Auscultation In Steven Church's The Opera Of Existence

The Opera of Existence In music, the pitches and the pauses in a composition contribute to the piece as much as, or even more than, the lyrics themselves. In non-lyrical music, each note must be deliberate, played in a certain way to achieve the desired effect. The crescendos cause feelings of power and anticipation, while decrescendos gather the attention of the audience. Each note adds to the tone of the piece, but silence similarly asserts itself in its demand to be felt. In Gymnopédie No.1, Erik Satie fabricates a lethargic, melancholy tone with low notes and frequent rests. Authors employ a similar technique in their writing. Through a combination of abstract and concrete diction in his essay Auscultation, Steven Church utilizes …show more content…
It draws attention to the repeated phrases or notes. In chamber one, Church discusses a case of missing miners, stating: “Six miners missing. Six boreholes drilled into different areas of the mine” (25). His repetition of the word “six” appeals to the emotions, bringing to mind the sheer number of people waiting for these men to return, regardless of the miners’ inevitable demise. Later on in the first chamber, Church inquires: “Think of the noise below. Think of your ears” (26). He appeals to the senses to invoke a sympathetic reaction. Earlier, he relayed the viewpoint of the desperate, grief-ridden family members, and now he conveys the position of the miners, who cower in the cave awaiting their imminent death. Chamber Two comes with a more abstract, raw tone. Church repeatedly uses personal pronouns, writing: “On your clavicle, your breastbone, fingers moving metal across your naked chest, around behind, fingertips stepping down your spine, one hand on your hip, maybe your shoulder, the other sliding around your rib cage” (26) to fabricate a personal tone. He describes this familiar procedure to create an air of safety. The anaphora of “your” conjures memories of doctors’ visits past, making the essay relatable to personal experience. Chambers Three and Four maintain obvious differences, but Church binds them in stating “Nothing promises doctor like a stethoscope” (27), while later in …show more content…
In Chamber One, he begins with “Six miners trapped 1,500 feet underground by a massive cave-in at the Crandall Canyon coal mine in Utah, a catastrophic collapse” (25). The repetition of the ‘c’ sounds add a percussive effect, building tension and accentuating the solemnity of the situation. Later on, Chamber Three is introduced comparing the murmurs of the heart to the sounds of classical music. As the passage continues, the diction conveys a musical tone, taking on a rhythm dictated by alliteration; “They learn to listen for the flaws and failings of the heart, to recognize the music of machinelike muscle efficiency” (27). The repeated ‘f’ echoes the whispers of exhalation, while the ‘m’ sound imitates the murmurs of the heart. The diction imparts the music of life. Church describes a heartbeat as “Significant sounds through a stethoscope” (28). He does not simply write, ‘a heartbeat’, because of the connotations of the word. ‘Heartbeat’ conjures images of doctors’ offices and health posters, but Church wants the function to be interpreted more musically. It tethers it to his overall concept of the music of life. The constant ‘s’ causes the words to roll off the tongue and re-defines a ‘heartbeat’. A heartbeat no longer signifies health, but the notes to the song of life. Each beat has meaning; the heart does not have a constant rhythm. The heart has skips and hops and arrhythmia