“On Not Letting Sounds Be Themselves”.pdf

Music is the art of enlivening sounds, transforming acoustic results into signs of excitement and arousal that span physical, physiological, emotional, and ideational realms. It teaches that these realms cannot be easily separated and that music's play of sonic and formal energies simulates the release of mechanical or inorganic energies, while historically being partner to organic pursuits. Music's liveliness is not reducible to the lives of its creators, players, or listeners, but is emergent, taking on a lifelike character that appears to be self-maintaining. The life of music has multiple sources, including the self-sustaining character of musical patterns, the phylogenetic significance of hearing, and the cross-modal interpretation of musical actions. Music spurs imagination, creating virtual worlds and alternative forms of embodiment, affect, and thought, and affords experiences of selfhood that are broadly distributed across body and mind. The notion of "sounds themselves" is critiqued, arguing that it is based on a modern Western understanding that separates nature and humanity, and that nonhuman sounds are not inherently meaningless, but rather, part of a complex semiotic process.