At this very moment, it's an office environment and I hear a prominant hum from my computer. It's mostly on one buzzy pitch, mid ragne, but seems to get slightly louder and softer and it changes partials, getting slightly higher and lower in pitch. Presumably this is the *fan* of the computer. I also hear somebody typing at a computer keyboard with little clicks, which stop every so often. There is a little bell sound, probably somebody's bracelet. Outside there is some kind of alarm, maybe a car or, more probably, its related to some construction work. Whoops, a drawer just opened. Somebody is moving furniture around upstairs, and the back door just opened with a slight squeek and boom. I moved my chair and it squeeked. The hum is still most prevalent. It's only *punctuated* by other things. Then there is the sound of my *own* typing on the computer keyboard as I am writing this. Otherwise quiet, but occasionally the sound of voices coming from outside the office.
The sound of the computer in the workplace is a kind of mantra. It's continuous and part of our modern-day reality. John Cage always said there truly was no absolute silence, and now there is even *less* since this kind of humming is everyplace. One doesn't even notice it unless one deliberately listens to it.
Joseph Pehrson, josephpehrson@hotmail.com, USA
[<<] [<] [>] [>>] [THEBIGEAR]
|