Subatomic poetry

Stretching a Point

2004-12-13T20:52:00.000Z

It's stretching a point to call this a post about sound poetry. Last summer I gave a presentation at the trAce Incubation symposium on Subatomic and Particle Poetry. Bit of a spoof really, but it made some interesting points, I thought, and it did go down well. Rob Kendall, who runs WordCircuits, asked me if I'd do a web version of it, that he would host. It's taken a while, but here it is:

Subatomic and Particle Poetry

It uses Flash, takes about 20 minutes, and is well worth it!

Googled

2004-09-04T14:13:00.000+01:00

Google has found this blog. I think it might be because I put a link to it from Low Probability of Racoons a while ago. Anyway, in the unlikely event that someone enters the search phrase subatomic poetry, Google returns this site as the second result. The first result is a page with an abstract of a presentation I gave at the trAce Incubation conference in July.

Well, there you go. No posts here for ages, and then three come along at once.

Heads Up at King's

2004-09-04T13:05:00.000+01:00

POETS/IMPROVISORS:UPFUSSED WORDNOISE NELL'AMBIENTE ** Friday 3 September 8.00pm Keynes Hall, Kings College, Cambridge ** Keston Sutherland/Pleasure-Drenching Improvers Beck-Lunch Improvors **

I went along to this, shouldering past the "The College is Closed to Visitors" and "No Entry" signs that adorn the front of King's College, and demanding directions from a slightly stunned porter. Keynes Hall was almost empty and a friendly antipodean enjoined me to "sit wherever you like". Someone I Recognised was one of the few foolish enough to arrive before the advertised starting time, so I sat near to him. Someone Else I Recognised arrived a few minutes later.

Poetry events never start on time, but this pushed the boundaries. At a quarter past, someone started carefully unwrapping masonry on the stage. At twenty past, an impressively large contingent of Those Clearly In The Know tripped in, swelling what might have been an embarrassingly small audience to a respectable 40 or so.

Sutherland read some of his grammatically fractured, dense texts, to an accompaniment of squarks and clonks provided by Drenching, Sonic Pleasure, and the aforesaid masonry. Pleasure wore silk gloves. It was a bit difficult to see what they were doing, because they were sitting on the floor. The noises were quite nice, though they sometimes made it rather hard to hear the words. I suspect it would have worked rather better had the poetry been more driven by phonics than by semantics.

Eventually, Sutherland stopped and announced an alcohol break. This was rather optimistic of him: there was a bar, but it remained resolutely closed. Some of the more enterprising students had brought bottles with them; the rest of us remained dry and disgruntled.

In the second half, Beck encouraged noises from a bassoon that its makers had probably never dreamed of. Watson accompanied him (I think that's the right way round) with readings slightly more logically coherent than Sutherland's and declaimed from various parts of the auditorium. There were two babies in the audience, who wailed intermittently. My companions and I debated whether they were intended to provide an aleatory contribution to the performance, and decided that they probably were. Watson addressed a section of his text directly to one of the babies, who appeared to be soothed by this.

Towards the end, Beck discarded his bassoon in favour of a balloon (geddit?) which he inflated and then encouraged noises from that its makers had almost certainly dreamed of. There are only two possible ways of ending a performance that involves a balloon; Beck opted for the less explosive one.

On my way out, I mentioned to those of the performers I could reach that I had enjoyed the evening. They seemed a little nonplussed by the information.

We repaired to The Cow for a half (I was driving) of Hoegaarden, with a slice of lime. Weird, but not that weird.

J6 and No Sound

2004-09-04T11:58:00.000+01:00

I managed to show of the Virtualizer to the rest of Joy of Six the other evening, though it was a close-run thing. They enjoyed playing with the echo effects and the Cathedral reverb. I think they might be interested in trying out something that we could weave into a performance, but there'll need to be a lot of experimentation first, I suspect.

I've been playing around with a new technique (new to me, anyway - I'm sure somebody must have done it before). I set the delay to around 0.3 seconds and then turned up the mic gain to just below the point where acoustic feedback starts to howl. Then open your mouth in front of the microphone and you can generate tones without actually making any noise yourself. Your mouth cavity acts as a Helmholtz resonator, and you can change the tone by altering the shape of your mouth. It's quite difficult to control though, and I'm not sure there's a lot of artistic point. Though I suppose there's philosophical mileage to be made out of the fact that the sound is being produced under your control but without you generating it in any of the usual ways.

