R. Murray Schafer

Raymond Murray Schafer (18 July 1933, Sarnia, Ontario, Canada - 14 August 2021, Peterborough, Ontario) was a Canadian composer, writer, music educator and environmentalist perhaps best known for his World Soundscape Project, concern for acoustic ecology, and his book The Tuning of the World (1977).

Schafer studied harpsichord and piano in Toronto and London, and literature, music and philosophy in Vienna. He pioneered research in the field of acoustic ecology in 1972, and has since remained active as a researcher, notably with the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology. As a professor at Simon Fraser University (Burnaby, B.C., Canada) from 1965-1975, he founded the World Soundscape Project as well as the Studio for Sonic Research and Electronic Music.

Publications

Books

• Ezra Pound and Music, 1961.

• The Composer in the Classroom, 1965.
  • "O compositor na sala de aula", in Schafer, Ouvido pensante, São Paulo: UNESP, 1991, pp 19-65; 2nd ed., 2012. (Brazilian Portuguese)

• Ear Cleaning: Notes for an Experimental Music Course, Clark & Cruickshank, 1967, 46 pp.
  • Limpieza de oidos: notas para un curso de música experimental, trans. Ricardo Arturo de Gainza, Buenos Aires: Ricordi, 1982, 63 pp. (Spanish)
  • "Limpeza de ouvidos", in Schafer, Ouvido pensante, São Paulo: UNESP, 1991, pp 67-117; 2nd ed., 2012. (Brazilian Portuguese)

• The New Soundscape: A Handbook for the Modern Music Teacher, Scarborough/Ontario: Berandol Music, and New York: Associated Music Publishers, 1969, 67 pp.

• The Book of Noise, Wellington, NZ: Price, Milburn, 1970, 30 pp; repr., Indian River, ON: Arcana Editions, 1998. A publication of the World Soundscape Project. [1]

• When Words Sing, 1970.

• The Music of the Environment, Vienna: Universal Edition, 1973, 35 pp. A publication of the World Soundscape Project.

• editor, Sound Heritage 3(4): "The World Soundscape Project", 1974. Selected essays. [2] [3]

• E.T.A. Hoffmann and Music, 1975.

• The Tuning of the World, New York: Knopf, 1977; repr. as The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World, Rochester/Vermont: Destiny Books, 1993, 320 pp.
  • A afinação do mundo, trans. Marisa Trench Fonterrada, São Paulo: UNESP, 1997. (Brazilian Portuguese)
  • Le Paysage sonore: le monde comme musique, Marseille: Wildproject, 2024, 488 pp. Publisher. (French)

• editor, European Sound Diary, Vancouver: A.R.C. Publications, 1978, 100 pp. A publication of the World Soundscape Project.

• The Thinking Ear: Complete Writings on Music Education, Toronto: Arcana, 1986, 342 pp. Contains "The composer in the classroom", "Ear cleaning", "The new soundscape", "When words sing", "The rhinoceros in the classroom", and "Beyond the music room".
  • O ouvido pensante, trans. Marisa Trench de O. Fonterrada, Magda R. Gomes da Silva and Maria Lucia Pascoal, São Paulo: UNESP, 1992. (Brazilian Portuguese)

• A Sound Education: 100 Exercises in Listening and Soundmaking, Toronto: Arcana, 1992, 144 pp, ARG.
  • Educação sonora: 100 exercícios de escuta e criação de sons, trans. Marisa Fonterrada, São Paulo: Melhoramento, 2009, 144 pp. (Brazilian Portuguese)

• Voices of Tyranny, Temples of Silence, Toronto: Arcana, 1993.

• My Life on Earth and Elsewhere, Porcupine's Quill, 2012.

Articles

• "The Graphics of Musical Thought", in Sound Sculpture: A Collection of Essays by Artists Surveying the Techniques, Applications, and Future Directions of Sound Sculpture, ed. John Grayson, Vancouver: Aesthetic Research Centre of Canada, 1975, pp 99-125.

Interviews

• "Soundscape in the Age of Networks. Murray Schafer in Conversation with Sabine Breitsameter", Apr 2005. [4]

Links

• http://continuo.wordpress.com/category/murray-schafer/
• http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/emc/schafer-r-murray
• http://biblio.uottawa.ca/omeka2/schafer360/
• http://www.sfu.ca/%7Etruax/wsp.html
• http://composers21.com/compdocs/schaferm.htm
• Obituaries: Robert Rowat (CBC Music), Claude Schryer (Peterborough Currents).
• Wikipedia