SURF MUSIC AGAIN

The Search for Intelligent Dialogue in a New Medium

by Bob Goldberg




Albert Ayler 1966





Sites reviewed in this article:

World Forum for Acoustic Ecology

Soundsite

American Music Center

Contemporary Music Information Junction

The NewMusNet Newsletter

Pauline Oliveros Foundation

John Cage Home Page

Dr. Nerve Home Page

Albert Ayler: His Life and Music



For the past few months, I have been searching the Internet for useful music-related sites. Since words still travel more efficiently than pictures and sounds in this medium, I would define these as sites providing meaningful exchange of ideas between composers; sites that offer access to practical information on funding and performing organizations; sites offering useful software, and (if possible) thought-provoking entertainment, which makes effective use of the medium.

Before we go any further, let me offer two disclaimers: 1) I am not a programming expert, but a composer working with computers (as well as non-digital technology); 2) my computer environment is less than state-of-the-art. I write, compose, sequence, sample, and access Internet resources using commercially available software (and some readily available shareware).

That being said, I offer my list of sites worth visiting. Some of these sites were found through links at arts-related websites; others have been referred by fellow composers. It is worth noting that these sites change frequently, both in form and content, in a relatively short time.

World Forum for Acoustic Ecology

http://interact.uoregon.edu/medialit/fc/WfaeMission.htm
Acoustic Ecology is "the study of the relationship between living organisms and their sonic environment (soundscape)," and encompasses such varied disciplines as anthropology, architecture, music (and related sonic arts), geography, physics, psychology, sociology, and urban planning.
The World Forum for Acoustic Ecology (WFAE) describes its mission as following: "it is WFAE's main task to draw attention to unhealthy imbalances in this relationship, to improve the acoustic quality of a place wherever possible and to protect and maintain acoustically balanced soundscapes where they still exist."
WFAE was formed in 1993, having developed out of the work of the Canadian composer/educator/theorist R. Murray Schaefer. Schaefer founded the "World Soundscape Project" in the late 1960's, and is the author of The Soundscape (Destiny Press, Rochester, VT: 1994; originally published as The Tuning of the World )--a mind- and ear-opening work on the interaction of the natural and human environments and recommended reading for any composer--as well as several equally stimulating books on music education.
The site offers subscription information and back issues of WFAE's newsletter, "The Soundscape." Noteworthy articles featured here include "The Glazed Soundscape," "Silence and the Notion of the Commons," "Mayan Ruins and Unexplained Acoustics," as well as "The Niche Hypothesis: A virtual symphony of animals sounds, the origins of musical expression and the health of habitats." Especially interesting is the active dialogue between the writers and their readers through letters and forum discussions, creating a strong sense of mutual involvement. The site also features downloadable sound-clips, such as "Great Lakes Soundmark" by audio archivist Don Hunter, and a wealth of links to cultural and scientific sites. Back in August, they offered a featured "site of the month," which was at the time the Library of Natural Sounds, at Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology, a place to go for bird- and sound-lovers alike (http://www.birder.com/birding/organizations/cornell.html). When I visited the site more recently, the format had changed, abandoning the monthly feature, but to their credit the links have increased in all disciplines.
The WFAE is based at Simon Fraser University (Burnaby, British Columbia), which has affiliates in the United States, Europe and Asia. This site (based at the University of Oregon) is one of the richest in information and fastest in access that I have experienced while surfing the Web.

Soundsite

http://sysx.apana.org.au/soundsite/
"An on-line journal of theory, philosophy of sound, and sound art" based in Australia, this site offers documentation and samples of sound-art works, including installations and radio works. It exhibits a marked interest in sound-text work. The essays here show a strong influence of phenomenology and French literary theory, and come across as self-consciously academic. Some of the stronger writings include a well-researched article on "Eisenstein and Cartoon Sound," by Douglas Kahn, well-versed both in Soviet cinema and Disney; and an interview--conducted by Shaun Davies and Annemarie Jonson--with Paul DeMarinis, a pioneer in the use of microcomputers in music. Interestingly, the theoretical orientation of the interviewers (eager to name-drop "Heidegger" and "Foucault") is undercut by the replies of the artist, whose work is strongly infused with anthropologists and pop-culture theorists such as Edward Hall, Edmund Carpenter and Marshall McLuhan.

American Music Center

http://www.amc.net/index.html
The "American Music Center," based in New York, promotes the work of American composers. The Center maintains a library of scores in varied idioms, and distributes useful information on grants and opportunities for working composers. The AMC site (revised since IA last reviewed it) offers information on its member-composers--including a growing number of composers' webpages; access to its library catalogue; and an extensive listing of opportunites for composers, as well as links to other music organizations.

