Environmental music creation fostering eco-aesthetic sensitivity towards urban soundscapes

Abstract

The composer and theorist Murray Schafer proposed the concept of soundscape, which transformed our understanding of our place in the world by questioning the extent to which sound can influence our relationship with our environment. The distinction made by Schafer and his colleagues between hi-fi and lo-fi soundscapes leads to a bias against urban spaces, whose significant activity is primarily viewed as a form of noise pollution. The focus then shifts to reducing this urban activity rather than exploring its aesthetic potential. This results in a divide between humanity and nature, which are then considered two distinct entities rather than two elements of a unified whole. We can therefore ask how the creation of environmental music, an aesthetic movement offering pieces composed from field recordings, might generate a new eco-aesthetic sensitivity towards urban soundscapes that would bridge the divide between humanity and nature?

I propose to approach this issue through the lens of Guattari's ecosophy, using a research-creation approach that involves a dual immersion: in the creative process and in the landscape. My objectives are: 1) to collect sounds in an urban space; 2) to conduct a typological analysis based on parameters defined by the WSP (World Sound Project) to understand their perceptual and cultural roles in the space; 3) to create works of environmental music representative of the compositional practices of this movement; and 4) to manifest Guattari's ecosophy through the production and listening of environmental music.