Students of this course may try their hand at their own sound interventions and musical compositions, or simply focus on learning more about diverse musical traditions, sonic experimentation, and acoustic phenomena in everyday life. Designed by artist and Duke professor, Pedro Lasch, and UdK composer Mathias Hinke, this course is also co-taught by scholar and musician Jace Clayton (DJ Rupture) and curator Candice Hopkins (Documenta 14). The lectures link major artistic developments of recent decades to wider ideas about sound in specific social and spatial contexts. Also included are guest presentations from key thinkers and practitioners, like: Christopher DeLaurenti, Jen Delos Reyes, Tina Haver Currin, Quran Karriem, Christina Kubisch, Thomas Kusitzky, Scott Lindroth, Mark Anthony Neal, Bill Seaman, and John Supko. As the ‘ART of the MOOC’ title implies, learners and participants are encouraged to treat the MOOC itself as a public art medium. This happens mostly through the course’s optional practical components, local project productions, global exchanges, and critical feedback. While no prior sound production or musical experience is required, projects also offer challenging options for advanced learners. For other course offerings or language versions in this series, just search 'ART of the MOOC' in the Coursera catalog.
Analytical Concepts
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From the course by Duke University
Art of the MOOC: Experiments with Sound
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From the lesson
Introduction & Analytical Concepts
This module introduces the four co-teachers of the course (Lasch, Clayton, Hinke, Hopkins), along with five analytical concepts that we will use throughout its sections and projects: Frequency, Perspective, Material Frame, Time Frame, and Concurrency. These concepts are designed to encompass a wide range of acoustic phenomena within spatial and social experience.
Meet the Instructors
Pedro LaschVisual Artist and Associate Research Professor
Duke Art, Art History & Visual Studies
Candice HopkinsDocumenta 14 Curator, Producer, and Author
Jace ClaytonComposer, DJ, Author, and Lecturer
Mathias HinkeComposer, Researcher, and Professor University of the Arts (UdK) - Berlin
[MUSIC]
In this opening segment what we have decided to do is really
open up what we know is a very wide range of interests and
communities of learners who participate in not just our MOOC series,
but specifically in this one about sound.
So we've created a series of what we may call analytical frameworks, right Mateos?
>> Right. >> Concepts.
>> Right.
>> So what do you think these concepts allow people to do?
>> Well for all of those of you who don't have a musical background,
these concepts should help you have tools to analyze sound.
In the frames that we are looking at later on, such as sound in social practice,
sounds in public spaces, or even in the Internet.
>> And what's interesting too,
is that while they're great terms for people who have never worked with sound or
in music, these terms actually are also of interest to specialized people.
Because they provide a much more open framework
than the specialized disciplines generally do.
>> Right, it's not only a open framework, but also it opens perspectives.
Because if you look at things with that particular terminology in your head,
you may come up with different ideas.
Thinking especially about the idea that this MOOC
is instigating people to do their own work.
>> So let's introduce five analytical concepts that we will be using throughout
the MOOC to understand case studies, guest presentations, and other materials.
Sound is a time of dependent phenomenon.
This just basically means that sound develops and unfolds over time.
Acoustic events can be very close to each other or not, so
you may think of them in relation to density.
>> Think also about that not every single second of
our time is full of sound, and there are also spots where there is no sound at all.
And of course, you may guess we're talking about silence.
To think about silence as important to the structure of any acoustic
piece as sound itself.
>> This interplay of sound and
silence is what we recognize as acoustic events.
It lets us foresee or understand a certain narrative, and
it's what gives us also a sense of moving from A to B.
>> And also this density and interplay of things that sound and
silence is that we can consider to be something intelligible.
And is precisely that interplay that we are going to call frequency.
In other words, how often things happen.
The difference between density and
frequency is that density is a qualifier of frequency.
It explains how many things are put in a particular time.
Whereas frequency itself is just the description if things are heard or not.
Of course there is an equivalent in musical terminology to frequency and
density, and that would be rhythm.
