Reading Response #1

The article I read was David Toop’s The Art of Noise. I chose this article because I wanted to expand my opinions and views on sound. This last year, I had such a bad ear infection, that I almost lost my hearing in my right ear. For more than a week, all I could hear were muted sounds from all around me, not being able to identify anything. When my hearing started to return, it was like I was reborn. Every new noise was like a miracle, and a new venue to explore.

In the essay, Toop talks about sound being “a spoken language...defin[ing] orientation within a place, register[ing] the feeling that we describe as atmosphere.” That said, Toop presents John Cage’s interpretation of the differences between sound and music. Cage states that music is the “organization of sound.” Although Cage fights saying that since music can have different meanings and interpretations based on where it is played, the true difference between what is classified as music and when it becomes noise is “at best, a puzzle with no satisfactory solution.”

In addition, Toop goes into the differences between sound art and music, saying that, “the difference lies in the ultimate aim.” What Toop goes into saying is that, “music rarely has a great deal to ‘say,’” whereas sound art has a deeper meaning, often revealing a hidden sympathy, with the use/aid of audio recording techniques and an “appreciation of reverberation in records.”

Looking at my practices as a media artist, I must say that this article has made me think deeper into the differences between art, music, and noise. Many times I look or hear a project, and wonder how is that acceptable. But with the ideas/views presented in the article, my span of acceptance has increased, as well as an increased eye and ear for the subtleties and the various uses/meanings of sound.