Sound at the Edge of Perception: The Aural Minutiae of Sand and other Worldly Murmurings (Palgrave Studies in Sound)

This book is about the tiny sounds of the world, and listening to them, the minute signals that are clues to who and where we are. A very small sound, given the context of its history, becomes hugely significant, and even an imagined sound in a picture becomes almost a voice. By speaking a name, we give a person back to the world, and a breath, a sigh, a laugh or a cry need no language. A phoneme is the start of all stories, and were we able to tune ourselves to the subtleties of the natural world, we might share the super-sensitivity of members of the bird and animal kingdom to sense the message in the apparent silence. Mind hears sound when it perceives an image; the book will appeal to sonic and radio practitioners, students of sound, those working in the visual arts, and creative writers. Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii Introduction: The Bell of Józef Czechowicz—The Importance of Minute Sound Moments (Seán Street)....Pages 1-20 The Notes of Human Music (Seán Street)....Pages 21-41 Making the Moment Singable (Seán Street)....Pages 43-62 Signals from Near and Far Shores: Voices from the Natural World (Seán Street)....Pages 63-86 Speak My Name: The Ownership of Syllables (Seán Street)....Pages 87-105 First and Last Sounds: Messages Beyond Language (Seán Street)....Pages 107-126 Back Matter ....Pages 127-138