Editorial

Electroacoustic compositional practice has had a varied number of submissions for this issue, such that, in
and often troublesome relationship to the ‘real world’. A coordination with Organised Sound editor Leigh
dominant trend among acousmatic composers has been Landy, a second issue in volume 23(1) is already in
to create abstract sound shapes that reveal little about place, and with the Berlin students, we organised a
their real-world sources, whether recorded samples or final concert of ten works, both stereo and multi-
synthetic material. Even when a real-world sound is channel, plus a project that has been published online
identifiable, the compositional context usually makes it (Haberl 2016). No doubt there have been many
clear that the work is not particularly about the social or reasons for these responses, but I would like to think
environmental emplacement of that sound. that my intent of being more inclusive to a wider range
Soundscape composition has become a relatively well- of practices than is typical within a strictly musical or
defined genre, often characterised as being intimately concert environment is one contributing factor.
located to place. Although that may be true in many Another seems to be an implicit desire by individuals to
instances, it can also be understood as a range of integrate their sonic creativity within the broader
approaches within an even broader concept, namely social, cultural and ecological context of today’s
what this issue proposes to term ‘context-based compo- world. Do I dare hope that many of today’s practi-
sition’. One of the aims of the issue is not only to provide tioners, both emerging and professional, are not con-
a survey of contemporary examples of this approach and tent to reside in a musical ‘ivory tower’, but would like
concept but also to think more seriously about how it to reach a wider audience and feel that their skills have
can be defined, what are its implications and affor- some social value both within and outside the purely
dances, and what emerging practices seem most fruitful. artistic world?
A key distinguishing feature of context-based com- Of course, this publishing project is hardly without
position is that real-world contexts inform the design historic precedents. Twenty years ago, Katharine
and composition of aurally based work at every Norman edited an issue of Contemporary Music
level, that is, in the materials, their organisation, and Review with the lovely subtitle ‘A Poetry of Reality’.
ultimately the work’s placement within cultural Its theme was to examine ‘the aesthetic implications of
contexts. Perhaps most significantly, listeners are employing sounds from the real world as musical
encouraged to bring their knowledge of real-world material’, resulting in what she called ‘real-world
contexts into their participation with these works. As music’ (Norman 1996: 1). One of her most insightful
such they fundamentally differ from an approach that contributions was how she presented the relation
utilises sounds related only to each other in an appar- between ‘referential’, ‘reflective’ and ‘contextual’
ently autonomous form. Context-based practice can, listening, and today we can see both the tensions and
among other approaches, range from sonifications, the opportunities in how composers and sound
phonographic uses of field recordings, to site-specific designers exploit this terrain. I am tempted to cate-
installations, and abstracted soundscape compositions gorise these three aspects conceptually (and less poeti-
based in real-world or even virtual, imagined spaces. cally) as objective, subjective and communicational
The above paragraphs are taken from the original call approaches (Truax 2012b). With today’s easy access to
for submissions to this theme issue, intended as a kind of field recording and online databases of environmental
challenge for authors, particularly a younger generation samples, it is inevitable that many ‘users’ will do just
of scholars and practitioners, to react to and evaluate that, simply use such recordings as raw material with
whether this formulation of yet another terminological little regard for (or knowledge of in some cases) the ori-
phrase (context-based composition) would be embraced ginal context from which they came. At the other end of
or disputed. At the same time, I taught a graduate course the continuum is an integration of all three approaches,
at the Technical University in Berlin using the same where I understand soundscape composers as wanting to
subject description to test the concept at a practical involve themselves and their listeners in a deepened
pedagogical level, in this case with students many of relationship to some aspect of the real world, with tech-
whom did not self-identify as composers, but who had niques ranging from sonification and phonography to
technical, artistic and musical interests of various kinds. more abstracted approaches (Truax 2012a).
The response in both cases has been overwhelmingly Other historic precedents go even further back. One
positive, I am pleased to report. We received a substantial thinks of individual pioneers such as Walter Ruttmann,
Organised Sound 22(1): 1–3 © Cambridge University Press, 2017. doi:10.1017/S1355771816000285

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355771816000285 Published online by Cambridge University Press

