Anatomy of Italic 2018

ANATOMY

OF ITALIC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Los Angeles Map
Introduction: 10 Situations
Creative Responses
Materiality of Recorded Sound

Sensory Experience of a Work of Art

Sound Journal

Playlists
Throughout
Gestural Portraits



10 SITUATIONS

CREATED BY ITALIC 2017-18

(OUTCOME TBD)

I. We began by considering beginnings, VII. We experienced the paradoxical freedom and
middles, and ends within works of art and restriction of rules as we made silent films
within our lives. Each of us was given a together.
journal to record our doodles and thoughts,
and perhaps to see how our own trajectories VIII. We saw how arts collaborate as they strain
and tastes as thinkers and artists change against the bounds of their medial bodies:
over time. we listened to music composed for specific
architectures; we saw architectures built
II. We examined rules and genres across the for the production of specific sounds; we
arts—experiencing both their productive encountered multiscreen films that made
power and our enjoyment of aesthetic spectators dance around screens; we saw
transgression. dancers leap across the creative geography
of film; we saw theater in a parking garage;
III. We studied tactics of improvisation in life we met a novelist whose books are also
and art. performances; we met a playwright who is
also poet, novelist, musician, and historian.
IV. We were emboldened to challenge works of art
and to recognize how works of art challenge IX. We sampled the art of Los Angeles and took
us to perceive, and think, differently. inspiration from an alum who built a personal
art collection by paying attention to new art.
V. We danced together.
X. We made friends with whom we had, and will
VI. We considered the human body with its continue to have, memorable conversations.
biological cycle of beginning, middle and
end, as it experiences, performs and appears
in the arts.

MAKE A GESTURAL
PORTRAIT*

I. Ask your partner three questions about their
past, present, and future.

II. Take note of three unconscious gestures used
during their response.

III. Combine these three gestures into one dance
and perform it back to your partner.

*Students created physicalized portraits of their
partners by observing, selecting, and remixing
nonverbal responses to a series of questions. Each
sequence of ten images in the page footer represents
one gesture in motion.

ITALIC FACULTY 2017-18

Kim Beil
Alexander Greenhough
Nicholas Jenkins
Karla Oeler
Ryan Tacata

8 the materiality of recorded sound

LOS ANGELES

MAY 25-27, 2018

The Biltmore
Chris Kallmyer & Odeya Nini
The Getty Center
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Ahmanson Theatre
The Broad Art Museum
MOCA
Watts Towers
Biddy Mason’s Place

the materiality of recorded sound 9

MATERIALITY

OF RECORDED SOUND

AFTER visiting the Archive of Recorded Sound last week THE Edison Phonograph was a marvel. If someone asks
and thinking about sound’s materiality, I’ve realized me to picture a phonograph, I immediately think of a
that music has always been more of a physical experience gramophone, with a flat record. Therefore when I first saw
for me rather than a solely auditory one. Growing up, I the Edison Phonograph, my first instinct was to dwell on the
didn’t listen to a lot of songs on the radio. Instead, from cylindrical mechanism of the device because it was something
age 7 onward, I was always practicing violin, feeling the I’ve never seen before. But when I began to hear sounds
notes vibrate inside my head, getting bruises on my chin from the phonograph, the cylindrical spinning made it clear
and collarbone from holding the instrument, watching why many old recordings have a “grainy” texture to them.
calluses grow along my fingertips. As I got older and started The constant, consistent, mechanical rotation of the drum
listening to recorded music, I
found myself more interested created buzz that didn’t allow
in songs that sounded distorted for a clear recording. Because
in some way, from the crackle the nature of a phonograph
in Edith Piaf’s La Vie en Rose requires a scratching of the
to the fuzziness of Frankie medium, the buzz that I heard
Cosmos’ bedroom pop. I think was from the contact of the
it was because I felt the artist’s needle against the cylinder.
presence in the distortion, and The scratch gives a very
the experience of listening to authentic, familiar, ageness
music had always been, for me, to the sound. There was also
linked to being present for the a striking consistency with
making of it. all of the movements on the
machine; the cylinder rotation
In the Archive of Recorded was constant, as was as the
Sound, my favorite recording needle’s rightward direction.
device was Edison’s 1901 home This consistency was what
phonograph — perhaps because allowed the scratching to
it was the machine that made me feel closest to the artist. become “background noise,” because we eventually tune out
The song that played was some jazz vocal standard, wobbly of the scratching and focus on what’s important: the content
but near and earnest, as if someone was performing it right of the recording. I put myself in the shoes of an individual
in front of me. It felt like the closest I’d ever been to time in the early 1900’s, and all of a sudden this machine became
traveling. It was beautiful to imagine that someone had frightening. The simple movement of two objects against
sung in front of that very machine, that their voice had each other could created a voice, or music, or any type of
scratched itself into the plastic of the cylinder. If there was recorded sound.
a moment when someone could be convinced to believe in
ghosts, I think this was it — the music felt tangible, but it Edison, Thomas, Home Phonograph, 1901, Archive of Recorded
was still a haunting from another era, another time. Sound, Stanford, CA. Accessed 19 April 2018.

AnQi Yu Vincent Xie

the materiality of recorded sound 11

12 t h e m at e r i a l i t y o f r e c o r d e d s o u n d

ONE object we viewed at the Archives of Recorded Sound EDISON’S phonograph cylinder appears simply as a black,
one of Thomas Edison’s early devices for recording and hollow tube—smooth and untextured from a distance,
reproducing sounds. The cylinder phonograph played sounds as if created mechanically and thoughtlessly in a factory.
by dragging a needle across a hollow plastic wax cylinder. The delicacy with which the man slides the cylinder onto
Unlike a digital file, the sound quality of Edison’s cylinder the phonograph contradicts the plastic durability I perceive;
decayed over time. With each consecutive playback, the I would expect no more than a simple “clank” or “twunk” if
needle would further wear down the grooves of the wax it were dropped, yet he warns us of spontaneous shattering
cylinder. as the needle nestles on the now rotating cylinder. At first,
it is only static. It is not a digital, buzzing static—the
Listening to the voice over Edison’s phonograph, I felt phonograph does not require electricity—but instead an
transported. As the horn attachment amplified the sound earthy, warm crackling. When he inserts the amplifier, its
of empty space, a fuzzy murmur over worn down grooves, brass sound seemed to vibrate like the lapping flames of a
I became aware of the recording’s age. Listening in to the wood fire. The song, its tangible sound seems homely and
singer’s muffled song allowed me to transcend time, peeping familiar despite its creation happening generations before
in on a lost era. my existence. I watch the cylinder shift horizontally with
intense anticipation, waiting to see what sound was left for
While listening to mp3’s might give me a sense of what a us to hear on the short tube. The needle continues to bob
song sounds like, being in the presence of the wax cylinder, up and down impassively, wearing away at the cylinder’s
a preserved artifact, gave me a sense of what the song felt material, reducing the singer’s voice to a distant, muffled
like. Watching the process of the needle brushing the wax, drawl. An unsettling feeling creeps upon me as I realize
compared to hearing sounds straight from headphones or that I am watching the process that ruins and eventually
speakers, felt more akin to watching a cellist brush a bow destroys the cylinder’s sound. The more one plays the
against strings. The experience was visceral and engaging. cylinder recording, the more its song and intricate lines
are lost to the undercurrent of static reverberating from
Since listening to the cylinder phonograph, my thoughts the phonograph’s mouth. I remember little of the song—it
towards sound quality have changed. At the expense of is the dappling static that remains with me as a reminder
musical nuances and sonic range, Edison’s old recording of our ephemerality. I, the song, and the cylinder’s grooves
garnered antiquity. While before I fixated on how much was populate time for only so long under the weight of the metal
lost in old recordings, I now wonder how much is gained. needle, and no playing of the cylinder will ever truly sound
like the last.
Gunner Dongieux
Johnson, George W. “The Laughing Song.” Recorded 1897.
Columbia Phonograph Co. Brown wax cylinder record.

Julia Gordon

the materiality of recorded sound 13

THE Edison Home Phonograph plays music from cylinders. AMODEL of the Edison Company’s Diamond Disc
It is used both to record sound and to play back tracks. Phonograph, built after 1915 and priced at 150 dollars,
When the phonograph was first wound up and left to play, was an object in the Archive of Recorded Sound with a
it produced the sound of a metal or plastic rod hitting a physicality that markedly influenced the sound it produced.
hard surface . This otherwise unmusical silence was followed The discs that were played in this phonograph were coated
by a man speaking to introduce the song. The quality of with shellac resin, which was a very brittle material that
his tone reminded me of 20th-century news recordings. was most commonly used. The stylus vibrated against this
He sounded as if he was speaking in a large room into a rotating disc and produced sound waves that were delivered to
microphone, largely because he was projecting his voice as the open air. The resulting sound was amplified by the flared
if for a large audience to hear. The group that sang after horn that was hidden in the cabinet below the top where
him sounded louder than the instruments that were playing the disc was spinning. Opening the cabinet doors allowed
in the background. Given the explanation of how close the phonograph to more fully release the sound, and the
singers stood to the phonograph as compared to instrument music rose significantly in volume. This increase in loudness
players, this did not come as a surprise. At regular points caused the music to sound shrill and sharp in an unpleasant
during the recording, the recording would make a crackling fashion, especially when the song would reach higher notes.
sound which was less distinct than the tapping sound at the The vocals were less prominent, and the instrumentals stood
beginning of the recording. The sound was especially loudest out, leading to a brassier sound and a tinny, metallic tone.
during the loudest parts of the song and during the highest I felt that such sounds were uncomfortable to hear standing
notes. The comparative loudness of the singers as compared right next to the phonograph, but I understood that it would
to the instrumentalists gave a sense of having the singers be clearly heard above chatter by a large group. I noticed that
very close to listeners like me. Conversely, the crackling there was constantly a scratchy and distant quality to the
sounds emphasized the fact that the music was not being music, as if there was a hollowness caused by the inadequacy
played live for us to hear and so it created a sense of distance of the material to convey the depth of the sound. However,
between me and the music. this quality gave it an antique impression that was quite
alluring, and the resulting vintage appeal made the music
Dumisile Mphamba sound more valuable and authentic; there are contemporary
songs that aim to mimic the kind of natural scratchiness of
the music generated by the phonograph to gain that worn,
weather-beaten trait.

