[Reader-list] Subsequent hearing Exploration

[rajivan Sa]

ON SUBSEQUENT HEARING PROJECT
BY RAJIVAN SA, (Composer/Musician)

24th Sept/2003








The note that follows, relates to the project subsequent hearing 
exploration, funded by Sarai under their independant fellowship programme.

The project was started only in the second week of April 2003 and untill now 
there was no information that was exchanged with Sarai  regarding this 
project.  this is the first note that posted to give some materials 
regarding the project.

The medium that i am in concern with, in this project, is—sound, within  
electroacoustic music context.
Electroacoustic  in general reffers to sounds that are generated as well as 
heard by the usage of electronic interfaces.

Today, we experience  a larger degree of dependancy towards CDs, TV, Radio, 
telephones, internet and various kinds of usefull as well as useless 
signals. we hear live sound broadcasting from various cities and places, 
inside our rooms, we hear sounds from the past, we hear sounds with no 
sources (virtual acoustics, generated by elctronic means). we could walk 
around places, listening to sounds that has certain acoustic characteristics 
that could disorient us from the physical location from where we listen. 
Such practices of listening  changed relationship with our environment, our 
needs and to an extent the communication process and its content itself.

The project—subsequenthearing exploration was designed as a resource project 
in order  to explore as well as generate a set of concepts and working 
metaphors for a larger work—Space hearing.  I began working on this project 
sometime ago. One of the prime intentions of the project—Space hearing, is 
to build an interactive platform to listen our spaces with the help of 
musical compositions as interfaces, made with the help of listeners (users).

I assume with such work, one could listen to oneself. Perhaps, understand 
how soundmaking as well as listening, influences the environment that we are 
living with. Space hearing as a musical project looks at composition as an 
interface. The following extract from the space hearing project plan, may 
help a bit more to understand this concept.


MUSICAL NOTATION (SCORE) AS AN INSTRUCTIONAL DIAGRAM.
A musical composition has musical phrases and forms, in a conceived 
structure. As a part of the composition, traditionally, musical segments are 
usually written for a performer and a peculiar instrument
A musical score, notation tells the performer what to play, interms of 
tempi, scales, pitch, structures etc. A musical score in this sense is an 
interface, an instructional diagram of sorts that helps the musician perform 
a certain way.

MUSICAL NOTATION (SCORE) AS A BEHAVIORAL MAP.
A musical notation is also an arrangement of musical behaviors. It indicates 
how to play. A musical score then, is also a diagram of the performer’s 
physical movements and  locations: pressure, loudness, duration of play, 
gestures and physicality, and spatial locations of sounds.

A MUSICAL INTERFACE THAT INVOLVES THE LISTENER.
Extending the analogy of the musical interface, one could think of a tactile 
musical score, where the listener can directly interact with this interface.
This is a bit like a product display or exhibition space here audiences are 
allowed to touch the product and use them in order to understand how they 
function. Here, user behavior and interaction, as opposed to captive 
listening or viewing, gives the context and meaning to the conception of the 
object. The interface I have in mind is some way, is analogous to this

SUBSEQUENT HEARING EXPLORATION AS A RESOURCE WORK, deals with a specific 
procedure of composing (In the initial proposal i have used the 
phrase—listening to someone else’s listenings).
The procedure that i have followed in this project was devided into two 
levels.
As part of the first stage, i visited a few cities, engaging in a listening 
process. Listening to something that is under the process of being composed 
(For example, an environment, a community, a space at work etc). where each 
sound (event) exists, in relation to a larger and complex behavioural 
relationship of sound events that are heard around. It is identified as 
composed, by its inherent, temporal order and spectral qualities defined by 
materials, interfaces and  behaviour patterns. This process of listening was 
documented using a digital tape coder and various kinds of microphones. 
These documents were also guided by two ways of listening ; listening from 
sationary points and listening through moving.   The stationary listening or 
fixed spatial perspective was used in order to get the flow of time. And 
listening while moving was intended to experience a kind of changing spatial 
characteristics. The later also identified as a document that revealed 
different behavioural patterns or activities from its users. For example, 
walking from a market to a bus stop or, from a one way street to a signal 
point.
Another kind of recording was done using a TV with more than 60 channels. In 
this format various kinds of TV browsing was captured. The browsing 
behaviour was more or less detemined by some sort of instructional diagrams. 
This diagram indicated what should not be done (technical guidance), what is 
the duration and where should it will end.

I have spent slightly more than 4 months on travelling, listening and 
recording sounds from two cities. A week ago,  after reviewing all the 
materials that i have recorded, i decided to engage in the second level of 
this project. This stage has been devided as composition and diffusion. 
(both are interlinked to certain extent).  composition here means, bringing, 
placing, organizing the sounds and patterns in certain order. And diffusion 
could roughly mean the performing mode of these structure, or its 
distribution in the space of listening. And my decisions from here would 
lead me to validate what is perhaps the most important format of this 
project. Because my approaches presupposes a basic assumption, namely, that 
the meaning of any compositional technique or procedure arises from the need 
to function in support of a specific musical action, which in turn has a 
strong bearing on the question of how this action is listened and perceived.

I assume the work to be completed only by the end of October 2003. However, 
i am also preparing to  share more detailed information with you all from 
now on.



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RAJIVAN SA., 15 RUE YVES TOUDIC, 75010. PARIS.

                                   Tel. 00 33 1 42 39 36 61

rajivansa at hotmail.com
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