Construction of The Paper:
NATURE AS A CONCEPT IN SONIC ARTS

Tuğrul Veli Şalcı, Sabancı University

Abstarct

This thesis investigates some of the ways in which nature is engaged as a concept and as a source material in the sonic arts. Through examining manifestations of nature in sonic art, this thesis attends to how and why composers and sound artists draw on aspects of the natural world in their works.

Keywords

Sonic Arts

Soundscape

Nature

Balance

Synths

Algorithmic Composition

Generative Music

Introduction

Although not all sonic works comment on environmental issues, each in some way connects to the natural world through the engagement with/representation of real-world locations, presentation of live/recorded natural sounds, and/or the generation of compositional materials from nonsounding environmental information.
 

Background

Thermology:
What is natural musically speaking?
Nature as the conceptual opposite of culture.
Nonhuman entities and forces in contemporary composition,

Studying Past:
Soundscape before electronic music
The “Music-Nature” Continuum
Use of soundscapes in electronic music “different techniques and approaches”
The sonic representation of nature

Nature as an Influence in Generative Music:
Using natural sounds and sonic sounds together
Creating algorithmic compositions influenced by nature

Work            

In what ways I can create balance using sonic sounds and natural sounds together?

There is a balance in everything in the universe, from microorganisms to complex systems human made on larger scales. The metaphor of balance, which has established itself in ancient beliefs and philosophy, found one of the most powerful forms of expression in Yin and Yang. According to this concept, opposite or contrary forces may be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world [1]. Koi fish are expressed in a strong symbolism in this Far Eastern philosophy.

There may also be a balance in the interaction between humans or animals. And for many species, during sexual intercourse or when fighting, the breaks in this equilibrium emerge a sound output as an expression. Sound depends on a physical balance, more pain or more pleasure, changes the parameters in the sound. Musically speaking, balance refers to a comparison in tonal quality rather than just volume, such as the contrast between a light or "airy" sounding instrument timbre with a heavy or "dark" sounding timbre [2].

Since koi fish are silent creatures, they do not emerge as a sound output from the physical movements. But if the movements are tracked, these movements can be expressed in synth sounds. And with the movements of these fish which symbolize spiritual integrity, sounds that create a meditation effect can be produced. Also, each koi has a particular significance in Japanese culture based on its color. While Kohaku (Most common one, which has red and white colors.) represent love and compassion; Ochiba (Unique blue and yellow Koi) represents the change of seasons and transition. In music, different music chord pairings can convey different emotions. Generally musical keys have different characteristics. While C# Minor has despair, wailing and weeping mood; C Major is generally related to happiness.

#300

This project will explore the possible relationships between water and sound. The possible relations of the sound with the objects or creatures that may exist in the water will be examined. This experiment will start with two Koi fishes, one white and one red, which are put into the water as the first stage. A camera placed on top will monitor the movements of the fish. In the Far East, these fishes, symbol of yin yang philosophy, are specifically associated with equilibrium in the universe. sound will be produced with the data taken from the movements of these two fishes. Inspired by the movements of these two Koi fishes which symbolize the balance together, the concept of balance in sound will be questioned. Balance as a music term is the relative level of two or more instruments, voices, sounds, etc. Balance can also refer to a comparison in tonal quality rather than just volume, such as the contrast between a light or "airy" sounding instrument timbre with a heavy or "dark" sounding timbre.

The actual starting point of this project was to obtain data from the direct interaction of human beings with water; and this will be the targeted relationship in the later stages of the project. Vibrations and waves generated by human hands or blowing on water can be both logical and consistent data sources for sound reproduction. We mostly interact with digital devices through learned behaviors and are there any more natural ways of producing a digital sound rather than pressing buttons?

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#150

The interaction between human and computer is still much more mechanical. And we mostly interact through learned behaviors. Are there any more natural ways of producing a digital sound rather than pressing buttons? And can this interaction be achieved through more reflexive behaviors? For example, can we use the parameters provided by the water? Can water waves turn into a sound wave? Is even direct human interaction needed to produce sound? Can we understand the movements of a fish and turn it into an instrument?

Complicated interfaces often stress people, take time to learn, and have an unnatural relationship. Can we relieve this stress? Can the interface and the human be a whole, without any tools in between? And can machine learning help in this way? Instead of human learning a language, a computer and an interface unilaterally; can machine reduce the stress by trying to understand human behavior? Can machine and human develop a bilateral learning style?

How can natural elements exist in a room as interfaces? How can we interact with these elements and how can we convert this interaction into digital data? And on what scale can we do it?

Visuals look cool but the content is weak.

Our perspective of creativity has changed. The act of making is itself a part of the process of creating; there is no case that an artist or designer is not creative when producing. But we see creativity as something that requires extra time and energy. This is something that stresses the creator and distorts it from his/her original purpose.

The motivation to produce has changed on a society scale. What you produce may be boring, and it may not be interesting to look at, but it doesn't mean that you don't create anything. The changing motivation evolved to get more likes and produce content that is easily consumable. The concept of creativity is now mostly valued by the trends on Instagram. We look at a visual that even satisfies us most for just a few seconds and continue to scroll. That is why the concept of creativity became shallow and this is the period in which the culture of consumption is most influential in the field of art.

We focus on the end product regardless of our ideas and purpose. This is due to the fact that we do not have any free time to go through the processes of creativity. In addition, no one cares about the depth of the content so easily consumed. Art is an experience and what we mostly experience is just scrolling and seeing things without even thinking. In this case, for art to exist, it just needs to look cool and belong to a certain community -of consumers-.

When exposed to so much content, it is unlikely that one will stay on his/her own and create an environment for his/her personal taste. We cannot choose what we will be exposed to, and this leads to an ordinary, unpersonalized and uniform understanding of art. Most importantly, people cannot find time to get bored and turn to themselves.

As transforming and synthesizing are the ways to create, these methods need to associates piece of knowledge which are far distant for being original. Working on a medium which evolves and change continuously, push the artist to achieve the transformation. So the medium can provide the distance by itself.

Also, undoubtedly another factor that can provide originality is multidisciplinarity. Multidisciplinary works can bring very distant pieces of information together. An information from one discipline can be transformed by using another discipline or you can synthesize information from two different disciplines.

At this point, it is important that the information presented is not monotone or usual. A simple system or more complex one can be developed to transmit a simple message and this does not necessarily mean that the work is primitive. While already exposed to a lot of information in daily life, a message of scattered information can be overwhelming. Instead, a better thought and a better designed message can be more vocal.

Transforming an idea to another distant or synthesizing them need also courage. This courage doesn't only need to be against society but also against oneself. Stress and fear of failure hinder creativity. It is the difference between producing works in an already existing discipline and producing work that transcends a discipline or media.

I love to create. Not only to create concrete things; but also ideas.

Not godlike creation but making and building things in time.

I love to change, transform and synthesize ideas. So I love to learn and discover the things have been done before. I love to learn stories and history.

I love to take one thing and manipulate it and serve it in another way and in another context.

I love to make revival of things died long time before. I love to uncover the different sides of ideas and transform them.

I love to think. And I love when my ideas change in time. So I love processes.

I love change. I love when seasons change. And I love when cities change. And I love when my life changes. And I love to change places. I love to move from one place to another place. And I love to move from one city to another one.