Crosby, Bing, Donald O’Connor, Terry Shand, Willard Robinson, and Wilson
Stone. 1954. If there’s anybody here: from out of town. New York: Decca.

Betty Lee

14 t h e m at e r i a l i t y o f r e c o r d e d s o u n d

CYLINDERS, an early method of recorded sound, bring WARM notes drift out of the cabinet, muddled like
the materiality of the sound into sharp focus through chatter on a humid day. The soft whirring of the
impermanence. Early cylinders were coated in wax, in machine blends with the music as the needle bobs up and
which the grooves were imprinted. Playing the recording, down on the disc. Perhaps my foot is tapping to the
which involves running a needle through those grooves, Santiago Waltz, but it could be anything. It is the method
would adjust the grooves due to the softness of wax. The of recording itself that lends the music its nostalgia. This
recording, therefore, would be rendered unplayable very fragile disc, an Edison original, has remarkably survived
quickly, and the sound would be erased due to its material almost 100 years, since the time when the ephemerality
substance. Celluloid solved the issue of the wax. There of sound disappeared and was replaced by tangible objects
was no longer a reason to be concerned over adjustments available to hold, sell, own, or play. A loud pop announces
made to the grooves themselves. However, an entirely new a defect on the disc. The material imperfection has erased,
problem arose. Celluloid is stable in the short term, and if only for an instant, the illusion of the orchestra in the
the cylinders can be played hundreds of times. However, room with me. Yet there is something comforting about a
over a much longer period, it shrinks. This longer period record scratch, like the bearer of the history of this object.
encompasses the cylinders in the collection at the Archive Perhaps scratches are a reminder that this music is physical,
of Recorded Sound. These cylinders are now at risk of no not to be shared through the cloud or downloaded instantly,
longer fitting onto the phonograph, and the ones that have but to be preserved and protected, to be delicately handled,
shrunk too greatly shatter. Much like the wax, the medium to be treated like treasure. I am transported to the grimy
of the recording makes the recording itself less stable and vintage stores where I spent my teenage summers shifting
permanent. through stacks of dust covered vinyl in search of Ella and
Miles and Bernstein. Sometimes, I would find the perfect
Thomas A. Edison, Inc, Pathé frères (France), National album, only to find the condition beyond salvaging. Yet
Phonograph Company, and Columbia Phonograph there was something to be valued in the hunt itself—in
Company General. 1888. ARS Cylinder Collection. the joy of valuing music as a material good, something
to thoughtfully collect. There is energy in the physical
Julia Thompson interaction between hands and music, needle and record,
that can link listeners throughout time.

Corbin, A. Santiago Waltz. Vecsey, Armand with the Peerless
Orchestra. 8064-A-2-4 Edison, 1921. Analog, 78 rpm.

Julianna Yonis

the materiality of recorded sound 15

IN listening to the sound produced by the shellac disk on THE item from the Archive of Recorded Sound (ARS) I
the phonograph, I found that the sound seemed to reflect am focusing on is the Victrola Credenza Phonograph.
the characteristics of the record itself and of the physical When we visited the ARS, the librarian showed this item
action that served as the impetus for the rotation of the to us after showing us Edison Model A Home Phonograph
turntable. The Dixieland song that emerged from the cabinet and Edison Diamond Disc Phonograph. The former played
felt thick and effortful, much like the actual shellac puck music from a inscribed cylindrical roll, and the second
from which it emanated. Rather than producing a clear, played music from a disc via indentations on the disc. The
efficient sound, the music felt almost weighted or bogged Victrola Credenza Phonograph was slightly different because
down by the effort of riding the deep, vertical striations it played music from discs through a side-to-side motion by
carved into the plate; sound felt muffled and soupy, sunken the stylus.
into and effortfully extracted from the rivulets of a waxy
black button. Additionally, because the turntable was not This object has several qualities that make it interesting:
sufficiently wound up, the audio playback took on a lilting, the sound of the music, the design of the phonograph
lackadaisical turn. The speed was inconsistent; The music itself, and the role it had in many American homes. In the
alternately sped up and slowed down, like the drunken recording the librarian played for us, the voice of the singer
swaying of a ship or the lolling head of one trying not to was very prominent, while the sound of the instruments was
fall asleep. The quality of the sound felt unstable and a little in the background. This is mostly due to the fact that the
bit off-putting, especially given that to the naked eye, the singer sang directly into the horn, while the musicians were
record appeared to be turning at a regular speed. Only the behind him. This is interesting because it today’s music,
playback betrayed the dizzying, lurching motion of the arm the singer and the instruments are very equal in terms of
turning the crank and the record’s insufficient momentum, sound, but then, the singer was the focus. The design of the
like a carousel ride in need of a tune-up. phonograph affected the materiality of the sound because it
commands such a large space, and almost begs you to pay
Katie Fong attention to it. This correlates with the role it played in
homes. For many people, the phonograph was a main source
of entertainment, and provide opportunities for families
to gather around the phonograph and listen to recordings
together and enjoy each other’s company.

Darnell Carson

16 t h e m at e r i a l i t y o f r e c o r d e d s o u n d

THE phonograph cabinet—wherein the mechanisms of AQUICK swish of noise introduces the melody as paper
the phonograph are placed into a cabinet-like structure strikes the air and the music roll is attached to the player
that is often meant to act both as a phonograph and a piece piano. Gears turn and the mechanism begins to unfurl the
of furniture—has a very distinct sound. Compared to its paper whose instructions are punctured through the page. It
horn-only counterparts, the credenza photograph has a takes a moment before the piano emits any pattern of sound
fuller and richer sound, however it is still subject to the a human would immediately recognize as music. However, in
sort of degradation of the due to the identical material the distance between the start of the piano roll and the first
of the disks (shellac and, later, vinyl). Compared with key, the ear registers sound the brain is not trained to pick
its predecessor—phonographs that used cylinders made up and interpret. One hears the slight squeak of the rotating
of aluminum foil, wax, and celluloid—the sound is much roll, the trembling of the paper, the air whistling through
clearer and one can pick out the voices and words being the machine and all its complexities. The machine then
sung and the instruments being played. Like all of the types takes in air and strikes the first key, at first drowning the
of phonographs, it still possesses the distinct fogginess of symphony of sounds in the background. It is not a smooth
sound and granular speckle noises due to the passing of time transition from the quiet whisperings of the machine to the
and aging of materials as well as due to usage. In addition human music forced upon it. After straining to hear the
to the difference in container, the cabinet-style phonograph innerworkings of the device, it is as if the reproducing piano
also boasts a somewhat primitive volume increment achieved bursts into abrupt sound. It is deafening at first, however,
through the opening of the cabinet doors. It is this drastic after a moment one cannot ignore the faint continuous
increase in volume that lends to a strange sort of physicality sound of pumping air and fluttering paper that accompany
of sound; with the cabinet doors open, the sound becomes the piano’s main piece. The noises are inseparable and
thick and fills the air and sort of resonates so that you can together create a new harmony unintended by the pianists
feel the instruments rattling within the body. Furthermore, or inventors. Rather than producing an exact replica of the
the antiqueness of the phonograph combined with these songs recorded by musicians, the machine’s voice is present
sound qualities leads to a sort of enchantment that is broken throughout out the piece.
only by the necessity to crank the machine to power it.
Player Piano in the Archive of Recorded Sound.
Phonograph Record: Rechtzeit, Seymour, Sam Medoff, and
Miriam Kressyn. 1930. The syncopated clock The shicker Isabella Johnson
ticker. You’re just in love. [New York?]: Banner Records.

Phonograph: Victrola’s Credenza phonograph.
Serial Number 6641, dated 1925.

May-Ann Wong

the materiality of recorded sound 17

WHEN the player piano burst into spirited singing, THE chords approached me like gentle fingers squeezing
I stood aside in absolute awe. It was not that I had skin to feel its thickness. I hold my breath. In turn, the
never heard a player piano before. In fact, at the entrance of player piano continues to breathe as it plays Debussy’s D’un
a supermarket my mother and I frequent stands an upright cahier d’esquisses (1914) under the sole guidance of a paper
piano that plays by itself. Comparatively less of an ordinary piano roll. Re: breathing— The airbag inside the piano puffs
piano in appearance and, I would assume, in structure, the up like it is inhaling. The pedals shift, and keys are pressed.
player piano in the Archive of Recorded Sound nevertheless Subtly the piano exhales. Breathing, then, is fiddling with
sounded much more “live” than I had expected. I could not the insubstantial character of air. The recorded sound of
help envisioning an engrossed pianist sitting on an imaginary Debussy playing his own piece is also immensely contained
chair instilling emotions into the chords of the instrument, through emptiness. That is, the emptiness contains all
into the chords of my heart. My breathing and the beating substance. The subtlety of Debussy’s breathing and body
of my body parts were spontaneously synchronized with the movements has been condensed into holes of time within
rhythms to which the emotions danced, so that when the this piano roll. While the goal of breathing is to fill, for life,
music decelerated to a pause and the pitches dropped into the body must also empty.
silence, I felt my body wobbling and had to fight against its
collapse. During this vertiginous struggle, it was introduced The sound of the piano is different from when hearing it
to the class how the player piano actually worked: air was through a tertiary intermediary, like the computer (primary:
sucked in through the holes on the specially made music a performer; secondary: a player piano playing performer’s
score to signal to the piano the chords that had to be work). To fill the quiet room of the Archive of Recorded
struck. As ingenious as this was, I felt fortunate that the Sound Debussy’s playing is filled with emptiness. Seeing the
demonstration had preceded the explanation. Otherwise, it object heightens the experience and reveals aspects I would
was likely that my haptic experience of the music would have otherwise less likely to have observed. I can feel the
be reduced by my admiration for the very ingenuity of the vibrations of the chords as the player piano unapologetically
instrument’s design, my prior ignorance of which had let slams into the most clear, vibrant chords I have heard in
my imagination fly. a while. Then I began to wonder about whether it is the
materiality or the immateriality that makes the player piano
“The Player Piano Project.” Stanford Libraries. version of D’un cahier d’esquisses exceptionally beautiful.
http://library.stanford.edu/projects/player-piano-project.
Debussy, Claude, D’un cahier d’esquisses, 1914,
Yeh-Tang Huang Custom Music Rolls, piano rolls.

