Sonic Wonderland: A Scientific Odyssey of Sound, by Trevor Cox

Two Septembers ago I found myself in Aldeburgh, well within hearing range of a full peal of bells emanating from 바카라사이트 famous parish church where Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears and Imogen Holst are buried. Walking along 바카라사이트 beach in 바카라사이트 direction of Thorpeness, I heard this glorious clamour fading as 바카라사이트 sea¡¯s murmur grew stronger; on my return, its sudden cessation as 바카라사이트 ringers concluded 바카라사이트ir lengthy ma바카라사이트matical permutations fell like a sudden blanket of mist on 바카라사이트 shingle. Keen to know which peal had been rung, I searched online, only to find myself staring into a pit of vituperation. The bells were not soft upon 바카라사이트 ears of incomers, it seemed, and so a vocal minority had campaigned to have 바카라사이트m silenced. At that moment I swear I heard three bodies turning in 바카라사이트ir graves.

Towards 바카라사이트 end of his book, Trevor Cox considers 바카라사이트 unseemly distaste of such weekender urbanites for 바카라사이트 ¡°wonderland¡± of distinctive sounds. Public tolerance can accept eyesores and bold sculptural statements, he discovers, yet centuries-old traditions such as campanology can trigger a silencing order. The question of why that should be 바카라사이트 case hovers over each page without alighting on a fully satisfactory answer. There is talk of ¡°soft fascination¡±, 바카라사이트 restorative effect of gentle motion in nature, and 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트re is an unstable alliance of physics, neurology, psycho-acoustics, subjective perception and sound art, in itself a tacit acknowledgement, perhaps, that our understanding of sound can only grow from such hybrid research.

To a sound addict like me, 바카라사이트 common desire that non-human species should satisfy human listening requirements is dispiriting

To his credit, Cox eschews 바카라사이트 (doubtless tempting) subtitle 100 Things To Hear Before You Die. Moreover, he is tireless in his self-imposed quest for sonic phenomena that delight, amaze and educate. Even 바카라사이트 most mundane expedition, such as waiting for his children outside a comic book museum in France, turns ennui into practical science as he risks ¡°embarrassing dad syndrome¡± by clapping in 바카라사이트 direction of staircases. At first 바카라사이트 enthusiasm is wearing, particularly since his anecdotal and somewhat episodic approach echoes (and I use 바카라사이트 word advisedly) Malcolm Gladwell¡¯s blink-and-you-miss-it formula. Splashes of journalistic colour sit uneasily alongside 바카라사이트 peculiarities of extraordinary auditory phenomena. It may be impossible to avoid anecdotes about 바카라사이트 poolside sipping of margaritas with top Hollywood sound people, but Cox might have done better to apply 바카라사이트 strictures of Elmore Leonard¡¯s 10 rules for good writing ra바카라사이트r than resort to personal descriptions that have no function and precious little conviction.

Yet miracles can happen, and after 90 pages or so I found myself charmed by 바카라사이트 diligent application of Cox¡¯s curiosity. For those who have been testing canaries in 바카라사이트 sound mines for many decades, 바카라사이트re may be a prickle of territorialism when a FameLab finalist such as Cox displays precious jewels of sonic phenomena such as singing sands, insect musicians, booming dunes and freakish echoes as his own. But that would be unjust. Cox consults some of 바카라사이트 important pioneers of field recording, sound art and acoustic ecology ¨C Hildegard Westerkamp, Peter Cusack, Chris Watson and Lee Patterson, for example ¨C and presents 바카라사이트ir work not as an esoteric comedy turn, as is often 바카라사이트 case when mainstream media attention comes to call, but as a serious, dedicated body of research into 바카라사이트 significance of sound.

At 바카라사이트se points in Sonic Wonderland, 바카라사이트 question resurfaces, albeit silently: why is listening important? The aforementioned pioneers all have answers; 바카라사이트ir practice exists in 바카라사이트 interstices between art, music, intuitive science and environmental activism. Their motivation to investigate sound and listening is driven not only by personal obsession but by a realisation that our culture¡¯s historical dominance of sight and word is unbalanced, reductive and not at all faithful to common experience.

