Last week I’ve recorded a podcast together with Francesco Aletta, Tin Oberman and Andrew Mitchell in London based on my latest book Engaging With Everyday Sounds. Will be broadcast soon.
See the ad for this position (0.2 fte) at Leiden U here. You should apply before March 1!!!!
On 27 and 28 February 2023, the first Sound Arguments session will take place in Studio Loos in The Hague. Sound Arguments is an initiative of Jonathan Impett, Magno Caliman (both working at the Orpheus Institute in Ghent) and myself.
Sound Arguments will bring together sound artists, sound studies scholars, organizers, PhD students working on/in/through sound, etc. Next to lectures and presenting own work, there’s room for workshops.
Our first guest will be the marvelous Argentinian composer-musician Cecilia Arditto; she will give a lecture on notation, perform her cycle Musique concrete and organize a workshop on composing with everyday (sounding) objects. See also here.
For more information on Sound Arguments, please click here
Aviation noise, especially in a densely populated country like The Netherlands, has become a serious problem for many citizens over the past 5 decades or so. On 21 February 2021, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment has published a new report in which it says that more and more people are suffering from aviation noise, even though there’s no significant increase of the amount of dBs. The Institute concludes that their current research methodology might fall short as they cannot take into account “non-acoustic factors.” Well, besides those important non-acoustic factors, other acoustic factors besides dBs can also be relevant to take into account. See my reactions on the report in the Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad and the news site of RTL Nieuws.
As you may know, since a couple of years I’m asked by the City of Rotterdam to investigate how its citizens experience the sonic quality of Rotterdam and to suggest some recommendations as how to improve the sonic public environment. After reports on the Hofplein square and the new ecological city park Hofbogen, this new report is on the Rijnhaven area where several residential towers will arise, next to a city park with a beach area and catering facilities.
The report can be found here
I’m happy to announce that my new (e-)book “Engaging with Everyday Sounds” is now freely available. Please go to https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0288 to download the book in various formats.
‘Engaging With Everyday Sounds’ explores the role of sounds in everyday life, including their impact on human actions, emotions, and imagination. I intertwine sonic studies with philosophy, sound art, sociology and more to create an innovative guide to sonic materialism, calling for a re-sensitization to our acoustic environment and arguing that everyday sounds have (micro)political, social, and ethical impact to which we should attend.
Exploring the intellectual history of sound studies as well as local, global, and temporal sonic geographies, I weave audio files, images, and journal excerpts into this work to create a multimodal monograph that explores the relationships of humans, nonhumans, and their environments through sound. The book contains an interdisciplinary collection of short essays, which might be valuable reading for both academics and the general reader interested in sound studies, sound art, philosophy, or the sociology of everyday life—and for anyone keen to think about the sonic in new and engaging ways.
On December 6, 2021 I hosted a special event in Studio Loos in The Hague (the Netherlands) on Sonic Materialism. Featuring the American trombone player, theoretician, and instrument builder Kevin Fairbairn, the Welsh composer and improviser Richard Barrett, and the Argentinian sound artist and composer Gabriel Paiuk, the event was comprised of 3 lecture-performances (and a brief introduction by me), exploring how Sonic Materialism can sound, how sound as sound can contribute to a more theoretical discourse on (New) Materialism.
A registration of this event can be found here
Quite recently the city council of Rotterdam has selected 7 public sites that should be transformed in the near future into spaces where people can relax and escape the urban hectic. One of these sites is a former train line, 6 meters above the ground, running from the city center to the northern suburbs. Central idea is that this former train line should become an ecologically justified park. In order to also make it sonically pleasant, the project management asked Michiel Huijsman (Soundtrackcity) and me to come up with some recommendations. The report, which contains also several audio files, can be found here (at the moment only in Dutch).
In April 2021 Michiel Huijsman (Soundtrackcity) and I published a report containing several recommendations on how to improve the sonic design of a rather busy roundabout in the city center of Rotterdam (The Netherlands). Idea behind the report is that Rotterdam wants to go greener, more sustainable, attract more biodiversity, etc. The report is based on sound walks with many residents and policy makers, a workshop sound, surveys (filled in by over 800 persons), field recordings, and the input of sound artists; it contains text (of course) but also several audio files and a solid introduction about the role of sound in public urban spaces. Caveat: the report is in Dutch but we’re working on an English translation. The report can be accessed here.
Today two new books arrived, both containing an essay of mine. The Oxford Handbook of Western Music and Philosophy includes my reflections on (everyday) listening; my contribution to Ethics and Christian Musicking is called “The Silence of the Monks” and takes as its point of departure the friary of the Carthusian order in a French monastery. The monks are not allowed to speak but of course always surrounded by (and themselves producing) sound.
Thinking Sounds 