Lia Bear Kim

18 t h e m at e r i a l i t y o f r e c o r d e d s o u n d

IHEARD a player piano play a piano roll for the first MY most striking takeaway from our visit to the Archive
time in the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound. I was of Recorded Sound has to do with the idea of decay.
surprised at how realistic the reproduction was. The sound I was surprised, for example, by the rapid deterioration
was very slightly robotic and a perceptive listener with of the primitive wax cylinders, caused even by the act of
closed eyes might be able to discern the difference between their intended function. To me, this only demonstrates how
the performance of man and machine. I only came to this far removed these artifacts are from the object of their
conclusion after multiple careful listens to a short recording imitation, the live performances themselves. As a truly
I had taken, however, and I was shocked at how realistic the fluid artform, music is highly susceptible to even the most
sound was. The reproduction was not only accurate but also miniscule imperfections in representation. Unlike literary
expressive. Crescendos, diminuendos, legato, and staccato or (digital) photographic media, for example, which come
were all distinct and executed with “skill.” I could close my as finite collections of binary data from the start, the
eyes and imagine a master playing before me. The visual genuine essence of a musical performance can never truly be
experience makes the performance more interesting. The reproduced. Any deviation in the composition of the wax or
keys are missing which makes the beauty and human quality incongruity in playback speed will come with an irreparable
even more uncanny without anything to show the viewer the influence that removes all authenticity from the artifact’s
key presses. Seeing the dots on the roll move gave a sense of consideration as a true physical embodiment of the artwork
anticipation and predictability but in a way very different itself. This is a product of the fact that music performance
than the traditional score. The pumping of the pneumatic is an inherently spectral practice. That is to say that every
system provides a visual rhythm that when juxtaposed with parameter, including intonation, articulation, volume,
the auditory rhythm creates a sense of multi-sensational timing, etc., comes not as some incremented value, but
tension. This unique texture makes the experience enjoyable instead as a continuous quantity that cannot be numerically
and immersive in a way made unique by seeing the machine defined. If anything, the advent of digital recording only
reproduce the noise through mechanical genius in real time. exacerbates this problem, as its depictive ability is inherently
It is truly different from simply listening to a digital song bound to the increment of a one or a zero. However, none
file. It is something more material and real. of this is to say that these representational imperfections
necessarily detract any meaning from the sounds’ reception.
Nathan Gugel In all practical probability, very few of them are even
detectable to the human ear, and I acknowledge them only in
order to suggest what constitutes an idealistically infallible
transfer of artistic intention.

Erik Roise

the materiality of recorded sound 19

SOUND is a concentration of vibrations that travel through air mother’s computer in their bedroom. I remember
or other mediums that are registered as they pass through the being puzzled by what I was seeing. It was like the
ear. Throughout history sound has evolved from this scientific CDs I’d seen before, but a lot bigger and black, unlike
definition to hold attributes so specific yet various to create its the shiny silver disks of classical quartets my father
own art of music. In appreciation for the very scientific history, played every morning while he was making bacon.
the materiality interaction within this intangible vibration comes This type of recording, hunched over in a dark room,
in many forms. was so different than the violins drifting through the
sunlit kitchen. It made me realize how much effort
The texture of sound in its manifestation can be seen through my parents used to put in to listening to music. On
example of a vinyl record or disc. The feeling of sound has an my fifteenth birthday, my mother gave me her record
evolutionary curve in that the sound has grown with time. The player from the attic. I loved turning the records
vinyl record produces sound through spiral groves create a sound and cleaning them; it made me feel connected to my
with a ruggedness and sturdiness while simultaneous emitting parents and to their adolescence as I was battling my
an ambiance of delicacy and fragility. Perhaps this is oxymoronic own. I listened to Queen and Bowie over and over
relationship comes from the differences in what is heard versus again, hearing my mother in the voice of Freddie
what is viewed. While the sound has a very heavy existence and Mercury and my father in the synths of the Talking
a unedited energy, the visual of a record and a phonograph are Heads.
very opposite and delicate; small infractions can jeopardize the
integrity of the sound. Haptic apprehension is created from this In the Recorded Sound Archive, the vinyl records
oppositional existence between the visuals that sound provokes and reminded me of my parents. Two quarters in to my
sound itself. first year away from home, I miss my parents more
than I thought I would when I left home in September.
Hearing “Alice I’m Wunderland” by Dieter Wardetzsky and I never thought seeing a record would make me miss
Friedrich Schenker, presented that juxtaposition along with them so much. This past Christmas, my parents
a narration arc. The musical arc definitely clouded the sound gave me a record player of my own to take to school
technicality at first, but after listening once more allowed for and they let me take whatever I wanted from their
me to register the texture. The materiality of music played on respective collections. Now, every time I miss them,
the record is so different from the toned sound of newer sound I play a vinyl.
producers, including the CD. The difference between mechanistic
music versus technologic music in its generation translates to the Kaye, Sammy, I came here to talk for Joe, vinyl,
actual vibration and quality of sound. performed by Sammy Kaye (1942; Victor), vinyl.

Wardetzky, Dieter, Schenker, Friedrich. “Alice I’m Wunderland”. 1990, vinyl. Kyler Stanion

Ryan Wimsatt

THE first time I remember seeing a vinyl record was when
my father was digitizing his recording of Burt and I on my

20 t h e m at e r i a l i t y o f r e c o r d e d s o u n d

THE Denis Condon Collection of Reproducing Pianos and Rolls includes player pianos
and piano rolls, which is an important part of recorded music history and archives.
This special kind of pianos can be played not only by people but also by themselves with
perforated paper rolls, forcing air into the punched holes of a machine and eventually
and hammering the piano strings accordingly. Unlike other classical methods to record
sounds such as phonographs, piano roll has a better quality of reproduced sound as the
music is played directly out of the instrument. Although limited to only one instrument,
the sound decay is minimal in both recording and playing the record. It is able to
reproduce the most accurate textural, rhythmic, timbric, and dynamical information
of how the pianist originally played[1]. Today, there exist various computer programs
like ‘Sibelius’ that read music scores and mimic the sounds of instruments to play
the music with the precisely-calculated pitch, volumes and rhythms. However, player
piano enables us to listen to how actual pianists would play, preserving the details and
stylistic elements that are unique to individual artists.

Growing up, I had a little music box that would pluck a steel comb with revolving
pins, so I was familiar with the such mechanism of recording keyboard music. However,
seeing a piano roll performance was an unexpected and magical experience – the
auditory and visual perception of the music without the visual evidence of the player
made me imagine the pianist brought back alive again and sitting in front of the piano.
The fan-like mechanical noise of the revolving paper roll seemed to harmonize with
the beautiful and graceful performance of the ghost pianist. If there were actual keys,
they would also move as their notes are played, intensifying the weird sensation of
perceiving an invisible player actually hitting the keys with his/her articulated fingers.
The reproduced sound from the piano roll was just as powerful, projecting, sensitive
and real. I still remember how it gave me chills as the player piano started rolling and
played this slow, peaceful but powerful music, and it is astonishing how historical this
recording technique is considering how the science and technology still struggles to
reproduce or synthetically create instrumental sounds as a real musician would play
them.

George Gershwin Plays Rhapsody In Blue, First Recording 1924 Rare Piano Rolls.
Recorded January 1, 2003. Biograph, 2003, Streaming Audio. https://search.
alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Crecorded_cd%7C510768.

[1] Stanford, “Stanford’s new player piano collection brings sounds of history to life,” YouTube
video, 0:55, October 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsuPVBAwg4s.

Minha Kim

the materiality of recorded sound 21

SENSORY EXPERIENCE

OF A WORK OF ART

sensory experience of a work of art 23

IDUCKED my head in and was welcomed by warm smiles THIS year, I had the opportunity to experience such
and “irasshaimasi” and immediately my heart warmed. I immaculate pieces of art. The piece that had the greatest
was about to enjoy sushi. But what many don’t understand impact on me was The Golden Girls of The West (2017).
is what sushi is supposed to taste like. Unless you are a sushi Something about listening to the singing so clearly from so
enthusiast like me, I guarantee you every sushi you had has far away in such a large room above a live orchestra made me
not been prepared the right way. This time, I sat down in a feel so enthralled in the beauty and the chaos of the opera.
small shop right next to the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. I I was amazed by the power the performers had and I felt it
pointed at the set I wanted to try, and right away the sushi in my bones. The music was so powerful, it resonated with
chefs went to work. Decades of craft was in front of my eyes. me and I felt the vibrations brush against my person very
They gently but swiftly pressed a bed of rice together, laid intimately but I was so far away from its origin. The singers
a slice of fish on top, and within seconds a beautiful nigiri had such crisp voices, but the soprano woman playing the
sushi had been presented in front of me. Shiny, uniform, Asian woman had such an acrobatic voice, and a high level of
delicate. I grabbed the piece with my chopsticks, watching controlled for what felt like whistle pitches, I had no other
the sticks mold into the rice, soft and light, then placed the response other than awe and respect. I loved listening to the
sushi into my mouth. This was when everything changed, performance because not only could I see the energy that
because the rice was warm. Sushi is usually prepared cold, went into the work but I could hear and feel it so clearly as
but the right way is to eat the sushi just as it’s made to if I was in the front row. To be in the balcony seats and still
feel the warm glow of the rice against the tongue, with the feel as if I am very close to the action is something the cast
refreshing chill of the fish on top. Then...everything melts. should pride themselves for.

