The sharawadji effect is a musical perception or phenomenon regarding

timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voices and musica ...

and

texture Texture may refer to: Science and technology * Surface texture, the texture means smoothness, roughness, or bumpiness of the surface of an object * Texture (roads), road surface characteristics with waves shorter than road roughness * Texture ...

described by Claude Shryer as "a sensation of plenitude sometimes created by the contemplation of a complex

soundscape A soundscape is the acoustic environment as perceived by humans, in context. The term was originally coined by Michael Southworth, and popularised by R. Murray Schafer. There is a varied history of the use of soundscape depending on discipline, ...

whose beauty is inexplicable." Sharawadji is not a stimulus, but rather a reaction to a stimulus. Shryer described searching for this "state of awareness" by "tend ngan open ear in the hopes of experiencing the sublime beauty of a given sound in an unexpected context." The experience of the sharawadji sonic effect is often heavily dictated by personal context as well as the perception of the listener. One example of this effect is the appreciation of the sound of rumbling

thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

: those who are directly exposed to the elements would be more likely to fear it compared to those who experience the sound while in a safe environment. Simply understood, "sharawadji sounds belong to everyday life, to a known musical style. They become sharawadji only through decontextualization, through a rupture of meaning."

Origin

Seventeenth-century European travelers originally coined the term as an aesthetic effect that "comes about as a surprise and will carry you elsewhere, beyond strict representation — out of context." The term ''sharawadji'' was said to originate from China and was understood as "the beauty that occurs with no discernible order or arrangement." "All of us are searching for that enveloping soundscape that takes us beyond to indescribable realms of beauty, what the Persian philosophers once called the ''sharawadji effect''."

References

{{Music psychology Musical terminology Music psychology[

Origin

See also

References