The delay helps by building up the feedback slowly, so you don't get an uncontrollable screech. It seems to be better if you have a bit of electronic feedback, but not too much. Too much is when any sound produced continues for longer than you want it to.

Mixer

2004-08-17T20:51:00.000+01:00

I bought a dinky little mixer today, a Phonic MU 502. I justified it to myself on two grounds:

I can use it as a front end for the Virtualizer. Up to now, I've had to plug the microphone into my cassette deck, which was a bit inconvenient.
I can make recordings on my PC using the line input, rather than the (rather noisy) microphone input.

It seems to work fine. I'm particularly pleased with the results when connecting it to my PC - the noise reduction seems to be at least 30dB. Previously, I've reduced the noise on recordings using Cool Edit, but though that's quite effective, it does reduce the quality, of course.

Whinge

2004-08-17T11:26:00.000+01:00

I use Macromedia's Flash quite a lot, mostly for creating animated poems. I even teach a course on Animated Poetry in Flash. This means I have to keep up with the latest versions, so at present, I have Flash MX 2004 installed. This has lots of fine features, and lots of bugs.

So I was initially pleased when Macromedia announced they had a bug fix release. Less pleased when I went to their site and discovered I could download it. All 66.66 MB of it. I don't have a broadband Internet connection, so downloading it via my modem would take about 6 hours, assuming the connection were reliable for that length of time and there were no problems.

I bought the product on CD, so I ought to be offered bug fixes on CD.

I contacted Macromedia about this, but they didn't have anything useful to say:

...Furthermore, for you to be able to acquire the Flash MX 2004 7.2 updater, may we suggest that you refer with your Internet Service Provided. You may request from them, if possible, to have your download bandwidth increased for only a particular period during off-peak hours for you to be able to download the said updater. They may be able to provide you with further assistance on this matter...

That bit of boilerplate just means they've had lots of complaints from broadband users about the amount of time it takes to download the update. As I said, I don't have broadband, so the stuff about increasing my download bandwidth is totally irrelevant.

I suspect this is one of those gestures, intended to please, but done at half-cock and on the cheap, that ends up having the opposite effect. It's certainly disgruntled me!

Oh yes, and that new Blogger NavBar looks really crap, doesn't it.

Theatrical Piece

2004-08-10T15:41:00.000+01:00

I came to the conclusion that the one-second delay effect with no feedback didn't really add much. It just sounded like two people reading in canon. And if that's the effect you want, it's probably better to get two people to read in canon. Something that sounded a bit more promising, perhaps, happened when I used a much longer delay (5 seconds) and lots of feedback (98%). And there was lots of acoustic feedback, too. The electronic feedback didn't cause changes in timbre of the echo, but the acoustic feedback did. So I got a gradually changing background sound. It seemed to set up a rather mysterious, sinister mood, so I'm writing a rather theatrical text to go with it. I'll have to try to persuade Joy of Six to try it out.

Another attempt at a sound poem

2004-08-09T21:11:00.000+01:00

I wrote another sound poem today. The idea of is that it should be read via the FX unit set to produce a delay of one second. The words should be read at a rate of two per second, so that the the delayed word is heard at the same time as the live word two words later. For example, the live word 'hook' occurs at the same time as the delayed word 'lock'.

light show ground sheet lightning bolt blue sky hook crook lock pick pocket watch glass ware out side bar stool pigeon toed away match sticky back bone meal ticket machine head gear lever arch bishop gate fold up beat eggs act shun t ap ple over t off er g et er ik on ik kle ap ear ie t t

The other effect I'd intended to use was to increase the feedback of the FX unit so that as the text became more and more broken up, there were more repetitions of the sound. I tried this out this evening, but it was hard to read the words, concentrate on getting the rate right and fiddle with the feedback all at the same time. It seemed to be more effective to repeat sections of the poem, rather than reading it straight through, though I have a sneaking feeling that for 'more effective' one should read 'easier'.

Recording Session

2004-08-04T11:36:00.000+01:00

I didn't get a chance to show off my Virtualizer to the rest of J6 on Sunday - we just had too much to do in the way of sorting out poems for our CD recording session, and making a start on devising a new set for the autumn.