 2 Barry Truax

Ludwig Koch, Tony Schwartz, Luc Ferrari and various Andrew Hill initiates the discussion with key
proponents of the aural documentary as precursors to questions about what constitutes real-world sound and
current work, and luckily samples of their work are how context can be implicated in the listening and
becoming increasingly available. It has also been compositional process. As all field recordists recognise
gratifying to note, particularly in the contributions to (Drever 2017), the recorded sound may evoke images
this issue, the recognition of R. Murray Schafer and of place and context, but they are never a transparent
the World Soundscape Project (WSP) at Simon Fraser or neutral representation, and they are always depen-
University (SFU) in the 1970s, of which I was a dent on the listener’s interpretation and experience.
member, as being seminal for the emerging practices of Hill concludes that the resulting ‘constructed context’
both acoustic ecology and soundscape composition is a dynamic interplay between composer and listener
(Truax 1996a, 2002, 2008). Perhaps not surprisingly at that is in fact liberating for both parties. Charles
this remove, concepts that were developed there have Underriner takes us even further by proposing the
received critical re-evaluation, particularly concerning ‘audio reality effect’ (following Barthes’s literary
Schafer’s prescriptive ideals (Kelman 2010). Ingold’s version) where a recording might not only suggest
critique of the term ‘soundscape’ and other linguistic mimesis and evoke a listener’s own experience, but
implications of sound-related language has been also create an ‘alternate reality’ that seems equally
particularly useful and widely cited (Ingold 2007). In plausible – what he calls a ‘sound-poetry of the
my view, the neologisms introduced and used by instability of reality’.
Schafer (e.g. soundscape, schizophonia, soundmark, A number of submissions have proceeded from
earwitness, hi-fi/lo-fi) were intended as rhetorical an ecological perspective, perhaps not surprisingly
devices to communicate new concepts to a wider given current concerns about environmental sustain-
audience, not as robust concepts that could withstand ability, and therefore both issues will include articles
scholarly analysis, as useful as that may still be. relevant to this topic. Jonathan Gilmurray provides a
Other misconceptions about the WSP group itself comprehensive taxonomy of ‘ecological sound art’
have occurred. Most frequently we have been referred (which he distinguishes from merely the use of environ-
to as ‘students’ of Schafer, or less generously as a mental sound), noting that it has not received
‘clique’ (Demers 2010: 121) or ‘acolytes’ (Akiyama as much critical discourse as ecological approaches
2010: 59), instead of what we actually were: paid have in other disciplines. His five functional categories
research assistants, obviously young, rather idealistic provide a useful map to current practices and the
and not particularly well trained in environmental ecological issues involved. David Chapman follows
research. However, after the group disbanded when with a perception-based approach for both direct
Schafer left SFU (1975) and a few years later funding and mediated experience of sonic environments. The
was rather brutally terminated (Truax 1996b: 72), extent to which listening habits and abilities have
some of us developed the ideas further: Hildegard been changed by technology (in both more analytic
Westerkamp with soundwalking and composition and distracted dimensions) is not often acknowledged,
(Westerkamp 2002), and myself in terms of acoustic and these affordances (to use the popular term from
communication and also composition. The creation of Gibson) affect both the producer and the receiver.
the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology at Banff, This issue also includes a more personal essay by a
Alberta, in 1993, marked a renewal and broadening of representative of the millennial generation, André
the original WSP ideas to a formal international Pinto, in which he passionately argues for a ‘rewilding’
presence that continues to this day. To have this of the ear (following George Monbiot’s concept) to
continuing legacy derive from what was a small and allow us to reconnect with the (endangered) natural
rather ad hoc group over 40 years ago seems quite world.
remarkable to me. The remaining articles in this issue address various
To return to the theme of this issue, soundscape applied topics, often within a strong theoretical frame-
composition is generally regarded as place-based, and work. Damián Keller and Victor Lazzarini, leaders of
with this issue I have suggested an extension to all the Ubiquitous Music Group, give an extensive outline
forms of real-world, or context-based, compositional (and bibliography) of current ecologically grounded
approaches. The history of soundscape work has creative practices, based on the ‘application of
provided a rich foundation and many suggestive, embedded-embodied cognition’. Samuel Thulin refers
innovative examples. Therefore, the intent of this issue to ‘situated composition’ in relation to emergent
is to survey a wide range of contemporary (and some mobile technology, a creative process that is ‘inher-
historical) approaches and to probe their implications ently distributed and collaborative’ and intimately
and issues both theoretically and in practice, with the connected to real-world situations. Lauren Hayes
two ideally intertwined as all of our authors have done. documents her own experiences as a performer who has
Each of the two theme issues will include examples developed a set of practices that are ‘site-responsive’ as
across that spectrum. distinct from ‘site specific’.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355771816000285 Published online by Cambridge University Press

