Breaking the sound barrier: R. Murray Schafer

Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada, Fall, 1997 by Robert Hoshowsky

One day, Schafer opened his door to discover a huge package of 40 CDs. They were sent by Mickey Hart, percussionist for legendary band The Grateful Dead. Hart had read Schafer's The Tuning of the World four times and thought it was the greatest book he'd ever seen.

"In gratitude, he was sending me all the recordings of The Grateful Dead," says Schafer. "So I wrote back a note, saying `thank you very much, unfortunately ...'. Two weeks later, another big parcel arrives, and it was a CD player, sent by The Grateful Dead, with a note saying: `We thought you might find this useful.'"

Unfortunately, Schafer hardly had the chance to use the CD player. Two years ago, it was stolen.

"I'm sure they didn't know they were stealing the CD player!" he says, laughing. "Apparently it was a state of the art CD player. The guy from the local Radio Shack said, `My God, we've never seen 'em like that!' So it's gone."

Stolen CD player or not, Schafer is a sensitive soul who is grateful for all the work he has been allowed to do in his lifetime.

"I've always considered myself a composer above everything else," he says. "The other things have been done at different times of my life partly in order to make a living, because no composer of serious music makes a living in this country. I've had to write. When I was at the university, I had to do research, which is how the Soundscape work came into existence. I think now the productions are done certainly not to make money, but are done as a kind of relaxation from the strain of sitting at the drafting table writing music all the time. Music is a social activity, and I need to have some contact with other people."

Robert Hoshowsky is a Toronto-based freelance writer.