Vincent Xie Ryan Wimsatt

24 s e n s o ry e x p e r i e n c e o f a w o r k o f a r t

IN fall quarter, the ITALIC sections went on a tour of “THIS year, during our ITALIC trip to MoMA, Jim Dine’s
Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music painting, Blue Clamp (1981) wounded me. Despite the
and Acoustics (CCRMA). The facility is equipped with physical barrier of museum etiquette, I felt every single
countless state-of-the-art technologies for sound research centimetre of the painting; it was a rollercoaster. From
and production, but the one that most interested me was the patches of dry grass under my feet, to the cold blue
the Listening Room. This soundproofed chamber is a three- clamp piercing through my ribcage, the painting made
dimensional, heptagonal studio with twenty-two speakers me feel alive and re-live the times so dear to my heart.
strategically placed above, below, and all around the listener. The dripping lines of acrylic paint evoked heartache, yet
As we sat around the basin in the center of the room, we the multitude of colours reminded me of the joy and the
were instructed to close our eyes. laughter of a gone romance. The pieces of straw and wood
served as a map that took me back to different places visited
The music began softly. It did not sound like anything I by the two teenagers in love. Yet all the beauty, nostalgia,
would normally characterize as being musical. Short ticks and tenderness that were awakening butterflies inside my
and taps of percussive sound sprung out from all directions stomach were overthrown by the overbearing, powerful, and
in irregular time. The seemingly random noises then shifted excruciating feeling of nausea; the feeling that one would
into intelligible patterns. Around me, my binaural hearing get if their heart was to be fastened to a wall with a blue
picked up the swooping arc of the noise as it began behind clamp; the feeling that one gets when thrown out, betrayed,
me to the left and travelled clockwise to reach my front. and heart broken. The artwork was, and still is, a bittersweet
With my vision reduced to darkness, something interesting experience for me. It makes me want to laugh and cry. It
happened; not only was my auditory system stimulated, but makes me want to stroke it and burn it. It makes me want
with every tick, tick, tick the hairs on my neck and forearms to remember and forget. But, most importantly, it makes
prickled, and I felt each sound’s impact mapped onto my me want to fall in love all over again.
scalp. I imagined my scalp spattered with constellations as Anastasia Spiridonova
each new noise was a speck of light landing in a new location.
The music filled my skull and sent my sense of proprioception
spinning. When the din settled and eventually stopped, I
opened my eyes, almost surprised to find I was still in the
Listening Room.

Danielle Tang

sensory experience of a work of art 25

DISCRETE figures” was a performance by Rhizomatiks AFTER I hear Hero tell Penny that he has a new wife
x Elevenplay that merged art and technology. At the who is on her way to the homestead, I immediately
Gray Area Theatre, I stood in the darkness and watched exclaim, “What!”, fold my arms and indignantly watch the
five dancers on stage. They interacted with digital screens, rest of the scene. As I watch Hero justify himself to Penny
augmented reality, lights and drones to emphasise movement, by explaining that he only married her to secure his lineage,
integrate colours and play with layers of meaning and my heart feels suspended between contradicting emotions.
perception. The clear screens they danced behind responded On one hand, I picture in my mind how honest Hero was
to their movement and emitted patterns of Chinese ribbons, during the rest of the show. I remember how terrified he
computer pixels and an array of cityscape windows. At first was to have to fight in the war and how insecure about his
these unfamiliar forms and their technical feats confused future he must have felt. I empathize with him. On the other
and unsettled me - I didn’t know where to look or how to hand, when I see Hero grabbing a knife and attempting to
anticipate movement. The digital material morphed from stab the other slave runaways with it (including Penny’s
looking like synchronised fireflies to harsh reflections of lover, Homer) I clench my fists and my teeth. I am angry
glass, adopting a materiality that exaggerated the feelings of again. I shake my head incredulously and wonder out loud,
lucidity and captivity. I felt a calmness when light cascaded “Hero has already taken so much from Penny. And now he
from an extended arm and felt compression when sharp light wants to take Homer, the last chance that she has at love
collapsed against a bending body. With augmented reality, and happiness?” When I later see Penny storm into their
light extends from dancers’ limbs and bounces across room and bang the door behind her, I imagine I can feel the
walls. The sounds amplify the synchronisation of digital sensations in her body. I can feel the way her heart sinks
movement with physical movement. The sounds are also in her chest, the way she sobs from the depths of her belly,
rather synthetic, embracing the manipulations and digital and the way she clutches her midriff to remember the baby
constructions of nature. In a space barely lit, the constraints inside her. I can taste the salt on my tongue from the tears
of the body and perception were tested. running down her cheeks.

Chloe Barreau Act 3 in Father Comes Home from the Wars

Dumisile Mphamba

26 s e n s o ry e x p e r i e n c e o f a w o r k o f a r t

IWOULD describe my experience of Father Comes Home IN performance, it is difficult to tell where a work of art
from the Wars by Suzan-Lori Parks (performed by the begins and ends. I categorize a band’s set and the interactive
American Conservatory Theatre) as a sensory experience. elements of audience as one physically immersive work of
Through sight and sound the play enabled a whole world art. Though I’ve been to a number of performances over the
of existence to come to life using only three scenes. On last year, Exodus’ performance on their “Thrashtacular”
the basis of sound, the play constructs its universe; telling tour (Regency Ballroom, San Francisco, 2/25/2018) was
us what we will not see. The dialogue between characters easily the most overwhelming. As a musical performance,
and the diegetic and non-diegetic sounds of the stage the most straightforward sensory experience to describe was
inform the viewer of particular details of the narrative. that of sound. Being a heavy metal band, Exodus played
The theatre company would not be able to support a stage extremely loudly, to the point that it was necessary for me
performance for every happening within the story plot but and other members of the audience to wear earplugs for
the story can be told to fill the viewer in with what did not hearing protection. During their performance, I was unable
explicitly happen on stage. From the theatrical experience to hear any other sound save my own voice, transmitted as
of seeing the viewer can visualize the physical bearings of it was through my skull.
the complexly constructed characters they hear. The clothes
on the performers, the composition of the set, and the shade The most powerful sensory experiences of that concert
of the lighting informs the viewer of the visual details that were those of smell and touch. After the two opening bands
are critical to the general composition of the play. In Father (Hell Fire and Municipal Waste), the venue smelled strongly
Comes Home from the Wars sight and sound contributed of spilled beer and the regions of the floor closer to the stage
together to form a powerful display of live narrative that I smelled of marijuana smoke. This mix of smells joined with
wholly enjoyed. the odor of sweat to provide an olfactory picture of the
intoxicated, fast-moving crowd, nearly sprinting to keep
Father Comes Home from the Wars pace with the frenzied music. The tactile experience of the
performance included hard impacts against other people,
Noah Salazar shoving and being shoved, and flying headlong through
open spaces and into the press of concertgoers. The pace
of motion and exertion kept me in a constant, breathless
adrenaline rush. Concert experiences range in interactivity,
but Exodus’ show did something performing arts seldom
achieve – reaching through the fourth wall to batter the
viewers’ olfactory palates, jostle their positions, and bruise
their bodies.

Suhas Sastry

sensory experience of a work of art 27

SELDOM do I have the opportunity to attend a COMPOSER Charlie Sdraulig’s composition and
performance live and in person, so seeing When Father experimental performance piece whispering in one
Comes Home From the Wars by Suzan-Lori Parks (2009) was another’s ears (2018), performed at the Nitery Theater by
a novel event; perhaps this novelty heightened my overall the experimental theater ensemble MOCREP, explores the
sensory experience. Walking into the intimate theater set limits of the audience’s perception by amplifying various
my expectations high, but I hadn’t anticipated the extent extremely quiet sounds. The piece features five performers.
to which I would be completely enthralled with the play. One sits at a table using objects such as linen and thimbles to
From start to finish, I could not peel my eyes away from make sounds into a microphone that transmits the sound only
the scenes in front of me. It felt like my breath was in to the earpiece of another performer, who then whispers into
sync with the rhythm of the dialogue, which was both potent the ear of another at the center of the stage who simulates
in content and beautifully delivered. Besides the stunning the sounds into a microphone with his voice, body, and
visual components and poetic script, the themes as well small squares of linen. Three additional performers stand
as the choices and actions of the characters brought about at the side of the stage and parrot the sounds of the central
tangible physical responses. performer at various intervals. During the performance, the
extreme subtlety of the noises made me strain to hear them.
One of first dramatic reactions came about when the group This sensory deprivation created a hyper awareness of all
of slaves attempted to cut off Hero’s (James Udom) foot. noise throughout the piece, and made the quiet sound of
As soon as Hero propped up his foot and the knife had been linen rustling sound abrasive and discomforting. All of the
sharpened, a sense of dread filled my body. Hero prepared performers’ actions were nearly silent, slow, and prolonged,
himself and brought down the knife three times, just barely leaving me with a feeling of tension and unease, and a desire
missing his foot. After each thrust of the knife, the entire to fill the void of extended silence with noise or movement.
audience reeled in a collective gasp. I felt slightly nauseated This anxiety was amplified by the sound of fabric rubbing
after that moment, and I remained on edge for the rest of against itself in the microphone, as the sound made me
the play. My second reaction occurred when the Colonel involuntarily feel shivers and goosebumps all over my body.
was talking about the splendor of owning slaves. I knew I These senses and feelings felt throughout the piece create
was angry watching this scene played out, but until it was a challenge for the audience’s perception by exploring the
over had I realized my fists were clenched and my face was extremes of sound.
hot. Finally, I felt a strong sense of disgust and confusion
when Hero revealed he found a new wife. He betrayed his Eddie Tchaouchev
good qualities established in parts 1 and 2, and as a result
I experienced hatred towards Hero at the end.

