“Art of Immersive Soundscapes”
Edited by Pauline Minevich and Ellen
Waterman
Published by University of Regina Press
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$39.95
ISBN 9-780889-772588
Music, laughter, the rustling wind: sound
enriches our lives. Of course it can also work the other way, as anyone with belligerent
neighbours can attest. Sound is an interesting field of study for scientists
and artists. I'd never heard of "immersive soundscapes," and was
curious to learn what they are, why they matter, and who's creating them.
Enter editors Pauline Minevich
(associate professor in the Department of Music, University of Regina) and
Ellen Waterman (dean of the School of Music and professor of musicologies at Memorial
University of Newfoundland), who collected the disparate papers presented at
the 2007 international conference "Intersections: Music and Sound, Music
and Identity," held in Regina, and published them and a DVD of the
presenters' audio and video explorations with sound in the book Art of Immersive Soundscapes. Combining
science and art, rural and urban, nature and technology, macro and micro, the
featured composers in this book show us a fresh and interesting way to
experience and understand our social and physical worlds.
The interdisciplinary "soundscape
movement" began in the 1960s at BC's Simon Fraser University, when composer
R. Murray Schafer (and grad students) wanted to spotlight the "critical
lack of attention to our sound environment, and its effects on our
well-being." They sought to increase public awareness of sound
environments, including noise pollution, and how those environments impacted on
people. Schafer differentiated "hi-fi" environments (harmonious
sounds, ie: streams, with low ambient noise) and "lo-fi" environments
("the confusing 'noise' of modern life"). The composer felt that,
like music, soundscapes had the ability to "enrich the inner lives of the
creator and listener," and he and his students collected sound from
Canadian cities and European villages. From this they created "aural
images".
The "immersive" aspect is the
"social life of sounds," ie: "the myriad reflections,
refractions, and reverberations that depend on the configuration of a
particular performing space."
Practical examples include John Wynne's
work with sound at a hospital in London, England. Using recordings and
photography, Wynne provides the experience of "lying in the next bed
trying to interpret" what's going on with a neighbouring patient. The
project stimulates imagination.
Contributor Andrea Polli discusses the
history of music from natural processes, ie: Aeolian harps and wind chimes,
Balinese bamboo organs, and the light whistles attaches to the tails of young
pigeons in China that produce "an open air concert".
Gabriele Proy's Austrian project, Waldviertel: A Soundscape Composition,
was one of the most accessible, and his recording among my favourite. He
designed his soundscape to represent a "portrait of a day," using
only nature sounds, church bells, and a fire siren (played Saturdays at noon) …
things that represented his fond childhood memories of this forested rural
region. He combined these "sound memories" and layered them with
meanings.
Like reading poetry, engaged
"listening" gives us pause, and opens us to deeper realms of
perception. Sound like a great idea? If you agree, you'll gain much from this illuminating
text (which includes photos and charts) and the accompanying DVD.
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__________
“Shaping a World Already Made:
Landscape and Poetry of the Canadian Prairies"
By Carl J. Tracie
Published by University of Regina Press
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$27.95
ISBN 9-780889-773936
The respectful and sweeping premise for
this new book – the brainchild of author/cultural geographer Carl J. Tracie –
is to "make meaningful observations about the interconnected themes of
poetry, landscape, perception, paradox, and mystery on the [Canadian]
prairies." In his examination of the poetry of place, Tracie seeks to view
the prairie landscape "through the lens of poetry," and asks how the
physical elements impact on poets and their work, and how their representation
of the landscape influences readers' ("residents and outsiders")
vision of this land.
A self-professed fan of poetry, rather
than a poet himself, Tracie analyzed the work of nine "prairie" poets
(they might not currently live on the prairies, but their work demonstrates
"a long attachment" to it), including Di Brandt, Lorna Crozier, John
Newlove, Tim Lilburn, and Eli Mandel, and found commonalities and differences
in their subjects, sentiments, and styles. He also refers to the work of a
number of Indigenous poets, including Louise Halfe and Marilyn Dumont.
Why would a cultural geographer use
poetry to better explain a place? As John Warkentin states in the introduction,
it's not uncommon for geographers to turn to the arts, as they offer "a
more profound sense of region and the life of the people who live in it."
Perception, imagination, memory, and myth all contribute to a sense of place
and how one interacts with it. Tracie says poetry's concision and imagistic
nature "gives us a sense of region defined by resonances."
