Murray Schafer Yoko Ono Response
When judging art and music theres a double standard. In my mind theres more flexibility for what I consider art in comparison to what I consider music. Since the term art encapsulates so much and is so conceptual and vast in itself anything can be art if the creator says so. You may not agree with the statement that say a chair upside down in a museum is art, but the artist said it was, so now there it stands amongst the other paintings and sculptures. Yoko Onos work is a perfect example of this. I happen to like her work because it’s eccentric and appears to be baiting the critics. Other people may see it as a call to plagiarism.
Given that there’s so much room for interpretation in the art world I think the term soundscape may fit better under the art category as opposed to being considered music. The same goes for silence as a performance. Music is something I seek out to experience an emotion. Whereas a soundscapes from my environment I have little to no control over it. In contrast there is one major quality both soundscapes and music share which is you have the choice to tune in deeply or not. In short unless theres musical intent behind a soundscape it should not be considered music but art.
I’ve always been attuned to sounds in my environment. Almost too much at times. During elementary school the hectic soundscape that a school day brought always seemed to leave me drained. One thing I used to do to feel recharged was sit in the hot tub after school and listen as intensely as I could to the sounds happening outside. I didn’t realize it at the time but what I was doing was a type of meditation. In Murray Schafer video “Listen” when he stood in the field quietly and listened to the birds it reminded me of this feeling, and how I haven’t actively listened as much to my surroundings as I used to as a child. Funny how we come back to what we did naturally as kids.