We'd booked two evening sessions for making the recordings with Zoo Audio, an excellent small studio run by Andy Cross. I won't describe the studio in detail, as you can read about it on the site. The online article from Sound On Sound magazine is particularly informative.

The sessions went much more smoothly than any of us had expected; many of the poems were successfully recorded in just one or two takes. And the combination of Andy's editing skills and SAWStudio ensured that fluffed lines could be corrected without re-doing the whole poem.

Our multi-voice poems were a little more complicated to do, but even those didn't give a lot of trouble. I'd vaguely expected that we'd have a microphone each, but Andy used either a single stereo mic, or a pair. Reading poems in the soundproof booth was a slightly odd experience, and a hot one, especially when all five of us were in there together.

Now we just have to wait for Andy to give us the demo CD, and decide what order to put the poems on for the final version. And design a cover and playlist. And get the CDs made.

I mentioned Cool Edit the other day, but Cool Edit is no more, alas. It's been taken over by Adobe and turned into Adobe Audition. The 'alas' part is because Adobe only do the expensive ($299) 'pro' version and have dropped the cheap Cool Edit 2000 version, which contained everything most people wanted.

Live versus Recorded

2004-07-31T22:07:00.000+01:00

I've been reading a couple of very interesting posts on the soundpoetry email list, and it struck me, not from anything that was directly said, that there's a big, big difference between electronic effects you might use in recordings, and those you can use for live performances.

When recording, you can experiment for as long as you like, until you get the effect you want. In a live performance, although you can (perhaps) practise beforehand, the effect has to be right first time on the night.
You can use software and effects that don't work in real time for recordings, but live performances are decidedly in real time. I use Syntrillium's Cool Edit for editing pre-recorded sound files, but you couldn't take it on stage.
You know exactly what it sounds like when it's recorded, but you don't when it's live. If you split the performance between the performer and someone responsible for controlling the sound, then you've more flexibility, but that depends on developing an artistic relationship between the two.
When recording, you have complete control of the acoustic environment (subject to the technical limitations of the equipment you're using.) In a performance, there are the acoustics of the venue (which will vary from place to place) and there's always going to be some component of unamplified, unmodified voice coming through.
In performance, you might change things slightly (or a lot) depending on audience feedback or just how you're feeling. Any effects used have to allow for this happening.

Thinking about it, almost all my experience with sound has been with recording, rather than with live performance. When I played with The Galactic Emperors (no hyperlink - this was a long time before the WWW) we were principally a recording band, and rarely performed live. But now, I'm reading with The Joy of Six whose main focus is performance. I'll take my Vocalizer along with me tomorrow and see what they make of it.

Bottom to Top

2004-07-29T12:16:00.000+01:00

One thing I can't get my head around properly is this daft convention of putting more recent postings above earlier ones, so if you want to read a blog chronologically you have to start at the bottom and work upwards. Surely we have the technology to do something more sensible, but I guess it's entrenched in blog culture by now, and there'd be an outcry if anyone tried to change it. It might be interesting to write a novel in the format of blog entries, so that you read the end before the beginning. But I guess the only people who'd read such a work would be bloggers, and they'd naturally start at the back and read their way forwards, thus spoiling the whoe effect.

This convention gives me problems when posting my sound poems. I want any reader to see Soundpoem1 before either of the other two. I could post all three in a single entry, but that makes for a long entry, and also destroys the sense of chronology that's part of the point of a blog, as far as I can see. If I post them as separate entries, then a visitor is going to see the third one first, and possibly be distracted by it. Of course, I can't force anyone to read them in a particular order, nor would I want to, but I would like to be able to guide them, and I don't know how.

I think you're supposed to post at regular intervals, aren't you, rather than several in one go. I'm still not getting it right, am I?

Soundpoem3

2004-07-29T10:30:00.000+01:00

Or then again, maybe the consonants would be better. But it's bloody difficult to read something consisting of just consonants. It sounds better than the original, though, over a system with lots of echo.

th ss z n t s nd p m b c z
s nd p m h z t d w w w d z
nd z nl zz z cl cs y lpss
n z z nd s nds str p d m s l ss l
v s m n t c s nd
s m p l d nt h v ch tz p
t n f l c t th t n y nd pr t nd
n w w t m d ng nd th t t pr f nd

d nt g t m r ng m n t t ll s ng
th t ts ll f k h ks c n sp r s
f pr t nt n ts dj st th t f w
t d t t w d b ll th z th ngs
m t v n g t w w th t w t
scr m t y s f s nt y l d l s th t
y th t m rs r r ng ng th s
m st b mp t nt nd f y th t
t w s mp t nt w d th t m k t mp t nt
z th n d f r s b tw n mp t n s nd
th p s p t n v mp t n s v c s th s
y s l s f st c t d s c f nts

Soundpoem2

2004-07-29T10:24:00.000+01:00

That last was a bit ordinary, so I tried rewriting it with just the vowels...

i i o a ow owee i or
uh ow owee a oo oo uh ay i er
a yoo oh ee uh i i e
oi e a ows i er i e ee
uh e a i a
eye i i ow a uh uh ah
oo i i a o oo a i e
eye owe o eye oo i a a i uh ow

owe e ee o - eye o a or ay i
a i or uh ay uh owe, uh oi uh i
o i e uh i uh a i eye er
uh oo i i uh ee or owe i
eye eye ee uh e uh ay i i er eye oo
ee a oo uh i e i ow i owe a
oo or eye eer ar i i i
uh ee i or uh a i oo or
i o i or uh uh a ay i i or uh
i ere e i i er e i ee i or uh a
uh uh e uh o i or uh o or ere i
oo i i o i i ay uh i o a

You might not agree with the vowel sounds I've chosen - vowels are slippery characters.

Soundpoem1

2004-07-28T12:38:00.000+01:00

This is a sound poem I wrote for experimenting with. Of course, it's not really a sound poem. It's not really a poem.

This is not a sound poem because
a sound poem has to do away with words
and use only buzzes clicks yelps
noises and sounds stripped mercilessly
of semantics and
I simply don't have the chutzpah
to inflict that on you and pretend
I know what I'm doing and that it's profound.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not at all saying
that it's all a fake, a hoax, a conspiracy
of pretension. It's just that if I were
to do it, it would be all those things.
I might even get away with it, were I to
scream at you sufficiently loudly so that
you thought "my ears are ringing - this
must be important" And if you thought
it was important would that make it important -
is there any difference between importance and
the perception of importance. Of course there is
you silly sophisticated sycophants.

I'm not sure I like the last bit; I put it in for the sibilants, but it sounds like I'm insulting the audience. Perhaps I'll change it.

Effects Processor Experiments

2004-07-26T15:12:00.000+01:00

I bought an effects processor, the Behringer Virtualizer, and have been playing around with it, so see if I can get any interesting vocal effects that might be used in a performance. They'd have to add something of value to the performance, of course, not just be there for the novelty value. Novelty wears off so quickly.

For my purposes, I think I can divide the effects into three categories. First off are the useless effects, those I can't imagine ever wanting to use in a performance. For example, there's the LoFi effect, which sounds like a really bad amplifier, with lots of hum and distortion. Or the Vinylizer, which makes it sound as if your voice is being played back from a vinyl disc, complete with noise, clicks and scratches. There's a danger in chucking things into the useless category, of course, but those two could only be used in very specific circumstances, and probably only once in a lifetime.

My second category I'll call subtle enhancements because I can't think of a better name at the moment. Things like adding a bit of reverb or some equalisation to improve the voice quality. Probably which effects were used would depend on the performance venue more than the poems being read. Though there might be mileage in adjusting the effect to suit the poem. Since the Virtualizer has 100 programmable presets, the effects could be programmed in sequence and then you could simply step through them as you went through the performance. It would take a lot of practice to get the settings right and the sequence right.

As subtle enhancements become less subtle, they shade into my third category, which I'll call poem-specific because the alternative is to call them unsubtle effects, which doesn't have the right connotations. Actually, my terminology isn't particularly good, because you could easily imagine using the same poem-specific effect with a range of poems. But these effects add something noticeable to the performance, and what they add specifically affects the performance. A simple example is that of adding cathedral reverb to a poem about a cathedral.