The author starts with the obvious: the
poets' treatments of land and sky - what he calls the "enduring
elements." As a reader and a
writer, I was interested in how the various poets portrayed similar features.
Dennis Cooley writes of "an enormous sky far as you can see" and
telephone posts that "[stipple] the prairie," whereas Lorna Crozier -
whose work Tracie often found to include spiritual elements - writes "God
had to stretch and stretch the sky to hold it." Patrick Friesen's sky is
"a blue silk umbrella/arching over the city."
The text includes work that both
venerates and laments elements of the prairie (ie: winter) and prairie life.
Eli Mandel writes evocatively - if not fondly - of snow in his poem
"Blizzard": "sluff of a dead god/in whose hair/like fleas/we are
white entangled knots."
I appreciated the examples of
philosophic poetry by Tim Lilburn, which Tracie says "suggest a mythical
union of flesh and spirit," and demonstrate the "intimate connections
that are possible between the landscape and its creatures," and Tracie's explication
re: the differences between how Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals write about
landscape – the former provide much less detail, as their culture
matter-of-factly "embraces the land." The author also examines the
prairie in terms of rural/urban, and it's no surprise that rural's the
preferred terrain. John Newlove's strong declaration that cities are
"concentration camps of the soul" underscores this sentiment better
than any.
This book would be a great senior high
or university resource. I'd call it "accessibly academic," and I
enjoyed it.
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__________
“My Good Friend, Grandpa”
Story by Elaine Sharfe, Illustrations
by Karen Sim
Published by Your Nickel’s Worth
Publishing
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$9.95
ISBN 9-781927-756713
You don't have to be a grandparent to
appreciate Saskatoon writer Elaine Sharfe's illustrated children's book, My Good Friend, Grandpa. Indeed, anyone
with a heart will adore this beautifully-rendered tale about a boy's strong connection
with his beloved grandfather, and, as in all the best writing, the author
skillfully evokes emotion without regressing into sentimentality.
Want to write your own children's book?
Reading and studying great books is the best way to learn, and I'd definitely
recommend Sharfe's well-written story to anyone who has an emotional children's
story to tell. The tenor is spot-on
here. Sharfe starts and ends on just the right notes, immediately establishing
the characters' close relationship by simply stating it: "Noah and Grandpa
Ed had been good friends for as long as Noah could remember. Grandpa Ed said
they had been friends forever."
Nanaimo illustrator Karen Sims ably
demonstrates this tight bond via full-colour images that show the young,
big-eyed boy and his loving grandfather involved in activities that range from
watering plants at the family cottage to enjoying treats in the bleachers at a
football game (and I don't think the green and white flag Noah's waving is a
coincidence). In an e-mail, Sims explained that she used digital paintings to give
the illustrations the "memory/dream-like look" the author desired.
"Not too cartoonish."
Noah and Grandpa Ed are each other's
biggest fans. The images reveal a smiling, animated child until page 15, when
the story turns: "Noah was nine when Grandpa Ed got sick." Again, no
embellishment's necessary: stating the facts does the job perfectly; the
reader's heart drops. (You'll have to read the book yourself to learn what
follows).
Sharfe admits in the bio notes that her
inspiration stems from "childhood memories of her four children and the antics
of her 14 grandchildren." It should not matter that the story is based on
"real" people, but this fact does heighten the emotional impact for
me personally. As someone who lived in Saskatoon and for a few years worked as
a radio advertising copywriter there, I'm familiar with the Sharfe family's car
dealership, Sherwood Chevrolet, and the author addresses this auto dynasty in
her story. "Grandpa Ed sold cars," she writes, and the first
illustration in the book shows the grandfather and grandson in a showroom car,
where they are "[pretending] to drive away."
What I liked best is how Sharfe (and Sim)
so effectively conveyed love. Imagine an esteemed businessman taking a day off
work so he could walk his grandson to kindergarten, then calling him every day
to ask how school went for his "good friend". Imagine a creative
child who, when his grandfather's too ill to go fishing, suggests they
"pretend" fish off the end of the sickbed.
Real, moving, consistent, gorgeous.
This intergenerational story is one to be cherished and shared. Thank you,
Elaine Sharfe and Karen Sim, for making me feel so much on a rainy afternoon in
August. Where it matters most (the heart), your book's an overwhelming success.
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL
BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
