1 oblique
adjective \ō-ˈblēk, ə-, -ˈblīk
2 acoustemology
noun
1. a : a portmanteau of the words "acoustic" and "epistemology" - the study of acoustic
knowledge. Coined by ethnomusicologist, anthropologist, and linguist Steven Feld.
Sound is one of the fundamental building blocks of all human experience. As we go about our lives, we hear - but when we focus, we listen. When we listen deeply enough, something beautiful happens. We compose the sonic events around us into an aural landscape, and thereby situate our internal and external selves in relation to the environment.
By exploring "...ways in which sound is central to making sense, to knowing, to experiential truth..." (Feld 1996:17), we can arrive at a deeper knowledge of our place in the world.
Listening is simultaneously an investigative and a creative act. Though the ideal of the aural sense is to process the totality of sound, it is impossible for us to register the subtleties of all the sonic events occurring around us simultaneously. Listening therefore necessitates focus, a shaping of the soundworld by each mind within it. We all compose the soundtracks of our experience, but we will go deeper: we strive for virtuosity in listening.
To become virtuosic listeners, we immerse ourselves in the worlds of experimental music and the avant-garde - the obscure, the difficult, the chaotic, the oblique- and this trains our brains to perceive and create strands of order within dense cultures of sound. Experimental music thrives on contextualization: putting unfamiliar sounds in familiar contexts, and familiar sounds in unfamiliar contexts. Drawing from the processes of experimental music, we can contextualize and compose our soundworlds as musical pieces through musical listening and field recording, and place ourselves within the soundscape by sounding our bodies or our surroundings in dialogue with the environment.
This is the Oblique Acoustemology, in which we use virtuosic listening to expand our knowledge and awareness of our sonic environments, of sound itself, and of the duality between the sonic self and its surroundings.
We seek the obscured sounds within the known and familiar, as well as the familiar sounds within the obscure.
We seek the truths within sound by listening for harmonic and enharmonic overtones and partials.
We seek outstanding and astonishing acoustic phenomena in unlikely places, and delight in the the sounds that lie outside the scope of our understanding.
We make sounds of our own - shaping the sonic worlds of our experience and the experiences of others. We use our voices, sonorous objects, and musical instruments to blur the lines between indivi-duality and the sonic totality.
These goals inform the essence of this blog, centered on the music and musings of our (extra)ordinary lives. You can expect to see many different kinds of posts by me and other contributors over the coming days, weeks, and months, varying in scope and subject but always with reference to the concepts stated above. Types of posts will include: field recordings and field improvisations, unconventional instrumental discoveries, musical explorations of resonant spaces, concert reviews and bootleg recordings, rips of rare and out of print vinyl, musical object ethnographies, and other ongoing projects.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by, to read and listen.
Wherever you go, keep your mind and ears open.
Matt Chilton