The Logic is Hardly Cartesian

Today I found this peculiar but amazing book by Jacques Carelman in the LCC Library.

Ethnomusicology

A series of pictures depicting Frances Densmore

 at the Smithsonian Institution in 1916 during a 

session with Blackfoot chief Mountain Chief for 

the Bureau of American Ethnology.

I am currently reading a book called 'Sound and Sentiment' by Steven Feld. It is the study of sound as a cultural system among the Kaluli people of New Guinea. Felds intention is to uncover the codes of sound communication and how this relates to the quality of life in the Kaluli community.

This started me thinking about 'ethnomusicology' which is defined by the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts, or the study of people making music. If we were to have a sound cultural system in London what would it be and what historical and mythical references would we draw from.

I see Beats

I See Beats from Kyle McDonald on Vimeo.

Interactive installation by Kyle McDonald. It is a beat sequencer where you’ll need a few people with mobile phones to create a sound. You have to hold up your phone with the screen lit, a webcam tracks your position and puts your phone on the sequencer grid. 

Awesome!

Drawing with your voice

Not only is this a good idea but these images are nice too. Ze Frank has made a flash drawing tool that responds to your voices volume - Low Volume = line curve counterclockwise , Medium Volume = straight line and a High Volume= turn the line to the right.

Similar to this is the SonicWireSculpture  - http://pitaru.com/sws/

Pollocks Toy Museum

On Friday after finishing my origami fireworks, I decided to go to the 'Pollocks Toy Museum' just off Goodge St. The Museum takes its name from Benjamin Pollock, the last of the Victorian Toy Theater Printers. I was really impressed how jam packed it was, with toys and games dating from the 1900s to today. I paid four pounds to get in and was told the exhibition starts at the bottom of the stairs, I found myself going further and further up the stairs into tiny rooms with creaky floorboards, where the toys seemed to get creepier, definitely recommended.