1. A lineage and prospect of soundscape studies as a sound ethnography.
- Author
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TSUJIMOTO Kyōko
- Subjects
JAPANESE music ,SOUND - Abstract
When we walk around any contemporary city, we can hear a mixture of sounds, including background music, human voices and alarms from mobile phones. This paper is an attempt to organize the linage of the studies and works on "soundscape" better enable our ability to analyze the confusing sound environment in a large, contemporary city. The concept of "soundscape" was presented by R. Murray SCHAFER, a composer and educator. But how do we distinguish "soundscape" from "sound environment"? Firstly, these notions are examined in landscape studies by comparing them with the viewpoint of visual sense. In this paper, "sound environment" means an objective environment; we can read some "soundscape" from the "sound environment" with our subjective viewpoint. And the heart of SCHAFER'S work was his view of "soundscape design". It was not only to add sounds but also to leave or even reduce sounds accordingly. In this design, the desirable soundscape is "Hi-fi (fidelity) soundscape", which is less noisy and has a clear primary signal. Other 1960s anthropologists paid attention to the functions of loud sounds and noises in different cultures. Claude LEVI-STRAUSS pointed out the functions of noise, which open the door to the numinous world. It separates sacred from secular time and space. These notions were very important devices of intermediate extraordinary time and place. However, SCHAFER'S "soundscape design" concept was widely accepted in Japan and it was quite different from its Western counterpart. TORIGOE Keiko diffused Soundscape in Japan. She and her colleagues connected the notion of soundscape with "Japaneseness". Here it led to some efforts to select the best place and surroundings for political events on local government and national level. The largest project was "the 100 best soundscapes that need to be preserved in Japan". However, their work on Soundscape design could not a high level of great dependence on primarily subjective criteria in defining "any good soundscape". Technologically advanced countries have had many mechanical devices and media connecting the environment and the human body. In landscape studies, SATO Kenji wrote that contemporary people share "common sense" in these societies. He claims that we must not exclude these mechanical and electric features of the environment. In order to subjectively verify this "common sense", I refer to a project in 2004-2007. In view of landscape studies, some Japanese intellectuals formed "The Association to make beautiful Landscape", aimed at critiquing the chaotic landscapes of Japanese cities. They developed a website presenting "the 100 worst landscapes in Japan". However, many people made objections. In particular, IGARASHI Taro, an architect, claims that the Tokyo landscapes they criticize are attractive for many young people, especially those who like cyber movies. Such an argument shows that in this contemporary age, opinions about cities may vary considerably, especially when one factors in generational considerations. What is more, this example shows that SCHAFER'S "soundscape design" notion is insufficient as an instrument for sound environment analysis because it omits a very important aspect of environment perception - the actor's criteria. We have to seek new notions as devices to research these new soundscapes from more relative points of view. To overcome this problem and make use of soundscape as a means of analysis in the sound environment of cities, I examine anthropological and ethno-musicological theories in ethnography. NAKAGAWA Shin speculated on the sounds of the Gion Festival in Japan. He claims that SCHAFER'S narrative of "Hi-fi to Low-fi" is not suitable for non-Western societies and that fieldwork is needed in Non-Western, especially Asian areas. And his field of research, Kyoto, is also a contemporary city. There is also much noise coming from traffic, public television, mobile phones, etc. This means that in modern cities our sound environment is dominated by multi-flow powers. How can we analyze this case? A solution to this problem may be sought in the works of ethnomusicologists. Firstly, I refer to some pieces by Steven FELD, who carried out his fieldwork among the Kaluli people in Papua New Guinea. In his first study, he presented Kaluli's ethno-theory of music. He discussed his book with Kaluli people, and concluded that the sounds in their environment are no less important for them than their songs. This finding motivated him to study the environmental sounds in a tropical forest. In his subsequent research in the forest he focused his attention on the Kaluli's concept "dulugu ganalan", which comprises songs, animal noises and environmental sounds, especially those coming from water. He translated this as "lift-up-over-sounding", and established it as an important concept which expresses their system of society and sound theory. In his studies he was influenced by SCHAFER, referring to SCHAFER'S works and holding a critical view towards the so called objective "soundscape approaches" and taking a more subjective approach. From such a point of view, he insisted that there is a close interaction among sounds in environment, society and this human body and named it "acoustemology". FELD's colleague YAMADA Youichi, who conducted research among the Waxei people in Papua New Guinea, placed more emphasis on the interaction between sound and body. He updated FELD'S acoustemology to "acoustic body theory" claiming that musicking body must feel pleasure. All these theories are products of the analysis of traditional society environment. However, I would like to examine how they work in the confusing sound environment of a contemporary city. The sources of such sound are very close and integral parts of people's lives, causing both pleasure and discomfort according to the subjective responses of the listeners. SUWA Jun'ichiro carried out research in Papua New Guinea, doing his fieldwork on the local song of the city, claiming that in the city's sound-environment, their auditory sense is fragmented. He connected this fragmented auditory sense with their ideology and identity. Returning to NAKAGAWA, he claimed that we need research in Asia. If the field is in Asia, it will be more Low-fi than that of SUWA. In addition to that, people are individuals with their own tastes and preferences for different sounds, as evidenced by the widespread use of portable audio players. This means that we cannot carry out research with both the natural body and individualized devices. We do not share one unified sound or ethno-theory. Rather, we have a cluster, different layers of sounds. This is a common feature of contemporary cities and it resembles FELD'S "Lift-up-over-sounding". We may read this sound-environment as "fragmented" soundscape. Use of these concepts may contribute to the development of acoustic field research in contemporary cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2009