Sound, Affect, and Live Music
A few weeks ago we had been talking about the Sound, Affect, and Politics reading by Stirling. Affect, as noted by Stirling, has specific importance placed on bodies and refers to the processes that humans have the least amount of control over, such as hormone release, breathing, sweating, etc.—which points towards corporeal states, sensing, and auras (Stirling, 2018, p. 54). I’m equating this to what I refer to in everyday language as ‘the vibes’. But, I was particularly interested in this with reference to concerts and live music in terms of the social experience, which is kind of what Stirling got into within this chapter (although she is interested in how this can reproduce existing socio-political power).
Large-scale, mass-produced concerts (think the Rogers or Air Canada centre) allow for an affective experience that is only experienced by you—it is completely a solo experience. Not only does the mass-produced air of the concert seem impersonal, but you are also separated from each person by your seat and it feels as if that creates a barrier from experiencing anything as a collective group. The ‘vibe’ is isolating, to say the least. However, when attending a general admission concert, there are no assigned seats, the venues are smaller, so therefore the crowd is also smaller, as well. The concert itself is not mass-produced (which is not an affective experience but can add to the one being had). Socially, your affective experience is being shared and reproduced by others around you and since everyone is in such close proximity to each other, you can actually feel that (i.e. hear the breathing, feel/smell the sweat and bodies around you).
Why I’m interested in this is because I had gone to a concert two weeks ago and it was supposed to be general admission, but because of Covid restrictions, the venue had brought in a bunch of chairs and lined us up kind of auditorium-style. Having been to general admission as well as stadium concerts, the affective experience and the vibes this created were really strange—almost somewhere in between the two. While it felt like an intimate experience in theory (and I think this was mostly due to the intimacy that the music created; there was proximity between the sound, the artist, and the audience), the reality of it was that the affective experience I was having was not connected at all to those around me, which is what I usually expect from this kind of concert. Socially, it felt very disconnected because I was experiencing my affective responses alone as opposed to vibing off those around me and feeling my response reproduced by others and having their responses to the music affect me.
Despite the weird vibe that a sit-down general admission concert gave me, it was still a really good concert. His name's Kiefer and it's kind of a jazz-hip-hop pianist kind of thing. I've added a video of his stuff in case anyone wants to check it out!
Really interesting post and consideration of Stirling's affect theory. I think there is something to note within your experiences of the different forms of concerts. Not only does Stirling's affect theory note the capacity or the bodily feeling (i.e. vibing) that you mentioned, but equally as importance as you've experienced is Mowitt's notion of the transformative character of art as a listening event, especially one that takes place within a specific cultural context shaped by external factors. The vibes that felt natural at one concert where you were listening in a particular way felt when listening in another place in another way. Nevertheless it was Benjimin's aura of the live performance, the music guiding each sensory environment, that led you to enjoying each of those concerts!
ReplyDeleteI think you make some really great points here Darcy. I really liked your comparison of the types of concerts in relation to affect theory. I find it quite interesting to consider how little control we truly have over affect in terms of the concert. As you mentioned, everything is set up for you when you are taking part of a concert. A mass produced concert provides you a specific seat that places you within a certain box, similar to the ways that movie theatre work. I'm not sure that I completely agree that the mass produced concert creates such an individualized and isolated experience. I feel like there can still be a shared experience of sound even in a mass produced setting, however, I do believe that it is a completely different feeling, and vibe as you refer to it as, than a general admission concert. I think similarly to Henriques writing on Dancehall, the vibe that is created comes from the sociocultural waveband of the event. It is all about how the audience makes sense of the event. Through the crowd's knowledge, understanding, and importantly, expectations, the vibes of the event are created. This also involves the techniques of both the audience as well as the crew, in this case which can be referred to as the artist. I feel like the expectations part of this is very important in your case. As you explained, you were expecting to go to a general admissions concert where there is no assigned seating. Through your previous knowledge, general admission concerts hold a very different vibe that revolve around a more shared experience of affect. However, once you found out there was assigned seating, there was a shift in your knowledge of the vibe and therefore created that same shift in vibe. The knowledge and expertise you have around mass produced concerts has now been applied to the general admission concert, therefore altering the feelings of the event.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Darcy! I completely relate to your comment about how assigned seating and a controlled concert setting can be a somewhat isolating experience. I believe the essence and purpose of a concert is to indulge in the act of letting go, transcending to another emotional and vibrational place, and being one with the crowd through this collective experience. When you are aware of strict parameters like Covid restrictions, this can perhaps act as a mental block in fully escaping the mundane day-to-day lives we've been living over the past year when we're constantly reminded of the pandemic by having to stay in our seat and are unable to immerse ourselves with those around us.
ReplyDeleteYour post and it's connection to Stirling's affect theory perfectly ties in with Jasen's work on 'sonic bodies.' An alternative word that Jasen uses in his reading that relates to your "vibe" term, would be "wavelength." Jasen describes bass and frequency as something 'pre-personal,' essentially pointing to the idea that they strike the mind and body before our own cultural and hegemonic interpretations can mediate them. As a result, this is why many people experience the feeling of being on the same "wavelength" with one another through these collective sonic experiences because the frequencies evoke bodily and emotional responses that affect people en masse, regardless of one's personal background or biases. From your own experiences you shared in your post, as well as Stirling's affect theory and Jasen's work on sonic bodies, this makes me think that the idea of "music connecting people" goes far beyond the cliche, but rather that there are universal physiological and emotional elements that music and frequency elicit in a fascinating way.
Hi Darcy,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post and I think you brought up an interesting phenomenon. The experience at a concert pre-covid compared to post Covid has definitely changed. In terms of a Pre-covid concert I as well preferred buying general admission for reason of interacting with other around me as I felt that it added to different cultural element to the event as a whole. I think Alanna said it best in relating your point about Stirling work to Jasen and how base and frequency are a "pre-personal" state that strikes the mind and body before our own cultural hegemonic interpretations kick in.
I enjoy music and specific artist but I must admit if my friends are going to a concert that is more intriguing to me as a listener than the event itself at times. This is because of the "Affect" which Stirling notions about. Now on the flip side you also bring up how post covid concert create isolation based on sitting arrangements and social distancing protocols. I agree with to a point, from a cultural event of a concert, no doubt it limits one's experience. Though from an athletic event, this is normal protocol. So, it makes me ponder if that experienced feeling of isolation is solely because individuals have pre-experienced a general admission ticket and feel underwhelmed when the experience itself is altered from how it was before because the same sounds of the artist performance does not change.