Lexicon of the mouth Reading

Lexicon of the mouth

Poetics and politics of voice and the oral imaginary

Brandon LaBelle

‘How sound is deeply connected to experiences of closeness, social bonding and reassurance’

Voice

‘The mouth is precisely what puts into questions the separation of interior and exterior, as distinct and stable; as a primary conduit that brings into contact the material world with the depths of the body, the mouth continually unsettles the limits of embodiment.’

‘It performs as an extremely vital link – the essential link – to the world and those surround us, to echo and vibrate with a multitude of forces that pass through its chamber, from the edible to the inedible, the symbolic to the semiotic, the proper to the improper.’

‘the mouth is so radically connected to both language and the body, desire and the other, as to provide an extremely pertinent education on what it means to be  - and to create oneself as – a subject.’

‘the mouth is the central entry point into the body, and that interior space brought forward by the voice.’

‘we experience the voice by feeling it in our body’

‘the source of the voice can never be seen’

Subject

‘is not the voice then precisely a sound so full of body?’

‘the voice is such a meaningful sound’

‘I learn from the voice who I am precisely as it carries me, as it sounds me, as I feel it as part of my face’

Aloud

‘embodying all that may drive us beyond ourselves’

‘we collapse under the spell of another’s song’

‘highlight singing as a vocal that takes us over’

‘song, in other words, carries us through mundane existence’

‘It is the voice that literally may rise above, to remain tuned to a greater lyrical presence’

‘Singing is a vocalic force that steers us toward spiritual life, heightened rapture, and the intensities of transformation’

‘singing as that powerful and empowering resonance that fills the body with energy’

My personal creative space

Through my COP I read that the things you surround yourself which define the person you are and who you want to become. This is an obvious way of already establishing who I am by the things I collect and show as my identity, therefore an insight into who I am musically? A bedroom is a very personal place, a very intimate place and therefore a very honest place - honesty and being genuine is vital within my work and my life.

I surround myself with colourful visual stimuli that I find inspiring, many of this is music related. I work with my music playing (from CDs or records), in an excitable bubble. 

I think so much of this project has almost been performance art, trying to capture the experience through videoing the experience from the outside looking in. Video portraying duration and how an experience unfolds.

Named Squares

Coloured digitally edited squares

I like that these capture a snapshot and give a mood and sense of the style of the band. I think that the colour and use of space and direction of line is good at communicating this.

I do really like these however they are flat (because they are digital). I think they look quite static. I also am not convinced that this is the best font. 

When I listen to The Doors there are lots of layers to their music. 
I think having the dark colour in the foreground shows that there are other layers going on behind best. 
The use of loopy lines coming from all angles portrays the complex melodies within their music, for example the funky keyboard with other instruments twiddling away. 
The colour blue is quite soft and calm but then the grey blue is a bit more jarring and then the dark blue is intense and makes you listen (see).

I think that the use of red is very apt to portray the aggressive nature of their punk music. 
The texture in the background really portrays the crunching of the guitar which is key in their songs. 
The brightness of the red enhances the metallic guitar riffs throughout. 
The maroon colour is duller and reflects the laid back almost spoken qualities of their vocals.

Because the grunge music is so heavy, I associate this with dark colours.
The paler green is quite dull and greyish and I think represents the wall of background noise and distortion that is in every song and is a building block of grunge music. 
The forward leaning spirals portray the energy of the music and how its constantly chasing time, getting you excited and your blood pumping.

                                       

This band is psychedelic and very repetitive. 

This is portrayed through the very vertical nature of the the rhythmic patterns. 

It is slightly forward leaning with portrays the moving progression of the music. The different layers are quite clear and distinct, like the music and how you hear the piece build up and evolve.

The Cure have an unusual sound. 
The songs are lovely and almost heart warming but at the same time they are bitter and depressing. This is reflected in the choice of colour here... the use of the controversial colour mint (which is pale and sweet but also puts you on edge a little bit), the warmth of the vibrant orange and the strength of the royal blue. 
The Cure also are very rhythm based and therefore there are lots of solid patterns overlapping each other.

my Buzzcocks posters

Buzzcocks posters attmepts 

These are very rough, initial attempts at creating posters. They aren't very successful. However, they did inspire using the lines and shapes that I have created and applying them to poster designs. I used black and white to try and keep the punk, DIY vibe.

(I didn't get round to adding the performance details in here).

I think the use of colour could make them seem more proffessional Also I think I need to get rid of the photographs. I wanted to use photos because I took them, they are personal to me and they express my experience of the gig/ their music.

Buzzcocks posters

Black n white
DIY
Punk
Photos

Why we love music Reading

‘Why we love music’

John Powell

SUMMARY 

We constantly try to make sense of our musical experiences through a backlog of expectations. Repetition helps you inhabit the music better. Listening is much more focused and active than hearing. You absorb music everywhere you go.

We love music because it is stimulating at giving pleasure. Its the anticipation that keeps us interested. Music is an aural 'emotional painting' and can strongly effect your mood through the release of different hormones. Especially when you get predictions right or hear your favourite songs.

There is 'no gist' of music, no summary, just an experience of music (what I am trying to capture in this project through visualisations). Listening to music you 'hear patterns that repeat in time' rather than 'visual patterns spread out in space'.

People with openness to experiences are more likely to feel intense experiences (that definitely me). People have strong opinions on music through subjective dissonance and consonance. As you develop you 'claim your own musical space' and your choices form your identity.


QUOTES

p2

Reflective and complex (classical, jazz, folk and blues)

Intense and rebellious (rock, alternative and heavy metal)

Upbeat and conventional (pop, country, western, sound tracks and religious)

Energetic and rhythmic (rap, soul and electronic)

p4

‘we form strong and loyal links to the music we listen to during our late teens and early adulthood’

p5

‘the distinction between “cool” and “uncool” music becomes less of an issue as we get older, but is so important to a lot of teenagers that it has been used to manipulate their behaviour’

p6

‘if a piece doesn’t fall into the ‘Oh yes, I like this sort of stuff’ category, then we don’t give it much attention. The result of tall this is that we end up gathering an ever-increasing number of similar musical pieces into our ‘like categories’

p7

‘we deliberately choose music that amplifies the emotional state we are in, and other times we choose music that does the opposite’

p14

‘you’ll have to listen to stuff you don’t initially like a few times before the new prototype takes root, but I promise it will be worth it, because you’ll be increasing the amount of musical pleasure available to you for the rest of your life’