the absence of unwanted sound
a treatise on ambient music by bryan helm
first of all greetings to anyone and everyone taking time to read this text. the
subject of "ambient" music has been one of interest to me for many years now,
and as much as i suspect the ability of verbiage to aptly interpret as ethereal an art
form as music, some articulation of thought on the subject may be of value.
i believe each individual attains through their collective life experiences a variety
of notions and intuitions relating to their personal sensory realm. this process begins at
our birth and may evolve to the predelicational behavior of "exercising good
taste" in relation to what sensory inputs are sought after or allowed to be
experienced. however the subtler aspects of many experiences are lost in the overwhelming
nature of the modern world, with sound related issues suffering more severely than most.
technology coupled with a growing world population has given rise to a quickly
diminished realm wherein humans can experience an unadulterated area of natural sound.
this gradual acceleration of intrusive elements is most eloquently explored by r. murray
schafer in his book "the tuning of the world" (copyright 1977, published by
alfred a. knopf, inc.). among the many wonderful aspects of mr. schafer's book are a
variety of well defined terms relating to the nature of the sound experience that we as
humans access or avoid as part of our daily living. one point of definition that is most
revealing is the fact that the oxford english dictionary contains references to
"noise" as unwanted sound, dating back to 1225 a.d. hence the title of this
text. another insightful term presented by mr. schafer is "soundscape" which he
coined in 1968 to describe: "the sonic environment. technically, any portion of the
sonic environment regarded as a field for study. the term may refer to actual
environments, or to abstract constructions such as musical compositions, particularly when
considered as an environment." based on this view a "soundscape" exists as
part or all of any audible event sought after for study, abstractly constructed or
otherwise. whether you would qualify most people's listening abilities and interest in
sound as emulating "study", is a subject of more doubt to me than we will
explore here for now. however the sensibilities of a listener are judged, the questions of
perspective are myriad. as to whether there are organic, neural, or behavioral differences
between one hearing entity and another, there can be no doubt. the majority of music
constructed within the time frame prior to the 20th century can be categorized in relation
to aspects of compositional method, ethnic origin, instrumentation, sociopolitical intent,
etc. however the music came to pass, it was destined to be relegated to an ill termed
niche of some sort.
the term "ambient" taken as meaning "surrounding; encircling;
encompassing or circulating" does little to describe a musical form but rather
perhaps more the possibilities of the listeners sonic space and it's physical limitations.
to date one of the more succinct appraisals of "ambient music" 's inherent
qualities is brian eno's comments contained in the liner notes to ambient 1 music for
airports circa 1978. eno says: "ambient music must be able to accommodate many levels
of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it
is interesting" this vague but vital maxim has served me well over the years as a
compositional and performance guide. it also clearly identifies the immediate difficulties
one will encounter when attempting to market such material. the ramifications of a louder
less tolerant listening space in which to attempt to enjoy the "ambient music"
experience, are evolving daily. it's really not absurd to consider that in some
environments "heavy metal" is the proper choice of ambient music, given the
sonic demands of say a foundry or like industrial space. for that matter the automotive
concert halls that offer many modern listeners their best or only available space for
musical enjoyment (with commuting time increasing steadily), offer a restrictive set of
listening parameters.
given these considerations it's hard to establish too narrow a definition for the term
"ambient music". the existing catalog of works supposedly within this genre is
actually quite diverse in it's range of styles, instrumentation, and possible decibel
level of performance or recorded playback. with other schools of musical thought
criss-crossing the ambient area of possibilities (minimalism, serialism, trance, pulse,
etc.) it seems prudent to perhaps refer to this "ambient music" as a sound event
constructed to enable the listener to access a space where he can "perhaps"
experience no unwanted sound. but again this unwanted criteria exists solely with the
listener in question, a hard call for marketing types and the industry they foster. more
later...perhaps.
bryan helm