Hello,
Having read about Guelph’s new noise bylaw in the Guelph Mercury, I cannot remain silent on this issue of community silence. As a past member of the music industry who currently studies art and culture professionally, I must say that I was quite thoroughly appalled when I read about the bylaw clause forbidding “the operation of a radio, television, stereo or other electronic device including any amplification device, or any musical or other sound-producing instrument” in residential and mixed-use areas. Surely it is not the wish of Guelph city council to censor all musical activities within city limits, for such a desire would not only prove itself illogical and untenable, but would be a serious impediment to the quality of life in Guelph, as throughout recorded history music has served as one of the principal means for the joyous expression of the spirit of humanity. Furthermore, banning human noise production in residential areas will disallow children from a musical education. If people cannot teach themselves how to play an instrument in the home, where do you expect musical crafts to be honed and perfected? While it is true that studio rental spaces may be available to aspiring musicians, renting space to learn musical performance and composition is exceptionally expensive and will result in the consequence that only affluent children will learn music. The educational benefits of participation in musical appreciation and performance [see article from Scientific American, linked below] will be restricted to wealthy families in Guelph. To learn how to play any instrument at the “concert” level requires thousands of hours of daily practice; obviously if such practice cannot occur in the home, then such practice will not occur. Given the implacable nature of the human spirit relative to its own expression through art, however, it’s much more likely that the noise bylaw will simply be ignored by most residents. Policing costs along with property taxes will increase as more and more people are harassed in their own homes by police seeking to shut down five friends with a stereo or teenagers making hiphop in a garage. Many residents will purposefully break compliance with the bylaw, and if I lived in Guelph I would certainly and happily be one of them.
More importantly, however, what is the actually purpose of the new bylaw? To what end are the lives of Guelph residents improved by the imposition of silence? Silence has not been enshrined as one of the driving forces of civilization (in fact noise is the marker for civilization), and has not been codified as a fundamental human right in any modern legal jurisdiction. But of course, Guelph residents won’t suddenly be without noises: traffic, people talking, construction, industry, daily commercial activities – all of these noises will continue unabated. What privileges the noise these activities produce over the concerted (and if they are talented, poetic) expression of a person with a trumpet or a guitar? As an aside, I noticed that the real noisemakers which pollute residential neighbourhoods are all exempt from the noise bylaw: lawnmowers, leaf blowers, power saws, power washers, compressed air machines, generators, etc. Surely the noises these machines produce, often very early in the morning, are far more obnoxious than is a car stereo or a child singing into a microphone. I cannot help but consider that the current Guelph city council members think it more important that the rights of residents to watch their evening reality shows and pretend through silence that the rest of the world doesn’t exist is superior to the rights of individuals to pursue and explore the fascinating potential of their own existence as reflected in musical expression. While in The Republic, Plato did in fact ban music from his political utopia, such censorship should not reasonably be expected as a component of an enlightened 21st century democratic jurisprudence.
Music is ornamentation for time in the same way that painting and architecture serve as ornaments for space. Indeed, music is a celebration of life against the inevitable closure of death, the silent end-of-time in which we must all ultimately find our peace. People who regularly practice musical composition and performance enrich their intellectual abilities and their capacity for learning. Due to the newly-passed noise bylaw, Guelph will be a city with less capacity to placate and enlighten the distempered soul as it passes through life. I am certain that the residents of Guelph will not abide such inhuman and illogical attacks on artistic expression within residential areas. It heartens me to see the increasing prominence of the art community in Guelph, as it is they who will surely lead the protest against the insanely unhuman, unnecessary, and illogical noise bylaw which City Council has just passed. Hopefully, council members will see the folly of this bylaw and reverse or remove the new amendments, lest their careers be defined in terms of the inhuman silence they illogically imposed on a community.
Regards,
--
qzh
PS: an article in the popular journal Scientific American about the pedagogical benefits of musical participation: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/2012/08/21/even-a-few-years-of-music-training-benefits-the-brain/ . A full bibliography outlining such benefits as listed in numerous peer-reviewed academic studies can be made available to Council upon request.
No comments:
Post a Comment