Chimes

Traditionally the sound of dissent has been formally rooted in heteronormative masculine tropes. From The Clash and Steve Reich to Public Enemy, Public Image Ltd, Psychic TV and beyond, transgressive sound has often formally resembled the culture it was trying to supplant. This work seeks to formally reflect the change that our culture requires. It is my belief that part of the root of the problems we face as a culture is the continued emphasis upon aggression and strength as high virtues. Through formally reflecting the feeling of discord shared by many Americans in the wake of the 2016 election cycle, while simultaneously forgoing the violence of its aforementioned forbearers, this composition seeks, as the title suggests, to ring out through our culture as a call for compassionate and deliberate dissent and to, through this considered approach to the formal properties of dissent, an agent of cultural reevaluation. It was created using found sound sampled from right wing propaganda and addresses the formal properties of change as they relate to political protest and dissent in an effort to illustrate and evoke the discordance felt by many without relying upon the heteronormative masculine tropes that are at the core of our current predicament.