Noise
Noise is different than music because music is a form of communication. Even though no words are spoken, music elicits emotion, feeling, and brings people together. It is organized sound. Noise is unorganized and prevents communication from happening. However, noise is still a necessary part of life, as hearing is one of the main senses. Without noise, our perspectives on life would be completely different. Without noise, something would be missing. In music, noise and meaning has changed since the 1970s with the onset of punk music and then with metal in the 1980s and onward. Punk and metal utilize organized sound in a more abrasive, aggressive form, but still in a way that can elicit feeling like other music can. These days, there is so much more media and there is immediate access to music, internet, and more noise. It feels that the children and young adults of today have grown accustomed to noise, and could probably not live without it. If we eliminated noise, I wonder what would happen. If we are suddenly faced with a world without music -- or noise in general -- I wonder how we would cope.
It's nice to read your musings on noise, Tim, particularly in regards to music. It's true, as Simon Reynolds discusses in his essay (not required reading, FYI), noise is a kind of anti-narrative practice, and one tacitly related to the ways in which we are discussing non-narrative practices in video art and production. I hope you are able to use some of this interest as fuel for your own project, and in choosing your sound source in particular. This written response, however, is incomplete in that it is meant to be a response to the reference screening within the Abstraction PDF. This is an hour and a half screening that includes video essays, artist interviews and pieces, and clips from film. Be sure to view these as you begin to make your project, and feel free to repost your written response for credit.
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