II. Histories - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

II. Histories

of

Sound

2.

Histories of Sound and TechnologySlide2

Listening tech(

nique

)ology in 19

th

century medicine (Nicolson

)

The

Soundscape of Modernity (Thompson)

Music in the era of electronic reproduction (

Mowitt

)Slide3

1. Having the Doctor’s Ear in 19

th

Century Edinburgh Slide4

Auscultation (based on the Latin verb 

auscultare

 "to listen") is the term for listening to the internal sounds of the body, usually using a stethoscope.

Auscultation

is performed for the purposes of examining the 

circulatory system and respiratory system (heart sounds and breath sounds), as

well as the 

gastrointestinal system (

bowel sounds).Slide5

René-

Théophile

-

Hyacinthe

LaennecSlide6

Pages from

De

l’auscultation

mediate

(published in 1819)

showing Laennec’s stethoscope designSlide7

Laennec’s stethoscope (lf.) compared to a contemporary design (rt.) – see discussion of N.P.

Comins’s

development of a flexible model (p. 160-161)Slide8

Was the introduction of auscultation in Britain a contested process? Slide9

Paris:

Laënnec’s

invention of the stethoscope in 1816, and published De l’auscultation mediate in 1819Edinburgh: Andrew Duncan and other’s review of De l’auscultation mediate:More a text on pathological anatomy than one on diagnostics;Difference between academic and practical knowledge of the techniques of physical examination Slide10

Impact of trained

stethoscopists

like Andrew Cullen and John Crauford GregoryFrom 1825 onwards, new theories developed independent of the French source by James Hope, John William Turner and others (p. 159)Improvements on the instrument: N.P. Comins By 1828-9 stethoscope use was taught in medical textbooks Slide11

By 1831: innovation of

stethoscopy

transferred from Paris to Edinburgh Why Edinburgh?Slide12

2. The Soundscape of ModernitySlide13

Thompson’s definition of soundscape:

“I

define the soundscape as an auditory or aural landscape. Like a landscape, a soundscape is simultaneously a physical environment and a way of perceiving the environment; it is both a world and a culture constructed to make sense of the world. The physical aspect of a soundscape consists not only of the sounds themselves, the waves of acoustical energy permeating the atmosphere in which people live, but also the material objects that create, and sometimes destroy, those sounds." (p. 116) Slide14

Thompson’s definition of soundscape:

“I

define the soundscape as an auditory or aural landscape. Like a landscape, a soundscape is simultaneously a physical environment and a way of perceiving the environment; it is both a world and a culture constructed to make sense of the world. The physical aspect of a soundscape consists not only of the sounds themselves, the waves of acoustical energy permeating the atmosphere in which people live, but also the material objects that create, and sometimes destroy, those sounds." (p.

116)

 Slide15

The American soundscape underwent a particularly dramatic transformation in the years between 1900-1933

Sounds became signals - a new criterion by which the evaluate them - located in the new electrical

technologies The opening of Symphony Hall in Boston (1900) and the opening of Radio City Music Hall in New York (1932) frames the period covered by the book The Soundscape of Modernity:Slide16

The

Symphony Hall in Boston,1904Slide17
Slide18

The

Symphony Hall todaySlide19
Slide20

The

Radio City Music Hall in New York,1937Slide21
Slide22
Slide23

Radio City Music Hall todaySlide24
Slide25

Thompson describes the emergence of a new, modernist sound. Define it:Slide26

Thompson describes the emergence of a new, modernist sound. Define it:

An object

of scientific scrutinySlide27

Thompson describes the emergence of a new, modernist sound. Define it:

An object

of scientific scrutinyControlled (a "good sound”)Slide28

Thompson describes the emergence of a new, modernist sound. Define it:

An object

of scientific scrutinyControlled (a "good sound”)Non-reverberantSlide29

Thompson describes the emergence of a new, modernist sound. Define it:

An object

of scientific scrutinyControlled (a "good sound”)Non-reverberantMany different places begin to sound alikeSlide30

Thompson describes the emergence of a new, modernist sound. Define it:

An object

of scientific scrutinyControlled (a "good sound”)Non-reverberantMany different places begin to sound alikeEasy to understandSlide31

