Sound Unseen: Acousmatic Sound in Theory and Practice
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.29 (924 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0190632216 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 336 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-01-08 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
For Kane, musical transcendence is revealed time and again to be a phantasmagoric effect of techné, in which the means of production are eclipsed, resulting in a suprahuman category." Contemporary European History. F. Furthermore, Kane shows how music studies and philosophy can speak to each other when they are conceived as mutually supplemental--questions about sound infect philosophical questions, and thus a musical answer becomes a philosophical answer. Recommended." --Choice"Sound Unseen is both successful and provocative precisely because of these constructive dissonances. Finally, Kane's tone deserves special mention, as it untangles knotty philosophical questions with remarkably accessible language: despite the density of his topics, his prose treads lightly and patiently, requiring little philosophical acumen yet rewarding those who may have it."--Mus
According to legend, the philosopher Pythagoras lectured to his disciples from behind a veil, and two thousand years later, in the age of absolute music, listeners were similarly fascinated with disembodied sounds, employing various techniques to isolate sounds from their sources. Working through, and often against, Schaeffer's ideas, Brian Kane presents a powerful argument for the central yet overlooked role of acousmatic sound in music aesthetics, sound studies, literature, philosophy and the history of the senses. When separated from their source, sounds seem to manifest transcendent realms, divine powers, or supernatural forces. With recording and radio came spatial and temporal separation of sounds from sources, and new ways of composing music.Sound Unseen: Acousmatic Sound in Theory and Practice explores the phenomenon of acousmatic sound. Kane investigates acousmatic sound from a number of methodological perspectives -- historical, cultural, philosophical
Brian Kane is Assistant Professor of Music at Yale University and a founding editor of the journal nonsite. His research specializes in contemporary music, sound art, sound studies/auditory culture, histories of listening, and intersections between music and philosophy.