Silence - Nature: "Quiet Groves and Times"

            The brochure included at Shawn Decker’s exhibition of Prairie mentions that “Decker has been more directly influenced by the work of composer and theorist R. Murray Schafer, who introduced the notion of ‘soundscapes’ in the 1970s, in which recorded natural sounds are liberated from their original source in order to create immersive acoustic environments.” Upon further reading of Schafer’s essay titled “The Music of the Environment,” it is apparent that there are many other ideas that Decker implemented into his work.

            First off, Schafer talked about the fidelity of the environment and that it could either be classified as high- or low-fidelity. “A hi-fi system is one possessing a favourable signal to noise ratio,” whereas, “In a lo-fi soundscape individual acoustic signals are obscured in an overdense population of sounds” (32). As the Prairie requires the viewers to focus in on the intricate details of the mechanisms, it makes all the more sense that the work should be isolated from all other noises as much as possible; the work is appropriately isolated in its very own exhibition hall/room.

            This isolated room also points to the idea of the “integrity of inner space;” the room that is used specifically for this exhibit becomes a special (almost sacred, somewhat) location where one can fully be immersed in the experience. I see this more like the concert hall setting that Schafer mentioned; as music played outdoors will have to compete with extraneous noises, so will the Prairie when it is “out in the wild” (especially in an area densely inhabited by people).

            Schafer also brought up in the section of his essay titled “Music Sounds: The Industrial Revolution” that many composers of the early/mid 20^th century wrote pieces that embraced the industrialized sounds that are now commonly heard in our everyday lives. I believe that, in an attempt to address this, Decker actually used industrial means (through electronics, mechanisms, and mechanical manufacturing) to imitate a natural environment and to achieve the hi-fi sounds of the prairie. It’s as if he’s using this industrial theme to point to the “industrialized/artificial” state of the city.

            Finally, the previous points all go hand in hand with Schafer’s idea of the “quiet groves and times.” While these quiet sanctuaries are slowly being destroyed as people inhabit the world, Schaefer argues that this silence and absence of abundant noise is becoming increasingly more desirable and necessary for the betterment of humanity. Interestingly, he mentioned how, in other cultures (particularly the Japanese) people would set up wind chimes and other [simple] man-made contraptions (water fountains, perhaps?) to actually help one to be more aware of the natural (so in the case of wind chimes, one will become more aware of the wind as it passes through the garden). In a strange way, Decker’s Prairie uses the sounds (though they sound so mechanical and artificial), outputted in a logically “organic” way (i.e. not totally random), to help one to become more attuned to the silence and stillness, which certainly conveys this very special quality of a real “quiet grove.”

            I personally find this quote very intriguing: “Then man likes to surround himself with sounds in order to nourish his fantasy of perpetual life” (37). At the grand scale of the essay, Schafer suggests that there is way too much noise in the present-day life when compared to the past. This return to silence and nature not only calms the mind, but I believe it also helps one to meditate and to reflect on humanity; rather than filling oneself with what one thinks will give him life, perhaps one will then realize that the world does not just involve around the self, but that there are so many intricate things that are constantly happening around the individual. I think it would be neat if I could make an sound installation piece that somehow utilizes silence and helps people become more introspective—it would be great if it this would make people stop and listen and be whisked away from their busy lives (even if just for a minute).

(As a side note, the page numbers refer to the pages from the book titled Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music, in which this essay was included)