Thompson describes the emergence of a new, modernist sound. Define it:

An object

of scientific scrutinyControlled (a "good sound”)Non-reverberantMany different places begin to sound alikeEasy to understandEfficient Slide32

Thompson describes the emergence of a new, modernist sound. Define it:

An object

of scientific scrutinyControlled (a "good sound”)Non-reverberantMany different places begin to sound alikeEasy to understandEfficient Had little to say about the places in which it was produced and consumedSlide33

"...if most of sounds of the past are gone for good, they have nonetheless left behind a rich record of their existence in the artifacts, the people, and

the

cultures that once brought them forth. By starting here, with the solidity of technological objects and material practices of those who designed, built, and used them, we can begin to recover the sounds that have long since melted into air. Along with those sounds, we can recover more fully our past." (p. 125-126)Slide34

3

. Sound of Music in Era of Electronic ReproductionSlide35

Mowitt

argues that contemporary listening conditions are characterized by repetition, reproducibility, and recognition

The social construction of listeningListening = interpretation“Is it live, or is it Memorex?” Memory and Electronic (sound) Reproduction:Slide36

Modernist

ocularcentrism

? (Thinking through Adorno, Benjamin, and Attali)Reik’s notion of the third ear (p. 223)Think about this in relation to Sterne (reading for next week)Slide37
Slide38

For Thursday

:

Choose a sound technology and do research on the historical developments and factors that shaped its present form, then compare that history to one that we studied this week. Create a blog post and be prepared to discuss in class. Also please bring your phone if you have music apps on it!Slide39
Slide40

The

phonograph in lab experiments in the early 1900s (

Kursell

)

Historiographies of mechanical music (Katz

)Slide41

A Gray Box: The Phonograph in Laboratory Experiments and Field Work, 1900-1920Slide42

and

ways of hearing and listening, none of which were stable. (p. 178)

The phonograph as a site of intersection for technology, experimental practices, Slide43

Prior to mass production

Fleeming

Jenking and J. Alfred Ewing’s experiments on speech and voice Suggested new ways of asking questionNew ways of producing data, new methods of correlationA new challenge to laboratory work: experimenters had to use their ears The Phonograph as a scientific instrument :Slide44

Édouard

-Léon Scott de

Martinville’s

Phonautograph

, 1857 Slide45

Alexander Graham Bell & Clarence Blake’s Ear

Phonautograph

, 1874 Slide46

Rudolph

Koenig’s

Manometric

Flame

Apparatus, 1862 Slide47
Slide48

Carl Ludwig’s Kymograph, 1840sSlide49

The medium is not a given entity but rather an unstable and

heterogenous

objectSome level of technical reliability and established modes of use made it possible to study the phonograph itselfThere is an inherent ambiguity in the use if a medium, seen in the process of its emergence. (p. 179)Slide50

Kittler’s

technological

a priori: Media analysis has been understood to help focus on the instability of the notion of a medium… most accounts of media technology could not work without a notion of medium that took its definition for granted rather than explain it. (p. 192)Slide51

The phonograph was central to the founding of

ethnomusicology. (Berlin Phonogram Archive, founded in 1908, and others like it established to

preserve samples of music that were as yet unknown to researches, and were in danger of being lost

forever.

Frances

Densmore

recording Blackfoot chief

Mountain Chief on a

cylinder phonograph for the Bureau of American Ethology in 1916

 Slide52
Slide53

The Amateur in The Age of Mechanical MusicSlide54

John Philip Sousa’s warning in 1906 (Why did he object to mechanical music?)

Did levels of interest in amateur music diminish as Sousa predicted? 1890-1910

Katz argue that amateur music persisted not despite the presence of mechanical music, but in response to the possibilities of these technologiesUser-centered perspective: SCOT (the social construction of technology)Exploring the role of amateur music in the age of sound recording and reproduction technologies:Slide55

Phonograph and player piano (1900-1920) U.S.

Karaoke (1970s) Japan—U.S.

Hip-hop (1970s) U.S.Music video games and mobile phone music (late 1990s to present) Global4 Case Studies: