Sinn und Sound

(The Meaning of Sound)

Mathias Fuchs
(Doctoral Thesis at Humboldt Universität Berlin and at Kunsthochschule für
Medien Köln)
mathias.fuchs@creativegames.org.uk

Abstract:

The investigation into "Sinn und Sound" (musical meaning - significant sounds) aims to address
the question of whether auditive objects and structures are capable of communicating meaning,
and, if so how this is accomplished. The scope of the term "Sound Art" is much more
encompassing than what we call music in the narrow sense of Western classical repertoire of
vocal and instrumental music. Sound Art includes the artistic attempts initiated by the Futurists,
the musical avantgarde, the fine arts embracing sonic realities and tropes. Sound Art also takes
into account contemporary electroacoustic music, sampling, DJ-culture and applied music for
TV, radio and the Internet.

There are four classic viewpoints on sonic meaning, which will be discussed in detail:

(i) Meaning as an extensional property of a language or a system comparable

to a language. There are authors whose theoretical stance reaches from
acclamation [Schering, 1941] to vigorous opposition [Wishart, 1996] towards this
idea. Others take a more hesitant step in calling music "sprachähnlich" [Adorno,
1968] or "einer Sprache nicht unähnlich" [Wittgenstein, 1958]. (engl: "similar to a
language", "not too far from a language" resp.)
(ii) Not neccessarily a language, but a narrative is another form that has been
suggested to capture what music sometimes is. The narrative would be based upon
a script , it would contain agents and the listener would follow the actions the agents
go through in the narrative. That is what [Robinson, 1997], [Cone, 1998], and
[Newcomb, 1984] would suggest. The authors differ in what the agents of the
musical piece are and how they are perceived by the listener.
(iii) Meaning has also been considered to be a form of representation in a non-
linguistic system - somehow comparable to the meaning of a painting [Walton,
1990].
(iv) Another approach was made by Susanne Langer, who, amongst other
approaches, saw sonic art as a system of symbols. Langer coined the term
"presentational symbols" for nonpictural and nonlinguistic symbols [Langer, 1942].
(v) A large number of authors with differing aesthetic and philosophical
backgrounds regard expression to be the relevant semantic layer of musical
communication [Davies, 1994]. An argument between authors advocating the
expression theory and arousalists detects differing sources for the creation of
meaning in sonic art: The former consider the work of art to be the container and
channel for musical meaning. The arousalists locate the centre of the creation of
meaning inside the recipients.

(vi) A sixth approach that has been suggested to be of value, but has to my
knowledge never been exploited thoroughly is the approach to anlyze music and
sound as play. Hints reach back as far as to Wieland, Schiller and Goethe, have
been further explored by the founding fathers of Games Studies, Huizinga and
Caillois, and should now be reviewed and critically updated with the prevailing
 developments of game art, console music, „embedded music“ and other game
culture phenomena in mind.

I find it worthwhile to discuss the theoretical models (i) - (vi) in the context of traditional
music based on scores and a system of composition - interpretation - listening. I am however
convinced that the prevailing sonic landscape has shifted from the realm of music to the fields of
sonic art and needs to be reconsidered under the conditions of an electronically mediated aural
culture.

A critical investigation based on this shift. I try to prove that the major part of the arguments put
forward by traditional musical semantics fails to account for the phenomena stemming from the
developments of sonic art, electroacoustic music and popular electronic music. Simple premises
like "there is a discrete, repeatable set of musical elements" turn out to be false for the context
of improvised music or live electronics. The premise becomes radically true again for certain
styles of sampling. As soon as we replace the term "music" by "sonic art" the concepts of what
musical semantics are based on, seem to tumble and fall.

One reason for that is that the range of objects taken under consideration is far larger for "sonic
art" than for "music". Another reason for reappraising concepts stems from the change in the
modes of production, distribution and reception of music in the electronic age.