Brianna Peet

28 s e n s o ry e x p e r i e n c e o f a w o r k o f a r t

THE first time I listened to “Onward to the Edge” (2011) THE piece of art that I want to choose to explore is the
by melodysheep, I cried. It was probably two in the Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s production of Angels in
morning and I was listening to a Spotify playlist called America: (Part I Millennium Approaches), and the various
“Space-Themed Classical Music,” and while the song is sensory experiences that went along with the show. Various
space-themed, it’s in no way classical music. No matter; moments of the show included unexpected senses, like that
I listened to it and cried. The basic premise of the song, of the lit cigarette that filled the audience with a pungent
actually the whole album, called Symphony of Science, is smell. I was astounded that it travelled all the way to the
different scientists, such as Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Stephan upper seats, and that the scent was coming from the stage.
Hawking, auto-tuned to create songs about different areas The sense of smell is often pushed to the background when it
of science. I already love listening to Neil DeGrasse Tyson comes to works of performance, as it is complex to control,
talk about space when he’s not autotuned to music. His yet can provide intense emotional connections to memories
passion and metaphor is simply beautiful. To music, it was long gone. But the play utilized the events of sound and
simply overwhelming. Maybe it was the exhaustion, but I visual aids to intensify the mood of the narrative. The
was fully taken aback by the concept of space and time; character of the Angel is ever present, but not visualized.
“Onward to the edge, we’re moving onward to the edge. Here This tantalizing teasing of the supernatural and omnipotent
we are together, this fragile little world,” sings Tyson in the comes built into Kushner’s story, but the final chaotic
chorus of the song. That night, I reveled in how small I was. explosion is a cacophony of sounds, sights, and feelings. As
I felt fully helpless in the best way. Here were two of my the Angel breaks through the wall, the audience feels it, in
favorite things, art and science, together in this beautiful their bones. The buildup and convergence of stories from the
way. A song about humans hurtling themselves into space, declining health of Prior (Randy Harrison) to the frustration
towards the unknown, was everything I needed at the time. of Louis (Benjamin T. Ismail), the emotional investment in
For some reason, and I can’t quite remember why, I needed the show is supported by the sensory experience of viewing
to feel small. I needed this song to remind me how much it and being present in the moment. That is the power of
more there was than my little life, than my little problems, theatre, embracing the ephemerality of performance and
and somehow that made me remember how beautiful life is. encouraging the possibility for failure.
Sometimes you have to feel small to realize how big you are.
Benny Siam
Kyler Stanion

sensory experience of a work of art 29

ADARK tunnel led me to a vibrant room, filled with ON Saturday, October 28, 2017, the incredible dancers,
music, life, and human energy. What unveiled before Rianto, Ching-Ying Chien and Joy Alpuerto Ritter
me was a one-of-a-kind musical and visual installation. performed with musicians, Sohini Alam, David Azurza,
Ragnar Kjartansson’s The Visitors (2012), installed at the Yaron Engler and Joseph Ashwin in Akram Khan’s latest
SFMOMA as part of Soundtracks 2017, is a revitalizing production, Until the Lions, at Stanford University’s
and cathartic experience. In this nine-channel HD video Memorial Auditorium. The intense and thrilling dance piece,
projection, viewers circle the room and visit the nine adopted from Karthika Naïr’s Until the Lions: Echoes from
screens. Each screen showcases a different member of the the Mahabharata told the story of a young woman, abducted
band, and as you make your way through the room, unique on her wedding day later seeking revenge with the help of
voices are emphasized. Nonetheless, although each musician supernatural powers. From the moment audience members
receives their own screen and spatial territory, their spirits entered the theatre and through the show’s ending; it
were united by the same song. Set in a rustic mansion, the maintained a high level of mystery, power, and control due to
film transported my soul into a different space. It felt as if the incredible sound, light design, and set. The pounding of
I was entering a stranger’s home, learning what beauty is the drums could be felt in my chest and the clacking of metal
to them through the power of music. poles caused my ears to tingle and my shoulders to rise,
hiding behind my ears. Additionally, the princess, played by
The first screen I encountered was of a woman singing and Ching-Ying Chien, was particularly interesting due to her
playing an accordion. Her raspy voice sang of love, family, ability to swiftly transform physically. At moments, she
home, and destiny. There was something so melodically appeared quite animalistic and barely human, which led to
heart wrenching about her movements—the way shivered as the pounding of my heart. At other times, she was extremely
she sung, the way she gently grasped the accordion. Next, a light, delicate, and gentle, causing me to feel more relaxed
man played a guitar in a bathtub. I found this setting to be and at ease. In these moments, my muscles loosened and
the most vulnerable and comfortable. His gaze was fixated relaxed. Throughout the show, my eyes felt as though they
on the ceiling, unaware of his intended audience. Finally, I were completing a maze due to them constantly racing back
watched all nine screens from a single corner. This time, I and forth to catch every movement, bright flash of light,
was enthralled not only by the installation, but also by the and scenic change.
audience’s emotional reactions. The Visitors opened my eyes
to the beauty of art and human energy. Alexa Luckey

Lora Supandi

30 s e n s o ry e x p e r i e n c e o f a w o r k o f a r t

IEXPERIENCED an intense sensory experience when AWORK of art that had an intense sensory impact on me
I listened to the song, Tell Me If You Wanna Go Home was Strange Fruits: Channel 42 (2003) by Thornton
by Keira Knightley from the soundtrack of the 2013 film Dial. We saw the work when we went to the de Young
Begin Again. The distinct sound of Knightley’s voice was Museum back in February, and of all the pieces, this one
what prompted me to feel the strongest sensations in respect had the most profound effect on me. Of all the works in the
to hearing; her voice has a quality of being effortless and exhibit, this was the rawest and most visually striking piece
completely nonchalant that draws the listener in because of I saw. The piece itself portrays a figure representing a man
its simplicity and purity. And although it is clearly evident hanging from a television antenna. It is almost life-sized, to
that she is not a professional singer, that inexperienced, give the effect of a real man being hanged. The use of the
rough, and imperfect sound further adds to the appeal of television antenna and the man’s business attire modernizes
the song. The guitar solo at the end of the song had a very the context of the work, communicating with the observer
strong effect on my skin, and I felt goosebumps rise on that Black brutality is not a scar we have left in the past.
the surface of my arm when I heard the rapid notes being This nation has dragged it into the present.
played. Listening to the song made me recall the scene in
the movie in which the characters played it; I could visualize When I saw the work, I started tearing up at the thought
Knightley’s band harmonizing with her voice, banging on of how cruel people can be, and continue to be, to people who
the drums, strumming a guitar, and playing the violin. The are different than them. This is not just against Black people
images that came up in my mind intensified the experience of either. It speaks to homophobia, islamophobia, xenophobia,
hearing the song because every sound and melody correlated anti-Semitism, and to all the people who have continually
with a scene from the film. I don’t recall tasting anything, been told they are not wanted, despite being valuable parts
but as I visualized the scenes, it was as if I could almost of our community. Seeing this piece reminded me that there
smell the scent of the busy downtown. They perform the is still so much work to be done in this nation. Racism is just
song on a rooftop in New York City, so it felt like I could the start of it. But once we can chip away at the systematic
smell the wind rushing against my face and the surrounding walls that confine us, maybe we will no longer have to worry
industrial structures. about seeing the strange fruit of history’s bloody tree.

Betty Lee Darnell Carson

sensory experience of a work of art 31

PHYSICAL exertion isn’t something we usually associate
with music, but on a breezy San Francisco summer day,
it was all I could think about. I’d managed to land tickets
to see Wayne Shorter–quite possibly the greatest living
saxophonist–and his quartet. Shorter, particularly well-
known for his work with Miles Davis, is 84 years old. Seeing
him slowly shuffle onstage, his age seemed to show. Atop a
wooden stool center-stage, he turned to his bandmates, and
quietly counted off the first tune. There’s a cliché about
aged artists that seeing them at work is like seeing them in
their youth again. I did not experience this. On the contrary,
Shorter’s labor was clear. Between each flurry of notes, he
paused, making tangible the exertion of playing. After a
short while, I perceived beads of sweat on his forehead. I
don’t mean, however, to give the impression that Shorter’s
clear physical exertion detracted from his performance.
With each measured pause, I found myself at the edge of my
seat. When he upped the pace of his improvisation, reaching
stratospheric heights, I felt my heart pound. Shorter’s
playing has always been creative, passionate, and never
robotic. Old age has magnified the basic humanity central
to Shorter’s music. To see him on stage, straining to bring
his music into the world, is to tie oneself to its outcome.
This, of course, only makes it that much more satisfying
when Shorter blows us away yet again.

