Introduction
The scope of this topic is very broad, since it covers every vibration that could ever potentially wiggle your eardrums, so naturally we were only ably to focus on a few areas. We also explored how other media can affect the way we perceive sound and vice-versa. The language portion focused on the English language, since everyone in the class can speak it, even if it isn't their first language. Specifically, we looked at how inflection and emphasis can influence our interpretation of it. For sound we looked at how different sounds affect our perception of visuals and how visuals affect our perception of sounds. The music portion seemed to focus a lot on the idea of remixes; taking already made music and sounds and rearranging them into something else. There was also a considerable portion of lecture time spent on the ideas of multitasking and informed decision making as they relate to the course, but not as they related to language, music, and sound, a connection I feel would be beneficial.
Starting Points
I was aware of the idea of remixing prior to this unit, but I had never before gone that in-depth with remixing, because I rarely, if ever, found a remix that I enjoyed. I was also aware of the power of inflection on language. My favorite example of this is the sentence "I never said he stole my money." Depending on which word emphasis is placed, that sentence can have at least seven different meanings;
"I never said he stole my money." implies someone else said that he stole my money.
"I never said he stole my money." means I never said that and am perhaps a little insulted that you'd think I was accusing him of stealing my money.
"I never said he stole my money." means that I communicated the fact that he stole my money through other means, like implication, hints, or writing.
"I never said he stole my money." implies that I said someone else stole my money.
"I never said he stole my money." implies that I said he did something else with my money.
"I never said he stole my money." implies I said he stole someone else's money.
"I never said he stole my money." implies I said he stole something else of mine.
As a fan of both film and videogames, I am also aware of the importance of sound. One of my favorite videogames, The Last of Us uses sound design wonderfully. It uses it to set mood and tone, add realism to action, and even communicate important gameplay information to the player in a subtle manner. Other stealth games may have a visibility meter to visually display how likely you are to be seen, but The Last of Us has only a subtle echoing sound effect like the inside of a conch-shell that rises in intensity the closer you are to being seen, and a quite gong and the outcries of your foes to tell you you've been spotted. That's only one example, but I thought it was a good one.
What I Learned
I learned that I still don't like remixes as a general rule, but I have at least come to appreciate them more. While I still haven't found a remix I find all that pleasing to the ear, I will acknowledge that they do take more time an effort than simply gluing random audio clips together and actually require conscious composition. I also learned more about inflection,and how my above example can even be used to give multiple meanings to a single word, making spoken language an almost entirely different art form from written. However, one must also be conscious when writing of what the work will sound like when spoken. I also learned that there is a musicality to our every day lives, thanks to the This American Life podcast, though I still must vehemently disagree with John Cage's assertion that "everything we do is music", because often the underlying sounds of life were a discordant mess and hardly what I would call music. Not every sound is in and of itself music, otherwise what need would we have of composers? It is the composition of the sounds in a way that evokes emotion that makes it music.Even my own remix (https://soundcloud.com/scottsmoot/sets/daydream-in-hydrogen-silver) I dislike, if I am perfectly honest. Any of the works I've used would be more pleasurable to listen to on their own than in these mashups, because in combining them it robs them of their original purpose. This is fine if done with extreme care in order to say something new, but without that in mind, it becomes simply noise and replaces the old meaning with nothing. I also learned that what we see changes what we hear. Our minds constantly take input from all of our senses and try to make them into one cohesive perception of the world. So, if we see something that our visual input tells us should make a certain sound,or hear a certain sound that our mind tells us belongs to a certain image or action, we will alter our perceptions to best fit how we think it should be. Our perceptions of the world are imperfect, and yet they are the only way we can see the world. They are at once not real, and yet the only thing that can be real to us.
Things I Would Like to Learn More About
I would like to learn more about the ways multitasking can relate to language, sound, and music. I felt we spent a good portion discussing how multitasking can affect learning and recall, but we didn't really go into depth on multitasking in terms of audio. This is a shame, because there is a lot to be explored there. Firstly, there is no real multitasking, only rapidly switching between tasks, but even so I think language, sound, and music could have a large impact on what we perceive as multitasking. For instance the article I linked to in my week three journal that talks about doodling and how it is helpful to doodle during lectures in order to better recall information. This relates back to how our perceptions affect out interpretation of audio input. Doodling keeps us engaged enough so as not to daydream, yet is not so distracting as to take us away from the lecture. There was also an opportunity here to discuss the merits of something many students do far and wide; listen to music while they study and do homework. This would have been an excellent thing to look into. I don't know if this was overlooked or if we simply ran out of time during the lecture on multitasking, but either way it's a shame we didn't tie it more directly into the unit.
Conclusion
In summation, though I still do not care for remixes, I can appreciate them more and admire the effort that goes into them. I also gained a new appreciation for how sound influences perceptions and vice-versa. It is a shame that the lecture on multitasking didn't come full-circle in a way that was relevant to the current unit, since there was potential for some interesting connections there. As a filmmaker I look forward to applying what I learned in this unit to my work both in a broad sense and in the upcoming unit on film, video, and new media.