The most versatile sort of poem-specific effects seem to be the various sorts of echo effect. (Maybe instead of 'versatile' I should have written 'obvious' or 'blatant'.) I quite enjoyed a setting of about 350ms delay with a high level of feedback (at least 90%) but you can't really use words with these settings and expect to be understood. The Virtualizer has a maximum delay of over 5 seconds and it's quite odd using that length. If you make a noise you don't notice, when it's repeated five seconds later, you do notice it, and wonder who is in the room with you. If you have a lot of feedback, you can say the first line of a poem, wait until it's repeated, then read the second one, and so on. Or you can turn the electronic feedback down, and use acoustic feedback via the speakers and microphone. You can get a lot of interesting effects that way.

Some links

2004-07-24T11:30:00.000+01:00

Oh, I get it now. You're supposed to put links in, aren't you. Here are some links to sound poetry sites...

http://epc.buffalo.edu/sound/soundpoetry.html

http://www.chbooks.com/projects/bp/sound_poetry/index.html

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Sound%20poetry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_poetry

http://joerg.piringer.net/soundpoetry.htm

http://www.ubu.com/

The Final Touch

2004-07-23T18:43:00.000+01:00

Rats! I'd forgotten to put it in sentences. Anyway, Word's grammar checker has given this one the nod, so I'm pretty sure this must be it...

Aiming terse tiding thief aeons found outcry endow ludic kettle rewire ting roper hasps towel debt. Titre mosaic monster unction gnome brutish advent yenta naked togged mayhem adroit nitre. Sconce pathway times nosing needs meant elect teals justify irate on tom myself agleam story. Perplex trait gnosis doped Tyron testify fewer ethos outdo father ordain skimp lymph hasps erase. Unsay erred mangle yolk incubi testify fewer ethos outdid switch outset mantis command yelp. Lethal music hatful bison noses elute daunt hankie tisane tallow futon yawing tank erratic lube. Funny orphic ghee ingot evoke awhile-erring effort harem option shied jihad ethics differ cultic. Within tilts amour aster catch animus licit humus cither ethyl shag legacy yawper lexis tinge. Orison its no third tossed heron sown effort tomato chump eighth erect focus reseals withal yurt. Ironed screw aging music rate thin sonic wallop apart xenon espy shying theory unbar isobar. Eking gewgaw round agleam statue bound Aries arrive sable thigh foundry reason ably Armco. Ludic elfin thou doped trawl ether yawls siren ingot random blurb ling's orison ethnic grove wound. Elite hankie probe glycol lust doughy father purblind gnawed repel inverse death suffix client. Verve comfit dance anvil lumen might think thaw grebe titre haunt epact dually where falcon. Struck tensor meson dope tricot unlit ell if that erred dumb rubble angora smote hinge roof nether. Swish action corns meadow naming dean thou gutsy lily know inmost infamy tonsure whets. Harem being silly being tilde amiss ocean settle ionic moulds lamina haven reason nobly welds. Envelop pedal sheet canes sensor debase Gouda judge ammos torah latte optima adios indent. Needy wooer lover mocha booty timid dints arroyo vermin chaos uteri would unthaw earwax. sonar. Libel levee loped asthma ethics ensue oldie theca yeses it you canto untidy pinnate oath waxy. Uncoil dados mallow nimbi pious anima tempo emits grotto bounce omen tuna lands twang. Venous ghetto ivory entree opera nudist grotto betel inverse death utter comfit dance orate on two. Racoon vented tonal ohms sounds euchre tetra itchy-knifed model ivory sebum agued polemic. Aloft ensure vivid minds offered nether forma knead month inch sesame guest orison undo me.

I'm not sure I've quite got the hang of this blog stuff, yet

More improvements

2004-07-23T18:41:00.000+01:00

I forgot the spelling check, didn't I. This must be right because Word told me what I should have put...

