Sound Effects and Concrete Music

This week I'm working on a concrete music assignment. Concrete Music is the use of everyday sounds from the world around you for the creation of a collage, or a "sound sculpture," as Dr. Gilbert puts it. One can compose a wonderful work using the raw material of sound.

Concrete music is not appealing to everyone, and I'm sure not everyone would consider it music. There is not necessarily a time signature, though composers of concrete music probably have time in mind. Rhythmic figures may arise from repetition of certain sounds, or from the precise combination of sounds. There are no pitches or notes in the traditional sense. Many sounds we here are on a continuous spectrum of frequency. In other words, we don't live in a monotone world. But many things we hear we don't register as notes because they have not been clearly defined as definite pitches. Sirens, for example, are like one long glissando, up and down; but few people hear notes in a siren because there are not separate sounds to distinguish as different pitches.

Despite lack of time signature and pitches, concrete music is still musically appealing to some. A concrete music composer works to expand our definition of music by presenting a new collection of sounds to appeal to us like music does: there is structure; there is a beginning, a middle, and an end; there are sounds that may be foreign to music but make sense together.

I decided I wanted to use laughing sounds to create my composition. I did a Google search and found many websites with free downloadable sound effects. One of the most comprehensive websites was PartnersInRhyme.com. They also offer to give you a $50 library of sound effects if you mention them in your blog or on your website. I'll let you know how that turns out...