Evan Mickas

SOUND

JOURNAL

sound journal 33

1. Silverware clinking: dining hall SOUNDCLOUD DJ Jaydon Lewis remixes the classic
2. Door unlocking beep: entrance to dining hall iPhone ringtone in his now viral 2017 release, “apple
3. Biting into a rice cake: dining hall iphone ringtone (trap remix)”. In the beginning of the
4. Soda can fizz: dorm room song, he plays the ringtone exactly as it is for three bars,
5. iPhone ringtone: dorm room fading out and adding reverb on the next few. When the
6. Page flipping: dorm room beat comes back in, Lewis adds to the existing tune a new
7. Door closing: dorm room bass track, instantly changing the genre of the song. After
8. Toilet flush: dorm hallway, coming from bathroom every phrase, a new line is added, increasing the energy of
9. Flip flops: dorm hallway the track.
10. Door alarm: dorm hallway
Although the tune was so familiar to me, I found this
remix far more enjoyable. The sound of the iPhone ringtone
usually carries negative associations for me because most
of the time I am receiving calls from angry strangers as a
result of my phone number being stolen for a scam. Lewis’
remix, however, reminds me of dance parties and funny Vine
videos. I immediately feel a rhythm that is absent from the
original tune, and I find myself absentmindedly dancing—or
at least making rhythmic movements to the beat.

The second part of the song keeps the same general order of
notes, but remixes them, creating a new, stuttering melody.
Then the third part comes in and completely changes the
order of the notes, an entirely new melody overlaid onto the
continuing beat of the song. These changes make the song
dynamic, adding layers and a sense of novelty to something
many of us find so familiar.

Jaydon Lewis, “apple iphone ringtone (trap remix)”, April 16, 2017
https://soundcloud.com/itsjaydonlewis/call

Danielle Tang

34 s o u n d j o u r n a l

1. Silence in the room (Stern Hall, Burbank Dorm, ASITE-SPECIFIC installation In Silence (2013) by the
floor 1, room 115) Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota features an abandoned
concert hall with a lonely piano and two rows of empty chairs
2. Sound of the corridor (Stern Hall, Burbank Dorm, around it. The furniture is covered in fire markings and
floor 1) enveloped in black threads that resemble a spider web. To
me, the overbearing silence connotes the past, old age, loss
3. Flowing tap (Stern Hall, Burbank Dorm, floor 1, and death. These exists a sense of abandonment. The moment
bathroom) is frozen in time. And forgotten. Whilst spatially separated,
the piano and the chairs are one. They are connected by the
4. Cars passing by (Crossing of Campus Drive and spider web. And they exist in the same silence.
Arguello Way) I found the artwork particularly poignant and applicable
in relation to my recorded sounds, since I also focused on
5. Card swiping (Stern Hall, Stern Dining Hall) silence present in the musical environment. The thematic
parallels excited me: the artwork depicts a music concert hall
6. Chewing rice cakes (Stern Hall, Burbank Dorm, and my focus was my art dorm full of musicians. Moreover,
floor 1, room 115) the divide between the piano and the chairs reflected the
divide between the sound within my room and outside of it.
7. Running out of breath (AOERC, GYM) YET the two experiences could not have been more different.
Firstly, whilst the objects in the artwork were united in
8. Running of the treadmill (AOERC, GYM) their silence, the silence of my room was in opposition to
the laughter and the chatter in the corridor. I was alone in
9. Gulping water (AOERC, GYM) silence. Secondly, whilst the lack of people in the artwork
connoted oldness, the presence of college students filled my
10. Biking to class (Crossing of Arguello Way and silence with a sense of youthfulness. Shiota’s silence was
Bowdoin Lane) mourning, and my silence was peace.

Location: Stern Hall, Burbank Dorm, floor 1, room 115
Recorded sound #1: Silence in the room
Recorded sound #2: Sound of the corridor

Artwork: Chiharu Shiota, In Silence, 2013

Anastasia Spiridonova

sound journal 35

OUTSIDE of Stanford University’s Memorial Auditorium 1. Water fountain - outside of Memorial Auditorium
lies a fountain that mimics the design, flow, and 2. Chatter - Lathrop Learning Hub
sounds of a waterfall. After enduring a lengthy, stress 3. Jackhammer – outside of Toyon
inducing class or leaving a weighty theatrical production, 4. Clanking weights - gym on Santa Teresa St.
the fountain offers a warm gentleness that can soothe the 5. Lawnmower- outside of Burbank
mind. Additionally, it is incredibly accessible being that one 6. Bike chains moving- on Santa Teresa St.
must only climb five steps to reach it. In TLC’s classic hit, 7. Grunting – gym on Santa Teresa St.
“Waterfalls,” they describe the wonder as something that 8. Clanking Dishes - Lakeside Dining Hall
would potentially welcome stress, instead of relieve it [1]. 9. Muffled trap music - inside someone’s dorm room
The trio essentially suggested avoiding waterfalls and going
after things that are less dangerous and more predictable. with the door closed
The main differences in our experiences were the result of 10. Train sound FX – baseball game
my focusing on the sounds produced from the water and
their focus on the physical structure of the waterfall.

I experienced more interesting sounds inside of the Lathrop
Learning Hub. While I was alone in a specific room, the
chatter from the outside carried in, reminding me of the
consistent presence of individuals, even when I appear to
be alone. Though my desire was to be completely isolated
to increase my productivity, the sounds of others actually
brought comfort. This realization brought John Singleton’s
Poetic Justice (1993) to mind, as it features Janet Jackson
reciting Maya Angelou’s “Alone” Maya Angelou, “Alone,”
[2]. In the poem, Angelou notes, “nobody can make it out
here alone” [3]. So, while my thoughts around the chatter
centered on people never really being alone, Angelou took
it a step further to suggest that this is vital for the success
of the individual.

[1] TLC, “Waterfalls,” CrazySexyCool, LaFace Records, November 15, 1994
[2] Maya Angelou, “Alone,” Oh Pray My Wings

Are Gonna Fit Me Well, 1975.
[3] Ibid.

Alexa Luckey

36 sound journal

1. Furnace, Dink basement locker room THOUGH it is rare that one immediately grasps the intended setting,
2. Practice Room Sounds, character, narrative, or meaning of a piece of music, it is often
true that composer’s reliance on pre-established motivic or textural
Braun room 206 norms allows the audience to at least develop a broad image of its
3. Leaf Pull, Braun courtyard significance. However, on several occasions, I have found that my personal
4. Leaf Blower, Burbank courtyard interpretations have not only differed from the composer’s intentions,
5. Toilet Flush, but directly contradicted them. A perfect example of this is Maurice
Ravel’s “Alborada del Gracioso” from his collection entitled Miroirs.
Burbank third floor bathroom Directed as a satirical take on traditional Spanish celebration music, its
6. Door Shut, Burbank room 312 title approximately translates to “morning serenade of the buffoons,”
7. Heater Rattle, Burbank room 312 with the introduction mimicking the spirited strumming of a guitar at
8. Rain, Burbank courtyard dawn, which eventually erupts into an outrageous, glorious racket [1].
9. Go Kart Engine,
However, when I hear this introduction, I am not reminded of this
The Willows of Menlo Park bright sunrise, but instead picture an evening rain. Perhaps this is
10. Fire Crackle, because my first real association with the piece was from an open-air
concert during a summer storm, or because the light pizzicati seem to
The Willows of Menlo Park mimic the texture and irregularity of raindrops [2]. Accordingly, by the
finale, I have not been transported into the raucous activity of day, but
instead into the illusive, subdued, but equally present energy of night.
This contradiction brings up the question of one’s right to personal
interpretation. Though, especially in the twenty-first century, there is
a prevailing expectation that musicians must strive for only the purest
presentation of the composer’s intent, I would argue that it is instead
this depictive ambiguity that makes music so universally and profoundly
relatable. For this reason, though I am now capable of interpreting the
piece as Ravel intended, I continue to hear it on my own terms.

[1] Maurice Ravel, Alborada del Gracioso, conducted by Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony
Orchestra, recorded 2000, Deutsche Grammophon, 2000, compact disc.

[2] Phillip Huscher, Program Notes: Maurice Ravel – Alborada del gracioso
(Chicago, IL: Chicago Symphony Orchest, 2009), [Page #], accessed
April 26, 2018, https://cso.org/uploadedFiles/1_Tickets_and_Events/
Program_Notes/ProgramNotes_Ravel_Alborada.pdf.

Erik Roise

sound journal 37

AS I was reading about Japan’s Rent-a-Family industry 1. Lonely buzz of Arrillaga Dining
on the ground floor of the Y2E2, the click of a woman’s
heels cut through the background noise. She stopped by a 2. A squeaky mechanical pencil, Y2E2
man standing near me. My recording catches their greeting,
but not their ensuing conversation about the changes to the 3. Keyboard clicking (my own), Y2E2
GSB (“now it looks like a country club”) and discussion of
the intervening years since their last meeting. 4. Heels on the floor, Y2E2

Charles Baudelaire catches a similar one-sided connection 5. Turning of combination on bike lock, Hewlett
with a stranger in his 1855 “À une Passant” (“To a Passerby”), Building
in which he describes a furtive look at a mourning woman
walking along a roaring street. Baudelaire’s relationship 6. Robert Sapolsky’s voice background of laptop
with this passing woman is filled with longing, and a sense noises & note-taking, Hewlett
of loss. Of this sentiment he writes, “...J’ignore où tu fuis,
tu ne sais où je vais, /Ô toi que j’eusse aimée, ô toi qui le 7. Cracking of knuckles, background: conversation &
savais!” (“I don’t know where you’ve fled, nor you where I pleasant procrastination, library, Burbank
go/ Oh you whom I might have loved, oh you who knew it!”).
My sonic experience lacked Baudelaire’s lustful undertones, 8. Industrial printer’s rhythmic humming, computer
but a similar sense of connection with an individual from cluster, Burbank
an anonymous crowd. Seeing a tiny window into her life,
as inconceivably complex as my own, her remarks reminded 9. Plastic swivel chair creaking, my room, computer
me of the fleeting nature of my own youth and experience cluster, Burbank
here—might I say the same things of Stanford in thirty
years? All this connection brought about by attention to the
sound of her heels, I allowed, just seconds later, to fade into
the background—when I listen back to the recording, her
steps are barely perceptible above the din of the room.