 Editorial 3

Sound installations provide an interdisciplinary REFERENCES

format for public presentation, increasingly located in
Akiyama, M. 2010. Transparent Listening: Soundscape
galleries, and Felipe Otondo describes two pilot Composition’s Objects of Study. RACAR 35(1): 54–62.
projects that explore the spatial and temporal aspects Demers, J. 2010. Listening Through the Noise: The Aesthetics
of rural and urban field recordings in relation to of Experimental Electronic Music. Oxford: Oxford
soundscape ecology, including listener responses as to University Press.
their effectiveness. Sanne Krogh Groth and Kristine Drever, J. 2017. Field Recording Centered Compositional
Samson analyse two sound art performances in Practices. In M. Cobussen, V. Meelberg and B. Truax
Copenhagen from the perspective of how each dealt (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Sounding Art.
with the complete social and cultural context New York: Routledge.
(or ‘situation’ in the authors’ term) with varying Haberl, M. 2016. Soundmemories of Asia. Journal of Sonic
Studies 12.
degrees of success. Research about two historically
Ingold, T. 2007. Against Soundscape. In A. Carlyle (ed.)
important sound art works by Bill Fontana and David
Autumn Leaves: Sounds and the Environment in Artistic
Dunn are presented by Robert Stokowy and Edward Practice. Paris: Double Entendre.
Davis, respectively, with an emphasis on the original Kelman, A. 2010. Rethinking the Soundscape: A Critical
sound design in relation to its subsequent documenta- Genealogy of a Key Term in Sound Studies. Senses and
tion or lack thereof. Finally, in a welcome departure Society 5(2): 212–34.
from the largely artistic concerns of the previous Norman, K. 1996. Real-World Music as Composed Listen-
authors, Martin Ljungdahl Eriksson, Lena Pareto ing. Contemporary Music Review 15(1): 1–27.
and Ricardo Atienza present a scientific evaluation Truax, B. 1996a. Soundscape, Acoustic Communication and
of the design of a particular workplace application Environmental Sound Composition. Contemporary
that creates a ‘sound bubble’ around the user. In par- Music Review 15(1): 49–65.
Truax, B. 1996b. Computer Music and Acoustic Communica-
ticular, the project utilises electroacoustic sound design
tion: Two Emerging Interdisciplines. In L. Salter and A.
techniques to create a functional (context-sensitive)
Hearn (eds.) Outside the Lines: Issues in Interdisciplinary
sonic environment appropriate to the working Research. Montreal, Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University
situation. Press.
Although these articles, considered together, present Truax, B. 2002. Techniques and Genres of Soundscape
an impressive array of current thinking on this emer- Composition as Developed at Simon Fraser University.
gent field of creative work, they by no means exhaust Organised Sound 7(1): 5–14.
the subject as will be seen in the following issue, as well Truax, B. 2008. Soundscape Composition as Global Music:
as hopefully in future work. I want to particularly Electroacoustic Music as Soundscape. Organised Sound
thank all of the contributors, and acknowledge the 13(2): 103–9.
work of my reviewers and the journal editor, Leigh Truax, B. 2012a. Sound, Listening and Place: The Aesthetic
Dilemma. Organised Sound 17(3): 193–201.
Landy, in the excellent support of this publication and
Truax, B. 2012b. Voices in the Soundscape: From Cellphones
its theme.
to Soundscape Composition. In D. Zakharine and
N. Meise (eds.) Electrified Voices. Göttingen: V & R Unipress.
Barry Truax Westerkamp, H. 2002. Linking Soundscape Composition
([email protected]) and Acoustic Ecology. Organised Sound 7(1): 51–6.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355771816000285 Published online by Cambridge University Press