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Crossing The Boundaries: Sonic Composition and The Anthropological Gaze
Crossing The Boundaries: Sonic Composition and The Anthropological Gaze
Jacqueline Waldock
To cite this article: Jacqueline Waldock (2016) Crossing the Boundaries: Sonic
Composition and the Anthropological Gaze, The Senses and Society, 11:1, 60-67, DOI:
10.1080/17458927.2016.1164429
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Crossing the
Boundaries: Sonic
Composition and the
Anthropological Gaze
Jacqueline Waldock
The Senses & Society DOI: 10.1080/17458927.2016.1164429
Introduction
This article presents work that was produced during my
doctoral study at the University of Liverpool. The work
constructed a new trinitarian methodology that intrinsically
tied together field-recording-based composition and an
analysis of urban regeneration and place. The methodology part-
nered the researcher, in this case me, with the local residents to
capture change sonically and in doing so capture people's connec-
tion to the sounds that surround them. The production process and
the complete sound pieces enabled an understanding of place, par-
ticularly within domestic spaces, that stems from those recording in
the environment and explored together with myself. This article will
present work from one of the partnering areas, the Welsh Streets,
and describe how the recording and editing process (that produced
the sound pieces) enabled a personal anthropological gaze of sorts.
The sonic and often performative nature of sound has often
interlinked music with the anthropology of sound. Landmark stud-
ies such as Stephen Felds Sound and Sentiment: Birds, Weeping,
Poetics, and Song in Kaluli Expression (1982), in his work with the
Kaluli people, weave a thread between creating, making and per-
forming music, on the one hand and the anthropological gaze, which
studies those interactions, on the other. However within this tapestry
of sonically orientated studies there are several different perspec-
tives: historically orientated social commentary as seen through writ-
ers such as Thompson (2002) and Corbin (1998), and soundscape
researchers concerned with the deterioration of the sound world
and its impact upon place that can be seen in the work of acous-
The Senses & Society
built by Welsh workers who moved to the city in the late 1800s.
Some of the terraces were damaged during World War II and were
replaced by 1950s homes. The Welsh Streets have been at the
centre of the interest on the part of the UK's national press in Liv-
erpools regeneration, partly because of the popular culture signifi-
cance of 9 Madryn Street, which was one of Ringo Starrs childhood
homes. The national press have called for it to be considered as a
heritage site because of its loose connection to the Beatles. All the
62
have been forced to sell their homes and move so that the area
maybe developed into modern housing. This approach to housing
renewal was developed by a UK government scheme known as
Pathfinder and later New Heartlands (http://liverpool.gov.uk/council/
strategies-plans-and-policies/housing/housing-market-renewal
-initiative/).
The project took place in this area at a very unique moment in
time most of the houses lay empty and derelict. A few residents
remained in their homes and fought to save their houses from dem-
olition. The project partners were primarily constituted of those
who wished to stay in their homes and were living amidst streets of
boarded up buildings. The reason for encouraging those still living in
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the streets to partner with me was due to the fact they that they were
the only people inhabiting that environment. There was urgency to
their recordings, as they knew that Liverpool Council could take
action on their homes at any time, and during the recording period
one of the partners had to leave her home.
left for the last time; the recording captures her action in turning
the lock but also the significance of the sound in order for it to war-
rant being captured. Through the editing process she reflected upon
the reassurance that the sound gave her, the familiarity of the click
that meant she had locked it properly. In many ways the sound pre-
sented a sealing of her domestic boundaries. This short piece was
contrasted by a much longer piece recorded by Marilyns neighbor
and edited by them both together in the studio. The piece captured
Marilyns moving day. It highlighted the breaking down of domestic
boundaries, of removal workmen walking in unannounced through
open doors, neighbors and friends saying their goodbyes and help-
ing with cleaning. The movement of people through her personal
space in complete freedom draws attention to the removal of
Marilyns domestic ownership. The sounds mark a movement
through space that traces a shift in place from personal, private and
domestic to public and open, reflecting the increasing paucity of the
space as home.
Almost all of the pieces created through the project were recorded
within the residents homes. This is not to say that all the sounds
were intrinsically domestic, nor that they were individualistic to that
home. What became clear through the recordings, rather, was that
the community had shifted from being established over the fence in
the street or at the park to becoming increasingly internalized. The
surrounding derelict homes were referred by the project partners as
unsafe and frightening. There was an increasing amount of arson
and other antisocial behaviors taking place in the empty homes. In
response to this, social interactions took place in peoples homes.
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Conclusion
I have presented an approach that utilizes composition as a tool
for capturing and understanding peoples connections with sound
and place. The work challenges the boundaries of artistic practice
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References
Baker, Sarah. 2001. Rock on Baby. Journal of Media and Cultural
Studies 15 (3): 359371.
Carlyle, Angus. 2009. Some Memories of Bamboo. Gruenrekorder-
Gruen 053. Compact Disc.
Corbin, Alain. 1998. Village Bells: Sound and Meaning in the Nine-
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