“A une Passante,” Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du Mal, 1855.

Nova Meurice

10. Myself reading an Arabic passage for class, the
floor of the dining hall back against the locked
door

38 s o u n d j o u r n a l

Stanford Law School Terrace - ~11:00 AM OF the sounds recorded, I have decided to focus on the
• Sound of the fountain near the benches ones recorded while studying at the Stanford Law
• Sound of rustling leaves of the vines School Terrace during the afternoon. I believe that these two
sounds—the sound of the small fountains and the rustling
Library - ~12:30 PM sound of leaves—are represented in Claude Monet’s The
• Keyboard typing when searching up articles on Japanese Bridge (1900). In his painting, these sounds are
represented literally in the visual representations of water
SearchWorks and the vegetation. However, Monet’s painting is that of
• Sound of the lecturer during the library tour an ideal landscape with the only sign of civilization being
• Zipping and unzipping of bags at the bag check the bridge that crosses the river. Furthermore, the bridge
seems to have manifested from nowhere, as there is no
when leaving the library clear beginning nor ending of the bridge contained within
the frame of the painting. In contrast with my experience
Dorm Room - ~3:30 PM – 6:00 PM of these sounds in the location I was at, the greenery was
• Sound of turning the pages of my Course Reader grounded in copious amounts of markers of civilization: the
framing for the vines to grow on, the benches to sit at, the
for my Japanese language class fountains installed for ambiance, and so on. This is further
• The scraping of a pencil sharpener as I sharpen a emphasized by the fact that all of the greenery in the terrace
was installed rather than naturally occurring. As a result,
pencil while both the sounds recorded and the depiction of those
• Unscrewing of my water bottle sounds in Monet’s painting evoke a feeling of tranquility,
the original sounds are more fabricated and fake; there is
always the presence of noises that are not natural, such as
the scraping of chairs against concrete. Thus, my sounds
are more of installations in a location to evoke tranquility
and peace.

Claude Monet’s The Japanese Bridge (1900)

May-Ann Wong

sound journal 39

Name Approx. Location Approx. Time Description
Running Water - 1 37.42412, -122.16534 9:15AM Right-most faucet in the second-floor Burbank bathroom
Under a Blood Maple - 1 37.43070, -122.17122 11:00 Bloodgood Japanese maple on the right of Sapp
Under a Blood Maple - 2 37.43055, -122.17127 12:30PM Bloodgood Japanese maple on the left of Sapp
Through the Grove 37.43026, -122.17095 to 37.43299, -122.17074 12:40 Walking from Sapp towards the Oval
Poppies and Bees 37.42938, -122.17047 12:45 A patch of California poppies towards the end of the grove
Biking Past Main Quad 37.42825, -122.16827 zto 37.42620, -122.16897 12:50 Biking down the right length of the Quad, facing Green Library
Running Water - 2 37.42502, -122.16936 12:52 The Claw
Running Water - 3 37.42965, -122.17305 3:45 HP Fountain
Night at the Post Office 37.42436, -122.16917 9:35 Entrance of Post Office, facing out towards Tresidder
Late Night 37.42544, -122.16430 10:30 First floor at Arrillaga Family Dining Commons

CORTES’ use of impressionist techniques in painting the fountain creates three general Edouard Leon Cortes, Fountains on
textures of water. There are the individual brush strokes, more dotted or dashed in Place de la Concorde, 1948.
nature, creating the sense of individual water droplets in a succession of plops. This serves
as a middle ground for the other two textures. The blue paint appears almost translucent Emily Mam
against the background, a thin veil of water showering down the tiers, creating a more
high-pitched uniform hiss as it falls into the basin. The thicker brush strokes evoke
imagery of heavier streams of water cascading down, the greater quantity and slower
speed resulting in lower pitches and more spaced-out notes. It is possible that the sounds
may overlap, but visually it is as though one would hear more of one sound than the others
depending on where around the fountain they were standing. My experiences in Running
Water – 2 and Running Water – 3 come closest to that represented in the painting, the
sound of The Claw resembling more of a light shower while streams of water from the HP
Fountain are lower and more distinct. The textures, and therefore the sounds, are more
discernable in the painting whereas in my experience it is more so a mélange of speeds,
rhythms, pitches, and volumes. The three general textures described above are present
in all fountains, but their unique sounds come from varying proportions of each texture.
But in comparison to the painting, my experiences of the fountains were as serene, the
manipulation of light through water as mesmerizing as the combination of colors on the
canvas, and the rushing sounds of water just as soothing.

40 s o u n d j o u r n a l

Location 1: Dorm Room is amorphous and indistinct, it is always made up of the sort
• Person singing “If you’re happy and you know it” of sounds: people talking, people laughing, people walking,
• Closing doors the clinking of glasses, utensils scraping plates, and music.
• Beeping of the door alarm The way Manet blurs the crowd in the picture mimics the
way the noise of a crowd blurs into the background if you’re
Location 2: Arrillaga Dining not paying attention. Also the way the viewer is focused on
• People talking the barmaid, with the crowd in the background, with her
• Footsteps much more defined and detailed than the crowd mimics the
• Scraping of forks on plates way it feels and sounds to sit in a crowded place. The fact
• Piano music that we can only see the crowd in the reflection, which both
tells us that the crowd is behind us and gives the feeling that
Location 3: Greek Mythology lecture we are surrounded by people, mimics how when you’re in a
• People taking notes crowded public place no matter where you are standing you
• Flipping of papers feel as if the noise is surrounding you.
• Breathing
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère by Édouard Manet 1882.
WHEN looking at this painting you can almost hear
the low thrum of a crowd. When you’re sitting in a Sydney Guthrie
crowded public place, especially that of a cafeteria or busy
restaurant all the noise tends to blur together, a sort of
background drone that one barely pays attention to. There
is nothing distinct or clear about this sound, it is ambiguous
and very much in the background. Though the sound itself

sound journal 41

TO me, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (Fisherman) 1. Asa eating salad- Burbank library
(1981) is reminiscent of the sound of my own bones
cracking. Hearing and feeling the bones in my fingers crack 2. My bones cracking- Burbank library
reminds me of my physical body and makes me feel more (my chosen sound)
present in it. It takes me out of my mind and reminds me
of the basic functions of my body rather than just how 3. Dan playing piano- Lecture theater
I use it and how my body can serve my mind. Similarly,
Basquiat’s paintings, especially this untitled piece, remind 4. Pencil scratching- Burbank library
me of the inner workings of the human body. This work
blatantly showcases the human skeleton and forces one to 5. People talking- Dining hall
identify the familiar object. This identification is similar to
the identification of something being a part of me that I feel 6. The plate wash thing moving- Dining hall
when I hear my bones crack. What makes this representation
all the more poignant to me is my knowledge of one of 7. The TV- Dining hall
Basquiat’s major influences: a copy of Gray’s Anatomy that
his mother gave him when he was in the hospital with severe 8. Me screaming about my math midterm- Burbank
injuries at age seven. Basquiat created his own system of library
symbolism and semiotics through the human body, which
makes me consider how my body’s actions translate into 9. Door closing- just outside Stern
bigger meanings in society and how people’s bodies function
in society. My body does so much more and has so much
more agency than I give it credit for, and Basquiat’s Untitled
(Fisherman), just like cracking my bones, forces me to
recognize this.

Regan Lavin

10. Julia walking- just outside Stern

42 s o u n d j o u r n a l

Gym: IN the first five seconds of SWV’s single “Rain,” the sound
• Sound 1: water fountain of rain falling on the ground is heard. The rain sounds as
• Sound 2: Feet hitting the treadmill if it is pouring and there is an introduction of the sound of
• Sound 3: Dropping weights thunder as well suggesting stormy weather rather than just
• Sound 4: Squeaking shoes on the basketball courts a gentle sprinkle. I connected this art to what I heard in the
shower because the acoustics amplify the sound of the water
Dorm Room/Hallway: hitting the tile floor. The lyrics of the song create an extended
• Sound 1: Dan playing piano metaphor between love and rain, saying ‘let love fall on them
• Sound 2: The Mendicants practicing similar to how rain falls on them.’ They take this metaphor
• Sound 3: Water falling in shower even further by describing love to have characteristics of
water, using words like “misty, inescapable, and heavy.” The
Dining Hall: lyrics suggest the rain is inevitable and inescapable, though
• Sound 1: Two girls talking this is true for rain, this isn’t the case for the shower,
• Sound 2: Dishes washing behind the carousel because the shower is under my control unlike the rain and
• Sound 3: Beeping of the card swipe machine the weather that generates it. The artist uses the water to set
the tone of the song, and introduce a feeling of tranquility.
The shower is a tranquil sound just the same, which may be
the subconscious connection the sounds the shower and the
rain make in my mind. Perhaps falling water in general is a
sound that creates this calming feeling no matter what the
source is. Though the song uses the sound very eloquently
and it fades out as the music fades in, the shower doesn’t
have that ability to fade in and out so gracefully. Instead the
start and end of that sound is slightly more abrupt.

