Reading Response #2

1. I chose Suzanne Delehanty's article entitled "Soundings" because it had an interesting title and seemed like it would be somewhat unique compared to the other articles available.

2. The first main point that Delehanty talks about is the fact that sound is one of the natural five senses of all human beings. Sound is and always will be a fascinating and invigorating sense for human being's which is why it is so important to us. As Delehanty explains in her second paragraph, "Human thought is manifested in word and speech, while emotions such as joy and sadness are expressed in song and lament." We communicate by using sound that is formed into letters and then words and then sentences. Delehanty explains how sound has no barriers. For instance if I sat down with someone from a tribe in Africa who did not speak English or relate to me in any way, we could still both listen to Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" and appreciate it to the same extent. Delehanty's next main point revolves around the idea that sound offered some of the first Modernists a way to present their revolutionary ideas. She talks about how eventually the correspondence between music and the visual arts became very common for artists and musicians from such places as France, Germany and Italy in the early decades of this century. She goes on to finish her article explaining how sound, music, ambient sound and silence have allowed artists to "...transform the visual arts into a new and third realm." In other words the very existence of sound has opened the doors for all kinds of possibilities in the mind's of artists.

3. The entire subject of sound is quite relevant to my practice as a media artist because it plays a large role in what I do. Sound allows me as a Media Artist to express my ideas and beliefs in a way that is universal. Sound compliments my use of visual art in a way that cannot be done otherwise. For instance my first Drift wouldn't exist if it weren't for sound. I would simply have pictures of what or where I recorded along with a good description of the sound, but the actual sound would not be there. The use of sound is absolutely essential (usually) in my practice as a media artist because without it, the word media would not exist.