The Critical Ear

Visualizações: 0

Authors

  • Sara Pinheiro Film and TV Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Center of Audiovisual Studies | Prague, Czech Republic https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2519-2075

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33871/vortex.2024.12.9522

Keywords:

deep listening, sound politics, ear cleaning, frequency response, acoustic attention

Abstract

The “critical ear” is a concept crossing ideas of “technical listening” and “ear cleaning”. It was first presented as a workshop (Synth Library Prague, July 2024) dedicated to listening in its manifolds and complexities. It discussed our sonic environment and the several contexts in which listening takes place. Based on exercises that train frequency recognition, for example, how can we recognise that content in our mundane soundscape? In that sense, these exercises take a very pragmatic perspective, aiming at identifying frequencies and acoustic phenomena out-in-the-world. These comprise a basic relationship with sound, that of spatial acoustics, but at the same time, it adopts practices of deep listening and sound healing, towards the poetics of listening. The critical ear reflects the author’s practice endeavour: a constant sway between a technical understanding of sound and a socio-political reflection on being a listener.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Sara Pinheiro, Film and TV Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Center of Audiovisual Studies | Prague, Czech Republic

Sara Pinheiro (1985) is a sound-maker. Pinheiro graduated in Cinema (Lisbon, 2008) and holds a Master of Music in Sonology (The Hague, 2012), where she is a guest lecturer. She teaches at CAS – FAMU since 2013. Her academic work is practice-based research under the name of “Acousmatic Foley”. She is currently a PhD student at The School of Music and Media, in the Bangor University (Uk), under the Parry Williams scholarship. For film and video-art, she does sound recording, editing, foley and mixing. In her solo practice, she makes acousmatic pieces, usually for multichannel performances, radio broadcasts or installations. She is a member of the live-coding group K-o-l-e-k-t-i-v and the noise trio SHLUK. She is a regular collaborator of Synth Library Prague and the journal Arteacta, in Prague.

References

ANDRADE, Erik de Lima et al. Environmental noise in hospitals: a systematic review. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, v. 28, n. 16, p. 19629–19642, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13211-2

AMACHER, Maryanne. “Sound Characters”. 1999.

AMACHER, Maryanne. "Psychoacoustic Phenomena in Musical Composition: Some Features of a Perceptual Geography", Fo(A)Rm, 3: 16–25. 2004.

BERENDT, Joachim Ernst. Nada Brahma: The World is Sound. Rochester, Vermont: Destiny Books, 1987

CAGE, John. Silence: Lectures and writings. Wesleyan University Press, 2010.

DANIEL, Drew. All Sound Is Queer. The WIRE. London. Issue 333: November 2011.

EVEREST, Frederick Alton. Critical listening skills for audio professionals. Boston: ArtisPro, 2007.

LABELLE, Brandon. Acoustic justice: Listening, performativity, and the work of reorientation. USA: Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781501368240

LUCIER, Alvin. “I am sitting in a room”. 1969.

NORMAN, Katharine. Real-world music as composed listening. Contemporary Music Review, v. 15, n. 1, p. 1–27, 1996. DOI: 10.1080/07494469600640331. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07494469600640331

OLIVEROS, Pauline. “Deep Listening”. 1989.

OLIVEROS, Pauline. Deep listening: A composer’s sound practice. Lincoln: iUniverse, 2005.

PINHEIRO, Sara, ŠENKYŘÍK, Matěj, ROUŠ, Jiří & ZÁBRODSKÝ, Petr. Digital Creativity, v. 30, issue 3, p. 196-205, 2019. DOI: 10.1080/14626268.2019.1653929 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14626268.2019.1653929

PINHEIRO, Sara, & ROUŠ, Jiří. Reflections on sound associations and sonic digital environments. Resonance, v. 3, 3, 255–267. 2022 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/res.2022.3.3.255

PINHEIRO, Sara. Field recordings: A Manifesto. Prace Kulturoznawcze, 26(1), 129–146. 2022 DOI: https://doi.org/10.19195/0860-6668.26.1.8

SCHAFER, R. Murray. Ear cleaning: Notes for an experimental music course. Canada: Clark & Cruickshank, 1967

SCHAFER, R. Murray. The soundscape: Our sonic environment and the tuning of the world. Rochester, Vermont: Simon and Schuster, 1993.

SHLUK, ‘Noise Pollution and Sound Beyond “Sound”‘, Journal of Sonic Studies, 26 (2024) https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/3024868/3024869/0/0 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22501/JSS.3024868

TROWER, Shelley. Senses of vibration: A history of the pleasure and pain of sound. A&C Black, 2012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781501382857

VARESE, Edgard; WEN-CHUNG, Chou. The liberation of sound. Perspectives of New Music, [S. l.], v. 5, n. 1, p. 11, 1966. DOI: 10.2307/832385. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/832385

VOEGELIN, Salomé. The Political Possibility of Sound: Fragments of listening. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781501312199

Downloads

Published

2024-12-22

How to Cite

Pinheiro, S. (2024). The Critical Ear. Vortex Music Journal, 12, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.33871/vortex.2024.12.9522

Issue

Vol. 12 (2024): Revista Vórtex

Section

Dossier “New Sound Ecologies”

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Sara Pinheiro

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Autores mantêm os direitos autorais e concedem à revista o direito de primeira publicação, com o trabalho simultaneamente licenciado sob a Licença Creative Commons Attribution que permite o compartilhamento do trabalho com reconhecimento da autoria e publicação inicial nesta revista.

Metrics