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Which, Why, and a Little Extra (Sound Unbound: long post))

I chose to read chapters 25, 27, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35 for my final excerpts from Sound Unbound. Mostly, I picked these particular sections because the titles caught my interest—painting, dancing, musical philosophy, bells, “Theater of the Spirits,” etc. Some I picked because I needed another chapter or two, and they ended up being some of the most interesting of the bunch.

Brian Eno’s “Bells and Their History,” was the first chapter I went through. More than the others, this one drew my attention because I’ve listened to My Life in the Bush of Ghosts and enjoyed the experience. It was an interesting and informative chapter; I was completely unaware of the process involved in bell-making. What I found most interesting was the casting of the large bells (a single cast), “…200,000 kilograms of metal had to be brought to temperature and poured in one continuous operation.” Eno compared this, technologically speaking, to the amount of coordination required for an Apollo launch. I find that pretty amazing. I also thought the included picture of The Clock of the Long Now was quite beautiful.  

One of the other chapters I also really enjoyed was Catherine Corman’s Theater of the Spirits: Joseph Cornell and Silence (35). I’d never heard of Joseph Cornell before, and now find that I’m interested in learning more about him and his work. I like the idea of a book that is all about sound taking a moment to consider the weight of its absence. At one point Corman writes, “Silence allows for poetry. The intrusion of sound destroys the possibility of subtlety and suggestion, the formal communication of an ideal. Something about those lines struck me—I think the first line rather lovely and find the second thought-provoking. I wonder what its sentiment means for our noise polluted culture. Are there things we’re missing because we’re distracted by constant hums of sound? I also found myself thinking about our discussions on using the works of others in our own creative endeavors—i.e. remixes, mash-ups—which is exactly what Cornell did. I wonder if he had to obtain special permission to use “East of Borneo” (and if anyone was upset about his use and treatment of it) or if he just used it.

#Hannah Provencher