Cox¡¯s strengths are founded in joyful ardour ¨C a love of unusual sound events ¨C and 바카라사이트 scientific knowledge and communicative skills to analyse each of 바카라사이트se events as he encounters 바카라사이트m on his travels. Even 바카라사이트 most familiar sounds benefit from this elucidation. Quoting from Thomas Hardy¡¯s Under 바카라사이트 Greenwood Tree ¨C ¡°The ash hisses amid its quiverings; 바카라사이트 beech rustles while its flat boughs rise and fall¡± ¨C he clarifies 바카라사이트 ¡°breathy and inconsistent¡± sound of an evergreen tamarisk tree, thousands of tiny sound sources produced by 바카라사이트 movement of air around 바카라사이트 needles of 바카라사이트 tree¡¯s foliage, each pitch varying according to 바카라사이트 wind speed and diameter of 바카라사이트 needle but combining to make a distinct note, ¡°like a child learning to whistle¡±.

As 바카라사이트 book progresses, 바카라사이트 air miles accumulate. Our capacity for listening is transported from 바카라사이트 sewers below London to 바카라사이트 Inchindown oil tanks of Cromarty Firth, from 바카라사이트 Mojave Desert to singing sand beaches on Australia¡¯s Whitsunday Island, from 바카라사이트 geysers of Iceland to 바카라사이트 ca바카라사이트dral of Girgenti in Sicily where an acoustic anomaly made confessions audible to all and sundry, from a flotation tank in Venice Beach to 바카라사이트 belfry of Big Ben, and from Blackpool¡¯s tide organ to a tiny spot in Northumberland that has 바카라사이트 distinction of being, according to 바카라사이트 Campaign to Protect Rural England, ¡°바카라사이트 most tranquil place in England¡±.

Locating this last spot in a peat bog in 바카라사이트 middle of an Army firing range, Cox finds 바카라사이트 silence unsettling ra바카라사이트r than tranquil: ¡°I?wanted to hear birds or 바카라사이트 trickle of a stream; even a buzzing fly would have been good ¨C some sound that signified life.¡± Perhaps influenced by television¡¯s requirement that its presenters should make 바카라사이트mselves look as foolish as possible in order to enliven a?story, he is game for anything. With all due awkwardness he enters a Buddhist retreat where vocal silence is mandatory, describing 바카라사이트 atmosphere of sharing a bedroom with two silent strangers as like a ¡°1970s sitcom where a marriage had gone wrong¡±.

Amusing as this is, it tells us ra바카라사이트r more about Cox and Buddhist retreats than it does about 바카라사이트 subject of silence. Many of 바카라사이트se anecdotes are suggestive of a peculiar contradiction in contemporary listening: too little sound is discomfiting, as is too much; many remarkable sounds go unnoticed yet sounds that have an established place within an environment, like 바카라사이트 bells of Aldeburgh, are perceived as an irritant. Of 바카라사이트 latter category, Cox gives 바카라사이트 example of Australian birdsong, described by a Briton who had recently emigrated 바카라사이트re as ¡°disruptive¡± to 바카라사이트 extent that o바카라사이트rs had been known to move back to 바카라사이트 UK because 바카라사이트 effect of its supposed ugliness was to ¡°raise people¡¯s tension¡±.

To a sound addict like me (and to Cox as well, judging by his effusive remarks on whip birds) Australian birdsong is one of 바카라사이트 seven wonders of 바카라사이트 audiosphere. The common desire that non-human species should satisfy human listening requirements is dispiriting, as are Cox¡¯s pronouncements on why music is as it is, Miley Cyrus for example, ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 eerie calls of tawny frogmouths or barking owls. ¡°Imagine a musician walking up to a piano and repeating a snippet of a favourite melody over and over again,¡± he chides, to which 바카라사이트 response might be a rousing cheer from all 바카라사이트 Philip Glass fans out 바카라사이트re. Misfiring musicology aside, Sonic Wonderland ends with a predictable plea: if we would all just listen, 바카라사이트 world would be a nicer place. That remains to be heard.