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Sonification and the Mysticism of Negation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 November 2014

Kristina Wolfe
Kristina Wolfe*
Affiliation:
Box 1924, Orwig Music Building, 1 Young Orchard Avenue, Providence RI, 02912, USA
*
Email: kristina_wolfe@brown.edu
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Abstract

Sonification has become a commonly used tool for data analysis, auditory feedback and compositional inspiration. It is often described in scientific terms as a means of uncovering previously unknown patterns in information or data through the use of the auditory sense. This goal seems to be objective, but the results and methodologies can be highly subjective. Moreover, the techniques and sources of information are strikingly similar to those used in mysticism, especially mysticisms of negation, even though the frames of reference and underlying perceptions of the world are markedly different. Both practitioners of sonification and apophatic mystics believe that certain types of information are incomprehensible through traditional analytic means and can only be understood through experience. In this way, sonification can be thought of as a source of mystical information.

In this paper, I will discuss the similarities between sonification and apophatic mysticism, or the mysticism of negation. I will argue that the practice of sonification, as a source of mystical information, is ideally suited for creative contemplation, particularly in electronic music. I will start by providing some historical background on the mysticism of negation. I will then present several ways in which sonified knowledge (sound) is often imagined, discussed and perceived akin to a mystical object. Finally, I will discuss specific ways in which sonification exemplifies apophatic mysticism and reveals mystical information. This information – whatever its nature – can be used for creative contemplation and is a potentially invaluable source of compositional and spiritual inspiration.

Type
Articles
Information
Organised Sound , Volume 19 , Special Issue 3: Mediation: Notation and Communication in Electroacoustic Music Performance , December 2014 , pp. 304 - 309
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2014 

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