For those of you who have been reading my scribbling about music and audio over the last decade or so, you know from time-to-time I've discussed the various subgroups of audio enthusiasts who each have a particular view on what audio is all about, and who have developed a particular vocabulary emphases based on their interests and perspectives that they use to describe it. 

The larger demographic group of those interested in the audio arts comes from very different perspectives depending on their view of the world. The musicians who are producing a musical performance have one perspective, the pro sound engineers dialing in the sound for live performances have another perspective, the various personal involved in recording a musical performance at a live event or in a studio have another perspective, the manufacturers who are developing and selling consumer and pro audio equipment have other perspectives, and of course the end users who listen to the music on their audio systems also have a diversity of perspectives.

All of these groups - including the ones not mentioned above - like for example, the neurologists who study the effects of music on brain chemistry and circuits have their own observations, the scientists and engineers who study the frontiers of sound research have their own observations, the scientists and engineers who try to optimize our electrical grids for optimum performance have their own observations, the astrophysicists who study the effects of solar and planetary frequency emission and gravitational waves have their own insights, etc. - they all have something to say that is relevant to their experience that is useful for all of us audio enthusiasts in understanding what we are experiencing when we sit down to listen to a musical performance on our audio system.

As I've mentioned in past posts here at Jeff's Place, Peter Qvortrup (Audio Note (UK)) and I have embarked on a project to develop a more holistic vocabulary that is more useful in describing what one hears when listening to audio, its relative importance to the music listening experience, the missing vocabulary, the vocabulary in present usage and its limitations, how that vocabulary affects the audio equipment that is sold to end-users, and the hifi systems they end up with in their own homes to enjoy recorded music performances, and their level of satisfaction with it.

There's a fair number of informed listeners out there from the above mentioned groups that are not particularly happy with the present audio vocabulary as used by us audio writers to articulate what we hear because of the large influence we can exert on the design of the end-products made available to consumers, for better and for worse, as the case may be.  

When audio first became "a thing" at the advent of the first recording in Paris by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville in the late 1850s (more HERE), the recording and playback arts have continued to evolve over time to deliver to us a remarkable library of recorded musical performances that make up the heritage of our recorded music canon of today. 

The history of sound recording is a fascinating subject, and all of the musical performances recorded during that history have value for the music listener of today, at least once they begin to understand the musical and recording treasures that exist there, and their importance to world musical culture. 

Performances of music documented during the acoustic era (1877–1925), the electrical era (1925–1945), the magnetic era (1945–1975), and the digital era (1975–present), are all remarkable in their own right, and deserve to be heard by contemporary listeners to not only experience the remarkable performances of music, but to also broaden our understanding of the contributions of music and the recording arts to Planet Earth's overall culture. 

Recorded musical performances add to our culture in a parallel way of that documented in the history of cinema and the first films (more HERE), which happens to be a crossover interest of mine. 

Cinema and film history started in about 1895, with the often cited example of George Melies "A Trip to the Moon" in 1905 of being the first film. Film and cinema history can be broken down into the pioneer era (1895 to 1910), the silent era (1911 to 1926), talkies and the rise of Hollywood studios (1927 to 1940), the Golden Era of Film and the restructuring of Hollywood (1941 to 1954), the Period of Change ushered in by the proliferation of television (1955 to 1976), the beginnings of the modern film industry and the advent of "blockbusters" (1977 to late 1990s), and now the new millennium with the worldwide modern film industry (1990s to the present). 

As with our recorded music canon, all of those films produced during the periods of film and cinema history have created a powerful film canon that has become an important part of our world culture.

Personally, I truly enjoy listening to music and watching films from all of their respective evolutionary periods, and have set up a number of different audio and audio-visual systems here at Jeff's Place that allow me to explore the audio and film arts in a way that I find entertaining and enjoyable. 

One observation I have about the audio arts about how the particular vocabulary evolved in the enthusiast audio sector is that it has evolved / devolved over time depending upon various influences.

Early in audio there was a diversity of vocabulary that described the broad perceptions of what musicians, recording and sound reenforcement engineers, audiences, critics, and home listeners were hearing as they listened to music.

As with most fields of inquiry each group developed a vocabulary and belief system about what they heard, with some Venn overlap among them.

For example, conductor and musician Leopold Stokowski was involved in conducting live music performances, developing methods of recording live music performances, participating in the development of cinema sound, and teaching others about his approach in books he authored, all with the goal of a more inclusive experience for those interested in the musical, recording, and cinema arts.

Often bodies of knowledge and belief form camps about their perceptions, which can easily be seen in the evolution of religious beliefs from the earliest times, and audio is no different.

On a larger scale there's totemism, animism, atheism, monotheism, and polytheism, the adherents of which all cherish their beliefs. 

While it is diversifying more now, in the USA the historic religious emphasis has been on the various streams of the Judeo-Christian belief systems that have evolved into a diverse collection of distinct religious belief systems from the influences of the messianic stream of Judaism that birthed Christianity, which spanned the various beliefs of early Jewish believers in a messiah, the emergence of the proto-orthodox belief systems, the evolution of the Pauline belief systems, the evolution of Gnostic belief systems, and the evolution of other streams of belief that have resulted in a rich tapestry of religious beliefs that exist in American society today. 

Well enthusiast audio is no different, where particular emphases on beliefs have evolved in different streams of the hobby, and will continue to evolve over time. 

So the goal of Peter Qvortrup, myself, and others that have been invited to weigh in on the topic of vocabulary's influence on how our beloved hobby is evolving, is to provide a more inclusive vocabulary that describes the span of experience of these differing audio perceptions in hopes that it will improve the hobby of listening to music for all of us.

We're off to a bit of a slow start in this adventure due to the interruption caused by the appearance of the coronavirus, but here's links to a few thoughts and posts I've written on the topic, an interview with Peter by Karthik Ramanathan on YouTube, with much more to come from Peter, myself, and others.

• My listening bias declaration for Jeff's Place (HERE).
• My thoughts from The Music link at Jeff's Place (HERE).
• Meditations on High-Fidelity: An introduction ... (HERE).
• Meditations on High-Fidelity: In the beginning was music ... (HERE).
• Meditations on High-Fidelity: My audio system sucks, what should I do? (HERE).
• The Master Class In Audio - Session 5 - Featuring Peter Qvortrup - on YouTube (HERE)
• Meditations on High-Fidelity: The Rise to Dominance of Amusicality in Contemporary Enthusiast Audio (coming soon).

I've invited a number of audio luminaries to participate in these discussions, so you'll be reading their particular takes on the subject in future posts as well.

Remember to keep an open mind and have fun reading about these various perspectives, the whole idea of these discussions are to expand our perceptions about this hobby we all love, and to come up with some useful ideas and vocabulary that will nudge the evolution of the hobby along in a positive direction that will benefit us all.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!