aiming terse tiding thief aeons found outcry endow ludic kettle rewire ting roper hasps towel debt titre mosaic monster unction gnome brutish advent yenta naked togged mayhem adroit nitre sconce pathway times nosing needs meant elect teals justify irate on tom myself agleam story perplex trait gnosis doped Tyron testify fewer ethos outdo father ordain skimp lymph hasps erase unsay erred mangle yolk incubi testify fewer ethos outdid switch outset mantis command yelp lethal music hatful bison noses elute daunt hankie tisane tallow futon yawing tank erratic lube funny orphic ghee ingot evoke awhile erring effort harem option shied jihad ethics differ cultic within tilts amour aster catch animus licit humus cither ethyl shag legacy yawper lexis tinge orison its no third tossed heron sown effort tomato chump eighth erect focus reseals withal yurt ironed screw aging music rate thin sonic wallop apart xenon espy shying theory unbar isobar eking gewgaw round agleam statue bound Aries arrive sable thigh foundry reason ably Armco ludic elfin thou doped trawl ether yawls siren ingot random blurb lings orison ethnic grove wound elite hankie probe glycol lust doughy father purblind gnawed repel inverse death suffix client verve comfit dance anvil lumen might think thaw grebe titre haunt epact dually where falcon struck tensor meson dope tricot unlit ell if that erred dumb rubble angora smote hinge roof nether swish action corns meadow naming dean thou gutsy lily know inmost infamy tonsure whets harem being silly being tilde amiss ocean settle ionic moulds lamina haven reason nobly weld envelop pedal sheet canes sensor debase gouda judge ammos torah latte optima adios indent needy wooer lover mocha booty timid dints arroyo vermin chaos uteri would unthaw earwax sonar libel levee loped asthma ethics ensue oldie theca yeses it you canto untidy pinnate oath waxy uncoil dados mallow nimbi pious anima tempo emits grotto bounce omen tuna lands twang venous ghetto ivory entree opera nudist grotto betel inverse death utter comfit dance orate on two racoon vented tonal ohms sounds euchre tetra itchy knifed model ivory sebum agued polemic aloft ensure vivid minds offered nether forma knead month inch sesame guest orison undo me

A moment's inattention...

2004-07-23T18:39:00.000+01:00

...and I deleted all the spaces. I tried to put them back, but couldn't remember where they were supposed to go. I think this is roughly right...

iamin teres tedin theid eaofs oundp oetry andwo uldli ketot rywri ting( orper hapsi twoul dbebe ttert osayc onstr uctin gsome butih avent yetma naged toget myhea darou ndthe conce ptwha timea nisin eedso meint ellec tualj ustif icati ontom yself atlea stfor perpe trati ngsou ndpoe tryno tstuf fwher ethes oundo fthew ordsi ssimp lyemp hasis edasi nsayg erard manle yhopk insbu tstuf fwher ethes oundi swith outse manti csman ypeop lethi nksuc hstuf fisno nsens ebuti dontt hinki tisno tallo fitan ywayi tcanc ertai nlybe funny orfri ghten ingor evoke awhol erang eofot herem otion swhyd oihav ethis diffi culty withi titsn omore abstr actth anmus icwit hmusi cther esthi shuge legac yofpr eexis tingw orkso itsno thard tosee howon esown effor tsmat chupw ithth erest ofcou rseas witha nyart ifone iscre ating music rathe rthan sonic wallp apert henon eispu shing thebo undar iesbr eakin gnewg round atlea stthe bound aries arevi sible thegr oundr eason ablyf irmco uldit ellwi thsou ndpoe trywh ether iwasl isten ingto rando mburb lings orsom ethin gprof oundw ellit hinki proba blyco uldth oughi ftheb urbli ngswe redel ivere dwith suffi cient verve confi dence andvo lumei might think theyw erebe ttert hanth eyact ually werei ficon struc tedso mesou ndpoe tryco uldit ellif thatw erera ndomb urbli ngsor somet hingp rofou ndthi siswh atcon cerns meido ntmin dbein gthou ghtsi llyif iknow imnot ifimn otsur ewhet herim being silly being toldi amism oreun settl ingic ouldc laimi havea reaso nably welld evelo pedae sthet icsen sesoi dbeas gooda judge asmos tofan yatte mptim adeso idont needt oworr yover mucha bouti tifid idntw orryo vermu chabo utiti would nthav earea sonab lywel ldeve loped aesth etics ensew ouldi thewa yisee ityou cantj ustdi pinat oethe wayyo ucoul ddoas mallu nambi tious anima tedpo emits gotto beunc onven tiona lands trang eenou ghtod isori entpe oplea ndits gotto bedel ivere dwith utter confi dence oritw ontwo rkcon venti onalp oemss oundm uchbe tterw ithco nfide ntdel iveri esbut agood poemc anoft ensur vivea nindi ffere ntper forma nceid ontth inkth esame goesf oraso undpo em

Then again

2004-07-23T18:35:00.000+01:00

On the other hand, the last one lost a bit of sense. So I went back to the original, and cut out a few of the more boring words...

