R. Murray Schafer

Raymond Murray Schafer (1933- ) is a Canadian composer and environmentalist best known for his World Soundscape Project, a concern for acoustic ecology, and the book The Tuning of the World (1977). Born in Sarnia, Ontario, he then studied at the Royal Schools of Music (England), the Royal Conservatory of Music, and the University of Toronto.

He coined the term schizophonia (1977), the splitting of a sound from its source or the condition caused by this split: "We have split the sound form the maker of the sound. Sounds have been torn from their natural sockets and given an amplified and independent existence. Vocal sound, for instance, is no longer tied to a hole in the head but is free to issue from anywhere in the landscape" (quoted in Mathieu 1994, p.223). Steven Feld (1994, p.265–271), borrowing a term from Gregory Bateson, calls the recombination and recontextualization of sounds split from their sources schismogenesis.

In 1987 he was awarded the first Glenn Gould Prize in recognition of his contributions.

External links

• Patria
• Living Composers Project: R. Murray Schafer
• The Canadian Encyclopedia: R. Murray Schafer
• The Canadian Encyclopedia: World Soundscape Project
• The Canadian Music Center: R. Murray Schafer biography
• Wiktionary – Schizophonia

Listening

• Music Behind Walls, 3:24 min, R. Murray Schafer

Source

• Mathieu, W.A. (1994). The Musical Life. Shambhala. ISBN 0877736707.