Prior to the undertaking of a PhD, previous academic study consisted of a traditional music degree and a Masters in Design. Out of this experience I began to become exposed to the compositional works of experimental and minimalist composers, such as John Cage, La Monte Young, Terry Riley and Steve Reich. The listening, articulating and theorisation of such works caused me to arrive at a crisis point during my period of study, questioning the meaning, purpose and consistency of sound. What is sound? What does sound consist of? How do we differentiate the various labels given to sound? What does it mean to listen to a sound? Through attentive listening to compositions which have a wider conception of sound's role than that in most previous Western music, it became evident that sound must be isolated (differentiating sound from standard musical compositions) in order to study and analyse its meaning and importance, ascertaining that sound should be placed in a field of itself. Such realisation led to a personal interest in the role and cultural relationship of sound, in the construction, preservation and maintenance of our everyday lived experience. This continued relationship takes place in a context where, technologically, the space is being transformed, due to the continuing development of innovative ways of presenting sound-based work to a wider public audience. The aim of this thesis is therefore threefold: 1. To interrogate the origins of new media technologies, in order to determine if there are implications in relation to sound technology. 2. To record and archive the sonic ethnography of Northern Ireland. 3. To establish a relevant form of creative exhibition best suited for public exposure of this kind of work and the possibilities for commercialisation. An analysis of sound in a coherent, logical and multidisciplinary approach will be undertaken, as it is intellectually unthinkable to investigate and deliberate each of the above aims individually. It is impossible to think of these aims as separate units and components. As a result, we are unable to consider a discrete aim, without taking into account the research aims as a whole. In this way each aim acts as a single side of a triangle, coming together to make this sonic whole.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:568766 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | McClure, Rachel |
| Publisher | University of Ulster |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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