Meetings with R. Murray Schafer

Composer, educator and founder of Soundscape Studies

Abstract

Laura De Caro: Mr. Schafer, what were your primary objectives when you wrote The Tuning of the World? You claim at the beginning of the book that your work is essentially lyrical in character, yet you state elsewhere that acoustic design can only be effective if it assumes a political and social responsibility. Was it also your intention to make a political statement?

R. Murray Schafer: Oh I think so, yes. When I wrote The Tuning of the World, I was in university, teaching in a Communication department. I was expected to do some research and it had to be an objective sort of approach to a new subject, soundscape, which no one had researched at that time. I actually had to invent new words to describe what I was going to study. At the same time, I was giving anti-noise workshops in the Vancouver area, because I was a member of the Citizens Committee against noise...