Soundscape

Transcript

An etymological exploration of soundscape reveals two components, “sound” and “scape”: “sound” is derived from much earlier expressions as “noise,” from Latin sonus; scape, or “scenery view,” is taken from the Dutch schap, or “ship,” originally introduced as a term among painters, and by the 19th century had acquired references to a “tract of land with distinguishing characteristics.” A combination of both, soundscape has come to be understood as a dual property: a noun, as in a view of a whole; and a verb, how sound is “scaped” to be distinguishable. Some important characteristics of a soundscape involve sensing of space and place, even in virtual space. It is not possible to speak of a soundscape without an apprehension of its place, a sensing of place and the perceiver's reception of the sounds emanating from this place, which entails a comparison of what is received with its interaction [Page 1049]with the receiver's knowledge prior to this reception. With embodiment, a sensory and sensuous imbibing of sounds in a location is merely a reading of the sounds or an embodied reception of sounds.

Sounds emerge as vibrations, transmitted across a medium of air (dependent on atmospheric conditions) that reach the outer ear (at atmospheric pressure), then are channeled through the middle ear (connected with the Eustachian tube within the human anatomy), and are further mediated into the inner ear (supported by a viscous fluid and thousands of hair-like receptors) as they relay data to the nerve cells of each perceiver. Each body's capacity for perception and reception of sound or a series of sounds is a function of that body's proclivity and sensitivity toward a detailed apprehension of these sounds within a soundscape. Therefore, one is not attending to sound as if the body is a sponge to these sounds, but extrapolates from these sounds identification, function, and meaning. A soundscape represents the interactions of the sounds emanating from this specific location and the person perceiving and receiving these sounds, which also serves as echolocation because one does not simply receive sounds from a location as if they were completely value-free data. Therefore, a soundscape exceeds what the ear and the recipient is capable of apprehending.

The Miami SoundScape Lincoln Park and New World Symphony campus in Miami, Florida, provides a unique, nontraditional museum setting that marries music, design, and experience. Flower-draped pergolas resemble puffy cumulous clouds; white concrete pathways meander through soft, undulating topography; the projection wall of the adjacent Symphony Hall building provides a “canvas” for video projection artists; and a projection tower and Ballet Bar house the extensive multimedia equipment provided within the park.

Soundscapes can therefore be approached via a social, cultural, and historical understanding of the following: (1) studying environments of sounds as complex auditory ecosystems, and the social processes that result from them; (2) encouraging studies that dialogically engage these soundscapes with social, cultural, and ideological structures and processes; (3) locating meaning making in the sounds that may be found in these various musical practices; and (4) locating commonality and inclusivity among the sounds found in musical practices worldwide, and intercultural understanding and multicultural diversity in apprehending sounds.

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