Where is

musical space?

What flows in musical space?

​

​

Technical space:

Elisabeth Heidenreich describes a landscape as a 'flowing technical space';

corridors connect strategic points; energy flows through corridors of technical systems in the form of traffic, electricity or communication. The space outside of the corridors of technical space is not included in technical space.

People travel like packages in technical containers through corridors of transport. The metaphor of flying or falling applies to passive travel through corridors. The speed of travel in the technical space bears a high risk-propensity and a thrill. Travel becomes faster; the flow of energy through technical systems is speeding up.

In the case of communication through digital media, the speed of transmission has reached the point of effective simultaneity. Distance is not defined by time anymore; simultaneity of communication escapes the technical space and takes the form of omnipresence (Heidenreich, 2014).

​

Background-sound

Both, technical and natural space provide background noises, where noise is what we don't want to listen to. Some noises can be very similar; you can mistake the sound of a waterfall with that of a distant road with constant traffic, for example. Other noises, like that of a frozen lake, are unmistakable. They are signatory sounds. Traffic noise escapes the corridors of technical space, but sound happens in natural space. Technical space has no concept for sound (with the exemption of the synthesizer). The only conceived sound transported between the network-nodes of technical space is processed sound, like for example speech and music in the media networks. The technical instruments of sound-transport are tuned to very high (and fast) frequencies, which again, emit a background noise beyond the hearing range into natural space. The space surrounding the corridors of technical space, is not included in its concept. A satellite dish will connect to the satellite in a straight silent corridor. The transported sound in the corridors of these frequencies is seemingly silent and pops up almost simultaneously in stationary strategic network nodes.  Processed sound in technical space is independent from time and space, and therefore seemingly silent. Only when sound travels with the speed of sound, it enters the natural space, where time and distance apply.

​

​

​

The Water Paradigm

​

The free flow of water is the most important feature of natural space. The water cycles permeate all life and provide a healthy climate for fauna and flora as well as for the winds and the temperature. Any disruption in the flow of water deranges the climate. Charles Eisenstein calls this conclusion the ‘water paradigm’ (Eisenstein, 2019).

 

​

​

​

Musical space adheres to both, natural and technical space. In its natural form it is 'analogue', continuous and unbounded. In its technical form, musical space is digital, like for example notation comes in digits or bits of information. Time and distance do not apply. Only, when music sounds, it happens in the natural space. Oral tradition depends on the actual sound that transports a song like a boat on a river through natural space. The flow of substance in the musical space is like water.

​