But since rhythm means many things to different people,
we opted to just stick to frequency and density to clean up the misunderstandings.
Our next analytical concept is the idea of perspective, right.
>> And within that we think of three major categories,
the idea of the intimate, the local, and the global.
>> Right, for instance this particular sonic sphere could be considered to be
local because both Ben and I can still listen to each other while we talk.
>> Even if I have to speak louder, because I'm further away,
we're still part of the same local scene.
>> Rght, but then we can talk about the intimate.
And the intimate is that sonic sphere that is the closest proximity to your own ears.
And that would be only you, or the point of reference can listen to.
So listen to what is around you at a very close proximity.
Something that only happens somewhere.
>> I cannot hear you. >> Between your ears and your hands here.
That is something you would call to be intimate because only you would be able to
listen to it.
>> I cannot hear you Mateos.
>> From that perspective every other sound might be there but
you can only listen to that and no one else.
>> I can't hear you.
>> When thinking about the intimate perspective,
it is essential to consider the point of reference which is shifted right now.
>> I can't hear you.
You know Pedro, look at this place.
If you were to consider it under the analytical concept of what you
were saying.
Rephrasing, just trying to identify each individual source of sound.
>> So if this were an orchestra, we would be thinking of all the different
instruments that make sound in that performance.
>> Exactly, it could be anything in this case from microphone we're talking into.
>> To like a human voice in relation to the microphone,
that could be the material frame.
>> Eating noises or cooking noises.
>> Or the sound of chatter in people in a large crowd.
>> Right.
>> All of these things can be a material frame.
Now what is very important as you use this concept of material frame,
either to analyze something or to actually make your compositions,
is that it is very helpful to distinguish what is relevant from what isn't.
Even if you're hearing many other sounds, when you define your material frame,
you're saying this is what matters and this is what doesn't.
So you exclude what doesn't matter for the material frame.
We're now introducing the idea of time frames as an analytical concept.
Our conversation for example, has a specific time frame.
It may last two minutes or ten minutes depending on who gets out at what stop.
>> Right, so we could also look at, for instance, a phone call inside a bus.
That could take anywhere between one second or the whole ride as well.
>> If someone is listening to a song on their headphones,
the time frame is incredibly specific.
It's the length of that song.
>> Right and it's also very specific when you're writing a text message you will be,
time frame will be just exactly that time it takes you to write it.
>> On the other extreme, if someone's reading a book on the bus.
Depending on the reader and
the book this could last a day, two days, a week, or a month even.
>> So that's when time frames may intersect.
>> Right, and it's this analytical concept that lets you deal with complex
intersections of time frames and yet pay attention to the ones that you care about.
>> Right, and play with them in an artistic manner later on.
[SOUND]
>> Our next analytical concept is the idea of concurrency.
>> By the music, you would call that polyphony.
And what polyphony implies is that many voices add up together to a much greater
goal such as harmony or sound, whatever it is that you're looking for.
But they all work together for that.
>> And in the case of concurrency, well, you can certainly think of a polyphonic
composition with the same idea of concurrency.
>> With concurrency, the idea of the deliberate or
the intentional does not apply.
It can or cannot be deliberate, right?
What really matters is that you have a simultaneity of
different sounds being produced.
And you use this framework to kind of analyze how they are sounding together,
intentionally or not.
To give you an example, you may have a protest happening in a city, and
many voices are kind of happening as part of a protest.
But that would not be concurrent because
they have a deliberate goal of sounding together.
But if you add to the idea of the protest and its sounds the idea of, say,
the sound of traffic, or a construction crane working in the city.
Those are actually concurrent sound phenomena and
you can use this framework too.
>> Exactly, so this analytical concept is designed for you to understand these
more complex sound environments as a whole instead of just a sum of little parts.
As you would when you just want to identify individual sound sources.
>> You may even think of it as as it's having five or six cameras, or
as many as you need.
And each one will allow you to focus in very different aspects of a sound scene.
But then you can see a multi-channel event.
>> Right, exactly.
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