Hi, I’m Jack, and I started Soundplume to bring creative people together. Like me, you’re fascinated by those who think differently. Steve Jobs, sure, but everyone knows him. Consider others like Marina Abramović, Neri Oxman, or Jacque Fresco.
I study these people, and Soundplume is where I regularly report back with my findings and interpretations. Sometimes, they take me halfway around the world. Other times, they just take me around the block here in New York City.
They say creativity comes from relating seemingly unrelated ideas. Usually, art is a creative way to convey a feeling or idea, and we find plenty of inspiration there. But creativity emerges in every field. Whether it’s business, politics, science, art, or anything else, I believe we benefit from studying a wide diversity of ideas and perspectives.
As you’ll find at Soundplume, I love music and exploring what it means to different people. In college, I studied avant-garde pioneers of electronic music like John Cage, Pierre Schaeffer, Edgard Varèse, Steve Reich, and Stockhausen. We even dove into deeper niches, studying phenomena like otoacoustic emissions by Alvin Lucier and Maryanne Amacher—people who would consider Ryoji Ikeda, Carsten Nicolai, and Robert Henke as near pop artists. None of that is anything I would play at a party or even on my commute to work, but the sheer inventiveness and curiosity of it truly enthrall me.
One particular case that stands out in my memory—perhaps where this all started—is watching Curtis Roads, one of the pioneers of granular synthesis, which is a type of sound created by organizing many micro bursts of a longer recording. He credited his inspiration on composition almost entirely to a book on gardening that discussed layering, texture, and groupings of different plants. Hearing that felt ridiculous but mind-blowing at the same time, and I’ve been obsessed ever since.
So, I hope you’ll join me on this journey to learn about remarkable people. Who knows? You might find your next great idea.
Just wonder, would Apple be what it is today if Steve Jobs never studied calligraphy?
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Thank you very much!
