversation, because I'm sure this had a
profound effect on the development of avant-garde
music, and I do agree that we humans have needed
centuries of musical evolution to acclimate ourselves
to these sounds for artistic purposes. But I don't
think their intentions were entirely wholesome; as
known fascists, Futurists professed a love for the
sounds of military might as a means to advance the
cause of war. Those sounds are, however, really
effective as part of a performance piece that makes
anti-war commentary, for example. So, subtext aside,
noise is perfectly valid as a tool - a new "pigment" -
in the creation of sound art/music, but it cannot be
left merely at that.
Reading Response: "The Future of Music: Credo" by John
Cage
Cage - as a trained musician seeking new directions in
music - is someone I am more willing to accept advice
from in bringing new sounds into the language of
music, and he even gets right to the point,
emphasizing "organization of sound" above all else. He
goes further than Russolo in espouses the manipulation
of these sounds so as to control each one's amplitude
and frequency fully, and to create rhythms as a
function of recording technology. I also agree that
new instruments should be played to sound like
themselves, not some traditional instrument. I think
it was David Bowie who said that the 70's progressive
musicians threw out the manuals to their synthesizers
because they wanted to see what could happen by
accident (paraphrased).
Cage is adamant about building on linkages to the
musical past in his quest to forge new musical
territory. The legacy of Schoenberg is to him quite
valid, in its egalitarian view of materials within a
group, and can be applied to any new materials as
well. He is also dead on with respect to percussion
and rhythm, for music of the last century, that has
stressed their importance, has also been the most
successful at introducing new, crazy sounds into the
language. Finally, he does not abandon form as the
Futurists seem to do, but sees new forms possible that
bear some relationship - whether congruent or
divergent - to the traditional forms that preceded us.
I will take his advice any day - a host of incredible
musicians and performance artists already have.