In January, we had a preliminary workshop in York where we announced the formation of a new research network on soundscapes in the early world. In preparation for the soundscapes workshops we will run as part of the network, we asked deceptively simple questions about how we define soundscapes and how we engage with historic…

What is a soundscape? A soundscape is more than a bundle of locational sounds: it is also an overtone series that describes a rich array of relationships. The sounds of the first set are easier to hear than the second set. Soundscape, the word, comes from the composer and acoustician R. Murray Schafer* (1977, instigator…

Here, you may watch and listen to Bruce Smith’s lecture, “What is (Are?) Sound Studies and What Shape is it (Are They?) in Now?”, delivered at Green College, University of British Columbia, on Thursday 21st March 2019. We are extremely grateful to Green College for recording this talk and for allowing us to post it….

In 1664, Richard Flecknoe made the following observations about how plays were performed in the Restoration in comparison to how they were produced in the first half of the seventeenth century: Now, for the difference betwixt our Theaters [sic.] and those of former times, they were but plain and simple, with no other Scenes, nor…