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The Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society is sponsoring a session at Leeds
2012 on the topic of "Medieval Soundscapes: Orderly and Unruly Sounds and
Silences".  Musicologists who have formerly had trouble with non-notated
sound, are moving into theorising the ”soundscape”.  We meet them as cultural
historians who are engaging in some exchange which is really a formalised
thought-experiment; we may know what things looked like but how did they
sound? A range of performance possibilities presents itself: for example the
early morning liturgy in the monastery, bells, the sound of pipe and tabor
played for dancers, the preaching friar's sermon at the market cross, a
proclamation, even a play. Soundscape includes everything from the highly
stylised and musical to ambient noise,with a number of points between, but
also with significant absences and silences. What were and/or were
considered loud noises? How did people listen?

Please send details of any proposed papers to me to arrive by 26 September.