Contemporary Music Information Junction

http://www.thoughtport.com/CMIJ
This site features a collection of well-chosen links, covering contemporary music theory (with an emphasis on serial and aleatory techniques), orchestration, multimedia, and a database of resources for composers and performers of new music.

The NewMusNet Newsletter

http://www.artswire.org/Artswire/NewMusNet This is an online journal on new and experimental music whose purpose is "to identify and distribute the most recent experimental music which by its very newness often remains unpublished by traditional means." This site used to be difficult to access, but has recently become much easier to use. The most interesting project at this site is an on-line memorial to the late David Tudor, noted pianist and pioneer of live electronic music. The memorial includes downloadable compositions submitted by a variety of artists, and welcomes submissions.

The following are artist-based sites, either operated by artists to make their work accessible, or devoted to the work of specific artists:

Pauline Oliveros Foundation

http://www.tmn.com/Artswire/www/pof/pof.html Composer Pauline Oliveros has been an ear- and mind-opening influence in the new music world for several decades. Pioneering in live electronics and the use of computers, improvisation, meditation, and new modes of ensemble interaction, she has been a teacher and mentor to many composers. (Recommended reading: "Software for People: collected writings 1963-1980") The foundationŐs website offers information on both Oliveros' work and that of affiliated composers, writers, and performing artists. Of particular interest is the "Technology" section, which describes the Extended Instrument System (EIS), an electronic environment allowing real-time digital processing of sound in performance, with remarkable clarity and flexibility. Also available is information on scores, recordings, performances, and "Deep Listening" (http://www.deeplistening.org/index.html) workshops--a music-meditation practice developed by Oliveros which, to grossly over-simplify, explores the resonance of sounds in the memory of the listener.

John Cage Home Page

www.emf.net/~mal/cage.html Created by Berkeley composer Malcolm Humes (whose essay "Why the Net Still Sucks" is surprisingly apt), this site offers links to useful resources pertaining to Cage's work, in all its forms.

Dr. Nerve Homepage

http://www.ingress.com/~drnerve/pages/nervmenu.htm Dr. Nerve is an innovative and energetic seven-piece band led by composer/guitarist Nick Didkovsky, whose talents include areas as varied as music, computer programming and education (hence an appropriate subject for this newsletter, n'est-ce pas?). Besides interviews and information on performances, scores and recordings, this site presents articles on computer music, in particular on HSML (Hierarchical Music Specification Language); and, most interesting, a number of interactive artistic elements, such as excerpts from "44 Nerve Events"--a musical composition consisting of recorded fragments, to be played in any order by the listener. The site also features links to various new music, computer resource and guitar-related websites. (Dr. Nerve recommends ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/mac/sound as a source of useful music shareware.)

Albert Ayler: His Life and Music

http://ernie.bgsu.edu/%7Ejeffs/ayler.html This site offers access to a detailed biography of the saxophonist/composer Albert Ayler, written by Jeff Schwartz (Bowling Green State University, Ohio). It is essentially a book rendered into web format. Besides the text, this site features photographs and transcriptions of musical examples, in (thankfully not too time-intensive) GIF format.

While the Web is getting a lot of attention these days, I'd like to add that there's still something to be said for the Usenet groups. Tune in to
--rec. music.compose
--rec.music.classical.contemporary
--alt.emusic
While too much of cyberspace is being occupied by axe-grinding cranks, rabid technophiles and digital billboards, there are still interesting discussions to be had. Dialogues between composition students and experienced composers have shed light both on musical aesthetics and the trials of a career in the arts. And while subjects such as "(a)tonality is dead. now what?" or "(schoenberg/glass/cage): genius or insane charlatan?" seem to dominate the cyberwaves, worthwhile finds have included: discussions of the works of Penderecki and Ligeti, Terry Riley's compositions for string quartet, Morton Feldman's notation, as well as interviews with composers Earle Brown and Lalo Schifrin, and a review of the Nigerian pioneer I.K.Dairo. To their respective credits, Schoenberg and Cage are still controversial; neither tonality nor serialism are dead, though Milton Babbitt is conspicuously absent from discussion.
While the Internet is now familiar territory to many musicians, it is still relatively uncharted. As a medium for transmission of sonic arts it is still experimental. As a medium for communication of ideas, its strength is in its relative openness--it invites dialogue between radically different perspectives.


Bob Goldberg is an independent composer, sound artist and performing musician, based in Brooklyn, NY.



Photo Credits: "Albert Ayler: His Life and Work," Jeff Schwartz


© Hyperactive Co. 1996