There is a false sense of democracy in this echo: Musicologist M K Shankar

Muralidhara Khajane
Bengaluru:

“Politicians who can recruit the kind of white noise (a random signal having equal intensity at different frequencies giving it a constant power spectral density), create exactly the same kind of din to wield unimaginable power over people.

The media serve to amplify this hum and hub-hub and disseminate it. There is a false sense of democracy in this echo. It is true that we are governed by sound in its political dimension by the same token we have the prerogative to alter the world to be inclusive of a variety of sounds - an inclusive soundscape is an inclusive world of respect for all of a shared and cherished common ecosystem. It is a choice we have to make. It is perhaps imperative,” says M K Shankar, a writer, researcher and respected musicologist in the architectonics and dynamics of the singing voice.

Shankar has published papers on vocal tract geometry, based on teachings of singing the notes. He teaches voice, speech and music. Besides that, Shankar is an actor and theatre director. He is conducting. Music Appreciation Series (MAPS) - an yearlong series on the relationship of human beings with sounds through his platform Osage, which is employing theatre techniques in training methodology. he first session is on immersive soundscapes which is an attempt to reorient our listening skills to appreciate the multiple ways in which sounds happen and are organised as sounds of nature as human speech, as utterances conveying primal emotions as music.

For long, Shankar has been examining the combination of sounds that evoke emotion in art. He is constantly observing and experimenting with the structure and other aspects of sound in the physical world. In his lecture series, Shankar will talk about how our lives are governed by five senses, especially that of hearing. In a conversation with News Trail, Shankar explains the idea behind MAPS.

“It is an honest attempt to understand all aspects of sound, which is the starting point for music appreciation,” explains Shankar. In the coming sessions he will discuss various aspects of sound including; the difference between speech and music, the evolution of Indian classical music, classification of musical instruments, nature of performance spaces and hierarchies in the music industry”.

Ask what made him experiment with the world of sound? “My world is home to a host of sounds and all kinds. Only by paying close attention do I understand that it is a mix of sounds from a multiplicity of sources; that it is layered as many categories - as of pitches, timbres, and tempo, as regular or irregular.

These sounds tell me about the world, warning me or inviting me to an opportunity, I realise that I use sounds to get my way around the world and that the same sounds are used by the world to get their way with me. The soundscape of my world governs me. This is the truth. I also realise that I can change this world to be better by doing things to the soundscape, making allowance for sounds that are different from the ones I am used to for sounds that seek to be heard, especially the voices at the periphery of society,” says Shankar.

Collective symbol Whether sound works at the phenomenological levels? He says 'yes' and adds 'as language, as a collective symbol, anthems, as aesthetic stimuli such as poetry, theatre and political speech. On the listening side, a culture exults in its own echo returning to it in the form of an altered 'public opinion'. This public opinion seeks to produce an artificial harmony through repeated incantation, bearing the dominant ideologies of the times and suppressing the voices of dissent and voices at the margins of social interaction.

Are you a connoisseur of sound? Do music sounds bring joy and peace to your life? This is an opportunity for you to understand how sound affects your feelings, emotions, behaviour and actions as per its frequency, amplitude or direction.
 

What: Osage MAPS (Music Appreciation Series)
Where: Kappanna Angala, Bengaluru (Near Meerambika School/ITI grounds.
When: July 30 6.30 pm
Entry fee: Rs 200