I do not suggest that the classical viewpoints have to be abandoned alltogether. I rather suggest
that there is a possibility to analyze sound on the „paradigmatic axis“, as Lévi-Strauss once put
it, when talking about paintings. His suggestion that he developed for Poussin’s paintings, is
based on a situation where syntagmatic research seems to be without point. Lévi-Strauss finds
meaning in transitions from one paradigmatic position to another one. This method seems to
make a lot of sense in a musical environment that allows for a multitude of systems of reference
at the same time. Contemporary composers and sound artists are hardly bound to the
constraints of a well-defined paradigmatic framing or a stylistic or mediatic imperative. They pick
and chose amongst a multitude of systems of reference. The transitions between these systems
are attempts of crossing fences in between what Kendall Walton describes as the „cages in the
musical zoo“ [Walton, 1997]. My investigation points towards what happens in between the
cages.

In an attempt to test the thesis I undertake a semantic analyis of three works of sonic art that
differ completely in character: Missy Misdemeanor Elliott featuring Kelis: Pass that Dutch versus
Milkshake & Gravel Pit (2003), Karlheinz Stockhausen: Hymnen (1967), and Robert Morris: Box
with the Sound of its Own Making (1961).
Abstract: (Deutsch)

Die Arbeit "Sinn und Sound" beschäftigt sich mit der Fähigkeit auditiver Objekte, Sinn oder
Bedeutung transportieren zu können. Dabei soll der Begriff "Sound" klangliche Strukturen
beschreiben, die dem traditionellen Verständnis von Musik entsprechen, oder das erweiterten
Verständnis von Klangkunst (Sonic Art) wiederspiegeln, wie es die Futuristen, Avantgarde,
Klanginstallation, zeitgenössischen Formen der Elektroakustik oder populären Formen von
Sampling, Elektro und Medienmusik installierten.

Insbesondere werden 4 Standpunkte diskutiert, die eine Bedeutungsanalyse unter

verschiedenen Blickwinkeln erlauben.

i. Bedeutung kann als Extension in einer Sprache oder einem sprachähnlichen System
begriffen werden. Dieser Standpunkt wird beispielsweise von Schering vertreten, von
Wishart dagegen heftig abgelehnt [Schering, 1941] [Wishart, 1996].
 ii. Bedeutung kann aber auch als Repräsentation systemexterner Objekte in einem
nichtsprachlichen System verstanden werden - vergleichbar etwa der Bedeutung eines
Gemäldes [Walton, 1990].
iii. Zum dritten ließe sich die Frage stellen, ob Bedeutung innerhalb der Klangkunst mittels
eines Symbolsystemes transportiert werden kann. Vorschläge in dieser Richtung
unterbreitet beispielsweise Susanne Langer in ihrer Theorie der präsentationalen
Symbole [Langer, 1942].
iv. Ein vierter Ansatz, der von Ausdruckslehre und Erregungstheorie vertreten wird, ist der
Ansatz, musikalische Bedeutung aus ihrer Expressivität heraus zu begreifen. Dabei
differenzieren Ausdruckslehre und Erregungstheorie nach der Rolle des Zuhörers. Für
die erstgenannte Theorie transportiert das musikalische Werk die Expressivität, für
letztere entsteht sie durch den Prozess des Zuhörens im Rezipienten.

Es erscheint mir lohnend, die Diskussion über die Berechtigung jedes der genannten
theoretischen Modelle (i) - (iv) anhand der Argumente, die sich für gewöhnlich auf traditionelle,
notierte Musik stützen, nachzuverfolgen und kritisch zu beleuchten.

In einem zweiten Schritt möchte ich den Nachweis bringen, daß ein Großteil der sorgfältig
geführten Argumentationen unter Verwendung eines erweiterten Klangkunstbegriffes in sich
zusammenbricht. In Abhängigkeit vom musikalischen Genre wird die Einschätzung, was die
Bedeutung der Sounds sein kann, unterschiedlich ausfallen müssen. Ein Grund dafür sind die
im Blickwinkel der Sonic Art radikal reformulierten Prämissen zur Frage, was Musik ausmacht,
was sie von Bildender Kunst, Skulptur, Poesie oder Alltagsgeräusch unterscheidet.
Ein weiterer Grund liegt in der technologisch verwandelten Landschaft musikalischer
Produktion, Distribution und Rezeption.
Zum dritten soll die Frage untersucht werden, welche Rolle Sound in einer medial formierten
und strukturierten Gesellschaft einnehmen kann, wo die veränderte Position des Hörers und
des Klangproduzenten liegen kann.