Dorm Room/ Hallway Sound 3: Water falling in shower
SWV, “Rain”, 1998

Ryan Wimsatt

sound journal 43

PHILIP Guston’s 1978 painting Painter’s Forms II is a 1. Washing Machine – (Burbank)
visual depiction of an auditory experience. Flowing out 2. Some brat going “Ooh OOOh” outside my window
of a large, outlined mouth, jumbled forms jump around a
sparse landscape. As the rounded limbs and objects come -(Burbank)
into contact with the rubbery red floor, I hear the sound of 3. Muffled piano - (Burbank)
elastic impact. 4. Keys Jangling (Dining Hall)
5. Muffled sound of Basket Ball hitting court
In an arched, yet oddly angular trajectory, long lanky legs
cascade over each other. They bend at rounded joints. They (Wilbur field)
end in rounded shoe-like blobs. Like the floor, the blobs 6. “Where are the forks” x3 (Dining Hall)
are painted in a color muddied to look like worn leather. 7. Loud beeping from reversing truck (Bathroom
Most blobs are darker than the floor, but still red, barely
held back blending in, by compressed outlines. This moment next to Kim and Alex’s offices)
of impact, along the blob’s black line, is where I hear the 8. Clanging of Metal (Near-illaga)
muffled bounce of a basketball. 9. Grunting (Near-illaga)
10. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 (Near-illaga)
Between rounded limbs I find jarring moments of
incongruity. An angular black triangle uncomfortably nestles evoking bent metal. I spot a hard, white tire hub between a
into the negative space behind a knee. A bent nail rolls right pair of fleshy legs. While the blobs sent out a soft sound upon
next to the tense leather blob. Paired with Guston’s gun- impact, the disparate metal pieces clang in visual cacophony.
metal blue backdrop, these moments turn to metal. What
once may have been bent knees and blobs, buckle sharply, Notice how a silver bowl, slightly obscured to a crescent
behind a shoe bottom, scrapes against the mouth’s tooth.
Notice how the riveted pipe cap, dark grey, hovering above
the horizon line on the left, rings out. (I feel the pain of the
reddened knee that just bumped into that bad boy).

Looking at Painter’s Forms II I feel the same as when I
initially heard these two sounds: the muffled bounce of a
rounded basketball, and the cacophonous clang of metal.
From Guston’s visual interpretation I am transported back
to these moments, reliving my auditory sensations.

Philip Guston, Painter’s Forms II, 1978

Gunner Dongieux

44 sound journal

Building 160: smacking gum, shutting door, distant NIGHTHAWKS by Edward Hopper depicts a late night
lecture, crinkling plastic diner with a bartender behind the counter and three
Arrillaga Family Dining Commons: quiet murmur, customers sitting quietly around the bar. The bartender
typing, napkin dispenser is looking up, as if taking the order of the man and his
Roble Arts Gym: water fountain and soft breeze, presumed wife, while the other man sits alone, looking away
as if lost in his thoughts. Hopper is addressing the sound
of quiet murmurs one hears in a dining establishment,
after most people have gone home and only the nighthawks
remain. There is a stillness to this murmur, an isolated
conversation gently interrupting the silence. Viewing the
scene through the glass window limits my ability to sense
all the sounds in the diner, such as the humming of the
fluorescent light above them or the clank the cups make as
the bartender pulls them out. Perhaps I hear the sound of
the streets, a faint rustling of the wind, or the flicker of a
street lamp.

My experience of the quiet murmur at Arrillaga Family
Dining Commons was much busier. I was sitting alone just
like the man in Nighthawks, but being within my own body
granted me accessibility to more sounds than were presented
in Hopper’s painting. Besides the small conversations going
on between different groups around me, I also heard clicking
computer keys, the pull of napkins, music streaming
out of headphones, and the surprisingly loud stream of
consciousness running through my own head. Sifting
through the bombardment of sonic input in that moment
was difficult, and I wonder if it possible to truly separate
sounds from each other, or if each is intrinsically connected
to their context (visual and auditory).

Nighthawks, 1942 by Edward Hopper

sound journal 45

COOK’S representation of Lakeside Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, dawn
Whitman’s words “We (37.40306, -122.2385)
found our own, O my soul, • Frogs of JRBP on a rainy day
in the calm and cool of the • Wind
daybreak” captures the sound • Spotted towhee calls
of daybreak through soft pastel • Great Horned Owl Calls
colors. The figure breathes, as
she is alive and celebrating the Lawrence Station Shopping Center (37.336134,
new day. Her living presence -121.994201)
is represented through a pose • Shopping carts dragging on the floor
that a dead body would not be • Babbling little kids
able to make. That is, her body • Slamming car doors
posture implies the breath.
For me, I am most aware Dylan’s room in Oak Creek Apartment (37.43230,
of my breath through body “We found our own, O my soul, in -122.1873)
movement. The nakedness of the calm and cool of the daybreak” • Typing sounds on a laptop
the body accentuates the air—I could indirectly feel the cool • Breathing
air of dawn enveloping the woman in all angles. The grass in • Footsteps upstairs
the distance is drawn with such detail that it seems to shiver
at the break of dawn. Cook fantastically depicts daybreak,
a transitory phase of time, with all its sounds, with colors
and bodies.

My experience of daybreak was not as soft and gentle as
Cook’s strokes and colors. The wind strongly whispered
my ear, brushing against my skin. It rendered my breath
silent, which was only later heard in a quiet apartment. Cook
depicted the breath through body movement. My breath was
audible when my body was still. How beautiful it is that
there are not only two different experiences of the transitory
phase “dawn,” but also two different ways in which one
becomes aware of the ambient sounds surrounding her.

Illustration for Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass (1855),
by English artist Margaret C. Cook [1913 edition]

Lia “Bear” Kim

46 s o u n d j o u r n a l

Bathroom: Shower booth / Sink tap / Toilet flush through experiences like listening to my sound recordings–
White plaza: Bird song / birds / people talking as they when I can focus my listening to the sound of birds, they
come out from classes / bike chains are music pieces that are naturally ‘improvised’ that
Lathrop cafe: Paper / silence / ice in a cup seems to require no preparation and are yet beautiful and
inspirational.
BIRDSONG(2004) is a contemporary dance work by a
London-based choreographer Siobhan Davies. In this My experience of bird song is well reflected in the
work, Davies presents the result of her exploration about representation of it in Birdsong with the contribution
bird song, sound, movement and space. Davies’ initial of lighting and production designs and other motifs
inspiration was the sound of an Australian Pied Butcherbird (Muybridge’s photographs, Stephen Pinker’s The Blank,
singing, which is composed of rhythmic and sequential and Lewis Carol’s Jabberwocky poems). The physical
reorganizations of several limited notes (similar to Bach) language of the dancers depicts the rhythmic and artistic
[1].She honours this beauty of bird songs and dance as an dynamics present in everyday life – in space, time, sound,
artform through portraying the dancer’s body as an organ and bird songs.
that embodies the sound, utilizing distinctive body parts
and movements to represent what the dancers hear in the [1] A video clip of an interview with Siobhan Davies during the
accompanied playlist (which has the butcherbird song in the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival in 2005. <An Art In Motion
center and includes other electronic sounds in a ripple-like Production> : http://www.siobhandaviesreplay.com/record/344
structure) [2].
[2] Website profile http://www.siobhandaviesreplay.com/record/8
Personally, bird sounds are quite specific to early mornings.
During the day, bird song blends into the background Artist: Siobhan Davies
noise of people’s activities: like the rest of the mechanical Title: Birdsong
and automatized world, bird songs sound functional and Premiere: 2004
hardwired. On the other hand, usually in mornings – or
Minha Kim

sound journal 47

P L AY L I S T S

p l ay l i st s 49

PRIMARY – A PLAYLIST AT THE ANDERSON COLLECTION PRIMARY – A PLAYLIST
1. Richard Diebenkorn, “Ocean Park #60,” 1973, oil on canvas AT THE ANDERSON COLLECTION

Maggie Rogers, “Alaska (Acoustic),” 2017. Julianna Yonis
2. Frank Lobdell, “January 1971,” 1971, oil on canvas.

Johannes Brahms, David Zinman, “Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op.
73: I. Allegro non troppo,” rec. 2011.
3. Tom Holland, “Votto,” 1979, epoxy on aluminum.
Chance the Rapper, “Blessings,” 2016.

4. Willem de Kooning, “Untitled V,” 1986, oil on canvas.
Tash Sultana, “Jungle,” 2016.

5. Josef Albers, “Homage to the Square: Diffused,” 1969, oil on Masonite
panel.
Sufjan Stevens, “Mystery of Love,” 2017.

SOMETHING HOLY SOMETHING HOLY

1. Tai Xiangzhou, “Celestial Chaos No. 8,” 2015, ink on silk Sydney Guthrie
The Kills, “Future Starts Slow,” 2011

2. Barry McGee, “Untitled,” 2015, acrylic on panel
Paramore, “Hard Times,” 2017

3. John Chamberlain, “Prairie Faerie,” 1992, stainless steel, metal, and paint
Lord Huron, “The Night We Met,” 2015

4. Alexander Calder, “Chariot (Sixteen Black Leaves),” 1957, metal and paint
Mumford & Sons, “Little Lion Man,” 2009

5. Edward Weston, “Alter Chapel in St. Roch Cemetery, New Orleans,” 1941,
gelatin silver print
MisterWives, “Vagabond,” 2015

50 p l ay l i s t s

ITALIC BEATS ITALIC BEATS

1. Wayne Thiebaud, Candy Counter, 1962, oil on canvas Chloe Barreau
Paul Simon, “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes,” 1991

2. Joan Mitchell, “Before, Again IV,” 1985, oil on canvas
Everything Everything, “Distant Past,” 2015

3. Ronald Davis, “Spoke,” 1968, polyester resin and fiberglass
Oh Wonder, “Technicolor Beat,” 2015

4. Manuel Neri, “Marble Relief Maquette No. 7,” 1983, ronze with
Alborada patina; oil-based pigments with yellow glaze.
Take That, “Back for Good,” 2009

5. Robert Irwin, “Untitled, ” 1969, acrylic lacquer on cast acrylic
Rag’n’Bone Man, “Human,” 2016