Am interested in idea of sound poetry, would like to try writing (or perhaps it would be better to say constructing) some, but haven't yet managed to get my head around concept. What mean is, need some intellectual justification (to myself, at least) for perpetrating sound poetry. Not stuff where sound of words is simply emphasised, as in, say Gerard Manley Hopkins, but stuff where sound is without semantics. Many people think such stuff is nonsense, but don't think it is. Not all of it, anyway. It can certainly be funny or frightening or evoke whole range of other emotions.
Why do have this difficulty with it? It's no more abstract than music. With music, there's this huge legacy of pre-existing work, so it's not hard to see how one's own efforts match up with rest. Of course, as with any art, if one is creating music rather than sonic wallpaper, then one is pushing boundaries, breaking new ground. At least boundaries are visible, ground reasonably firm.
Could tell with sound poetry whether was listening to random burblings or something profound? Well, think probably could, though if burblings were delivered with sufficient verve, confidence volume, might think they were better than they actually were. If constructed some sound poetry, could tell if that were random burblings or something profound? This is what concerns me. Don't mind being thought silly if know 'm not. If 'm not sure whether 'm being silly, being told am is more unsettling.
Could claim have reasonably well-developed aesthetic sense, so 'd be as good judge as most of any attempt made, so don't need to worry overmuch about it. If didn't worry overmuch about it, wouldn't have reasonably well-developed aesthetic sense, would?
Way see it, you can't just dip in toe, way you could do small, unambitious animated poem. It's got to be unconventional strange enough to disorient people it's got to be delivered with utter confidence or it won't work. Conventional poems sound much better with confident deliveries, but good poem can often survive an indifferent performance. Don't think same goes for sound poem.

Variation on a theme

2004-07-23T18:30:00.000+01:00

I thought my last post looked a bit ordinary, so I re-arranged the words into alphabetical order. Much tidier, I'm sure you'll agree:

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Sound poetry

2004-07-23T14:41:00.000+01:00

I am interested in the idea of sound poetry, and would like to try writing (or perhaps it would be better to say constructing) some, but I haven't yet managed to get my head around the concept. What I mean is, I need some intellectual justification (to myself, at least) for perpetrating sound poetry. Not stuff where the sound of the words is simply emphasised, as in, say Gerard Manley Hopkins, but stuff where the sound is without semantics. Many people think such stuff is nonsense, but I don't think it is. Not all of it, anyway. It can certainly be funny or frightening or evoke a whole range of other emotions.

Why do I have this difficulty with it? It's no more abstract than music. With music, there's this huge legacy of pre-existing work, so it's not hard to see how one's own efforts match up with the rest. Of course, as with any art, if one is creating music rather than sonic wallpaper, then one is pushing the boundaries, breaking new ground. At least the boundaries are visible, the ground reasonably firm.

Could I tell with sound poetry whether I was listening to random burblings or something profound? Well, I think I probably could, though if the burblings were delivered with sufficient verve, confidence and volume, I might think they were better than they actually were. If I constructed some sound poetry, could I tell if that were random burblings or something profound? This is what concerns me. I don't mind being thought silly if I know I'm not. If I'm not sure whether I'm being silly, being told I am is more unsettling.

I could claim I have a reasonably well-developed aesthetic sense, so I'd be as good a judge as most of any attempt I made, so I don't need to worry overmuch about it. If I didn't worry overmuch about it, I wouldn't have a reasonably well-developed aesthetic sense, would I?

The way I see it, you can't just dip in a toe, the way you could do a small, unambitious animated poem. It's got to be unconventional and strange enough to disorient people and it's got to be delivered with utter confidence or it won't work. Conventional poems sound much better with confident deliveries, but a good poem can often survive an indifferent performance. I don't think the same goes for a sound poem.

A Title for a Pontification?

2004-07-19T12:08:00.000+01:00

Does the world really need this? Do I really need this?

Trying things out

2004-07-19T12:07:00.000+01:00

I'm just trying this stuff out. It doesn't mean anything. What is subatomic poetry anyway?