"This is easy! It's like a painting, but with music. A photograph, but using sound instead of image!”
After all, what is the soundscape?
We could not talk about this subject without mentioning Murray Schaffer, a music educator, among other professional assignments, who dedicated years of his life researching acoustic environments.
According to Schaffer, the soundscape is composed of 3 layers: figure, background and field. In the figure we concentrate the focus of interest; the background is the scenery with all its elements where the figure is; finally the field is the place where the first two meet.
To make it easier to understand, let's look at this image.
What do you see exactly? Well, there are several elements in this image.
If we consider the monkey and the lioness in the foreground, as the focus of the work, at this moment they are figures. Besides them there are other images (tree, birds and fish). At this moment, they all become background, we can then say that the countryside is a natural environment.
With the soundscape it happens in the same way, but there are some parenthesis to be made. We have to be careful with the figure and background, as there is a fine line between them. Schaffer gives us a great example: if you look at the clear waters of a lake or river, it is possible that you see the bottom or your own reflection, but never both simultaneously, even knowing the existence of both.
Let us now highlight some important information. Relating figure or ground is linked partially with acculturation (trained habits), partially with the individual's state of mind (state of mind, interest) and partially with the individual's relationship with the field (native, outsider).
Now that we are clear about what the soundscape is, let's exercise our listening?!
Do the exercise of, in a conversation circle between friends, identifying all the sounds around you, whether birds, dogs barking, live music if you are in a restaurant or bar, the sound of electronic devices if you are in the office.
- Understand how sounds are used in feng shui
- Be amazed by the power of Hertz frequencies
- Discover why the beach brings so much tranquility
- Sound meditation: how it works and its benefits for concentration
- Music is good for the soul
Pay attention to how much we are bombarded with sound information all the time and often we don't even realize it. During this exercise, do the test of inverting figure and background and be surprised by the results.
