chain clinking/train/change/church bells/spinning/dialing old phones/phone lines/echo/FEEDBACK/speed/zoom/HEARTBEAT/horses/hooves/magnetic force/metal clanking together/metal objects zipping through space and getting attached together/footsteps/cellphones on vibrate/RHYTHM/continutally pressing one key on a keyboard/tempo/space/spinning the wheel of fortune/GOSSIP/pstt/short circuiting/dropping nails on metal/zapping electricity/powertools/counting down/knocking/CD skipping/fast forward/rewind/sounds from boardwalk games/alone/strumming on a guitar.
So this 8 minute version of a “song” if you want to call it that, got me thinking. Like we were told to do, I sat there and listened to the very instrumental rendition of a song. At first, it was tough to just simply listen to it. I sort of had to challenge my brain to focus solely on what I was hearing, meaning getting every other random thought out of my head. That wasn’t as easy as it sounds. It’s a good thing this song was 8 minutes and 11 seconds long, otherwise, I’d only have 5 words written down on our lovely three-fold piece of blank computer paper. I really had to concentrate on what individual sound could represent, and as soon as I got into the swing of things, I think I managed to jot down some accuarate words and descriptions.
You can see some words are in all caps, the reason why is because while writing them down, I felt they were the ones that were the most overpowering; more apparent and relevant to the composition then the rest. After the excercise, I looked over the words I had written down, and I was actually amazed to see that most of them made some sort of…well, sense. FEEDBACK and HEARTBEAT have, for a lack of a better word, a beat in real life; they follow a pattern. In music, notes often follow particular patterns as well, therefore that is one fact in favor of this song actually being categorized as a song. With the illusion of a heartbeat and feedback, you could sort of hear the sounds coming alive, experiencing some sort of vibrancy.
Others, such as “zapping electricity”, “short circuiting” and “metal objects zipping through space and getting attached together” are what I like to think of as the music makers; they are the instruments used to make the noise aka music. Aside from traditional music instruments, ordinary objects can produce music just as well as anything else. No one ever categorized music as solely being produced with musical instruments.
I would identify “Echos” and “sounds from boardwalk games” as special effects. In the music studio, artists and producers use a variety of special effects to enhance the sound they are trying to portray. In this case, I think familiar sounds were used to create a balanced, yet unbalanced sound.
Most of these sounds stem from an electronic base, cellphones, powertools, CD’s, keyboards, zooming in/out. I guess the point I’m trying to make is that this 8 minute 11 second song would not have been created before the Electronic and Technological Age. Not only because half these sounds wouldn’t have existed, but also because without a computer, I don’t think such sounds could be compiled in order to make a song. I guess in this case, the song is a product of its generation.
FEEDBACK. HEARTBEAT. RHYTHM. GOSSIP.
pretty much the story of our friendship?? haha. love it. what an interesting and diverse take everyone has had on this eight minutes & eleven seconds!