1. Given the delineations of soundscape & acoustic ecology, do you think the two terms belong together?
2. WesterKamp writes, “The ear and the microphone are the starting points for the soundscape composer,” do you think ears and microphones should be the only two tools used for soundscape composition or should there be more tools involve other than ears and microphones?
3. Can composers actually compose soundscapes without their own basis intervening?
4. Can soundscape composition initiate ecological change?
3. I think that it is theoretically possible but extremely difficult. If I am making a composition, there will be natural biases, likes, dislikes, subtler preferences that I may not be aware of that will appear in my composition (or not appear). A particular noise that is grating to my ears might be avoided, for example. That said, I can listen to others’ soundscapes and try to appreciate why those particular choices were made.
I agree with you. Some composers may want to create something objectively but they will always be a bias to a sound or a style that they may like better that they may want to implement in their piece. Like you said, some sounds may sound irritating to me but others may appreciate these sounds.
I think it is crucial that the creator of a soundscape use much more than their ear and a microphone. While I think it’s very important to listen to the environment around us and that it creates the basis for what could eventually become a soundscape, I think it is also extremely valuable to gauge how you make sound and what you can make sound with, or how the sounds you want to capture can be recorded differently. I think the environment should be considered a tool in and of itself, as it can be manipulated to create a specific perception.
To answer the fourth question, I believe that the use of soundscape composition can be used as a device for initiating ecological change. Much like a photographer, composers can create awareness of the harm being done ecologically by capturing a small part of what the environment has become, what it should be, and the startling difference between the two. The use of more senses used to persuade an audience may create more of an impact than the use of sight alone.
1. I am not sure if the terms can belong together. I really like what Westerkamp said about definitions in this article. “In my experience the term eludes any further definition. And my sense is that as soon as we try to define it further, we rob it of its essence, indeed of its freedom within that vast and interdisciplinary arena. Why? Because each soundscape composition emerges out of its own context in place and time, culturally, politically, socially, environmentally and is presented in a new and often entirely different context.”