A Medium of Art for the Information Age Sound is the transfer of energy from one molecule to another. The ways in which molecules interact with each other is varied depending upon the material sound is propogated in, be it the air around us, the ground beneath our feet, or the primitive matter that comprised the early stages of the known physical universe. Sound waves spread away from their source like ripples in water when a stone is dropped in a pond. When we hear a sound we are sensing the movement of molecules in and around our ears, the waves crashing on the shore. Recorded sound is an integral and fluid part of our environment transferred to a fixed object. Molecules are constantly moving around us, and for those forturnate enough, we are always hearing sound, it is a constant part of our daily lives. Taking a part of our experience, sound, and giving it plasticity allowed artists and scientists to examine our experience more in depth, the fulfillment of the dream so long expressed in cultures from Mayan to Mediterranean. The invention of recorded sound opened up entirely new possibilities of musical creation. Releasing musical artists from confines that did not effect their visual contemporaries. Centuries before the invention of the photograph, the best visual artists had all the frequencies of human vision at their disposal. The work of the master painter was made possible by the color spectrum available in the palette of hues amassed by well-studied techniques of blending. In comparison, the instruments available for musicians during this time were limited, they could not approximate all ranges of the human ear. The invention of recorded sound made the entire audible sound spectrum accessible for musical creation. In terms of conveying speech, nothing was even close to recorded sound in its ability to record the most basic human medium. Sound reproduction eliminated literacy as a necessary trait of the scribe or writer. You no longer had to know how to read and write to tell a compelling story. The medium of recorded sound dwarfed the print medium in proximity and accuracy of recording information, producing a more immersive effect on an audience. Reading I Have a Dream—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic late August address in 1963—is one thing; hearing it alongside the speeches of A. Philip Randolph, Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, John Lewis, and others—is quite a different experience all together. The tone of voice carries as much information as the words intoned. The art of storytelling was taken back from the page and returned to the rightful owner, the storyteller herself. The words ‘the sound of bird song’ are oddly shaped lines arranged in a particular order and playing the triangle or another traditional instrument to represent bird song does so in a more immersive, yet similarly abstracted manner. Compare these to a sound recording of bird song, which is a recording of the molecular movements created in the air by a bird’s throat. Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky and Ben Franklin’s Glass Harmonica are both examples of attempts to overcome the limits of the media of authorship and musicianship before the invention of recorded sound. Edison had provided a new medium so capable of recording our life around us that it was only a matter of time before artists took hold of this flame and burned down the confining walls of musical tradition and even the musical instruments themselves.		B                       i r          d            S    o   n                                                                    g
		glass harmonica a refinement of playing glasses filled with water Benjamin Franklin had glasses blown to recreate each note labelling his instrument as such due to its harmonious sounds
		’ykcowrebbaJ yb llorraC siweL Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.“Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!”He took his vorpal sword in hand: Long time the manxome foe he sought— So rested he by the Tumtum tree, And stood awhile in thought.And, as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came!One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back.“And, hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” He chortled in his joy. ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.