ABSTRACT
The idea of modernity as silent flies in the face of a third narrative about sound and modernity – the tale of an increasingly noisy world in which it is silence, rather than sound, that has been lost. The idea of presence, then, connects the seemingly contradictory themes about sound and modernity. The inherently rhythmic nature of the body is a common starting place in sociocultural approaches to sound. This is where Ted Gioia’s study of the healing power of music and sound begins: Stop for a moment, and consider the rhythm within. The body’s rhythmicity is not closed; the body is open to influence from external sounds. Rhythm connects the biological, the social and the temporal; cycles like night and day, the seasons and menstruation helped early humans organize the perception of time and the socialization of individuals. Sound, can evoke both order and harmony, disorder and dissonance.
