Murray Shaffer

Wikipedia information
Raymond Murray Schafer (1933- ) is a Canadian composer, writer, music educator and environmentalist best known for his World Soundscape Project, a concern for acoustic ecology, and the book The Tuning of the World (1977). Born in Sarnia, Ontario, he then studied at the Royal Schools of Music (England), the Royal Conservatory of Music, and the University of Toronto.

His music education theories are followed in one way or another a bit around the world. He started soundscape studies at Simon Fraser University in the 60’s. In addition to introducing the concept of soundscape he also coined the term schizophonia (1977), the splitting of a sound from its source or the condition caused by this split: "We have split the sound from the maker of the sound. Sounds have been torn from their natural sockets and given an amplified and independent existence. Vocal sound, for instance, is no longer tied to a hole in the head but is free to issue from anywhere in the landscape" (quoted in Mathieu 1994, p.223). Steven Feld (1994, p.265-271), borrowing a term from Gregory Bateson, calls the recombination and recontextualization of sounds split from their sources schismogenesis.

In 1987 he was awarded the first Glenn Gould Prize in recognition of his contributions.

In 2005 he was awarded the Walter Carsen Prize, by the Canada Council for the Arts, one of the top honours for lifetime achievement by a Canadian artist.

Schafer is probably Canada’s most prominent composer today. He lives on his farm in Ontario and grows his own vegetables.