“How good are the best musical imaginations? Can a trained musician, swiftly reading a score tell just how that voicing of dissonant oboes and flutes over the massed strings will sound?” ReadingSoundImaginationMusicMusicianMusicalScoreStringsFlutesOboes Book:Consciousness Explained Source: Consciousness Explained
“There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings Then a strange blight crept over the area and everything began to change There was a strange stillness The few birds seen anywhere were moribund; they trembled violently and could not fly. It was a spring without voices. On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of scores of bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marsh.” HeartAmericaSoundVoiceSilenceMorningFieldsStrangeSpringBirdAreasTownsHarmonyLaysWoodsDawnScoreStillnessSurroundingsChorusEcoMarshesBlight Author:Rachel Carson
“It was a spring without voices. On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens, and scores of other bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marsh... Even the streams were now lifeless... No witchcraft, no enemy action had silenced the rebirth of new life in this stricken world. The people had done it themselves.” PeopleWorldDoneActionSoundVoiceSilenceEnemyMorningFieldsSpringBirdLaysWoodsDawnStreamsScoreNew LifeRebirthWitchcraftDoveChorusRobinsLifelessMarshesWrens Book:Silent Spring Source: Silent Spring
“We can't be anti-everything - we need an energy plan that adds up. But there's a lack of numeracy in the public discussion of energy. Where people do use numbers, they select them to sound big and score points in arguments, rather than to aid thoughtful discussion.” PeopleNeedsUseBigsEnergySoundNumbersPlansArgumentAddAidsDiscussionThoughtfulScoreSelectNumeracy Author:David J. C. MacKay
“Like musicians who can read and write complicated scores in a world without sounds, for us mathematics is a source of delight, excitement, and even controversy which are hard to share with non mathematicians. In our small micro-cosmos we should ever seek the right balance between competition and solidarity, criticism and empathy, exclusion and inclusion.” WorldShouldWritingHardScienceSoundShareSourceBalanceMusicianEmpathyCriticismMathematicsCompetitionDelightComplicatedExcitementScoreCosmosInclusionMathematicianSolidarityControversyExclusion Author:Gil Kalai
“The text for me is the musical score. I'm the instrument. My voice is the instrument. My voice is articulating the sounds which are coming through the imaginings and visitations in my head, and I'm making these sounds but I've selected them from an ocean of sound.” SoundVoiceOceanInstrumentsMusicalScoreSelectedVisitationArticulating Author:Anne Waldman