Brian Harnetty (born May 10, 1973) is an American interdisciplinary artist,

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, and

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

who uses sound and listening to foster social change.Sember, Robert. 2019. "Stay, Listen, Organize: Bridging Appalachia's Past and Present Through Sound." A Blade of Grass Magazine. Issue 2, Spring, pp. 24-29. https://abladeofgrass.org/articles/stay-listen-organize-bridging-appalachias-past-present-sound/ His work brings together sound archives, performance, ecology, and place, and is focused on local and regional issues of

Appalachia Appalachia ( ) is a geographic region located in the Appalachian Mountains#Regions, central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. In the north, its boundaries stretch from the western Catskill Mountai ...

and the

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

. Harnetty's music is released on Karl,

Dust-to-Digital Dust-to-Digital started as a record company that specialized in documenting the history of American popular music, including historical recordings of blues, gospel, and country music. They've since expanded their catalogue to include a breadth ...

Atavistic In biology, an atavism is a modification of a biological traits structure or behavior whereby an ancestral genetic trait reappears after having been lost through evolutionary change in previous generations. Atavisms can occur in several ways, ...

, Winesap, and Scioto Records. His 2009 release, ''Silent City'', featured singer

Will Oldham Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Brothers, Palace Son ...

on three tracks. His 2019 release, ''Shawnee, Ohio'', received five out of five stars from

Mojo Magazine ''Mojo'' (stylised in all caps) is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer. Following the success of the magazine '' Q'', publishers Emap were looking for a title that ...

, and both ''Shawnee, Ohio'' and his 2013 release, ''The Star-Faced One: from the Sun Ra/El Saturn Archives'' were named Mojo's "Underground Album of the Year."Male, Andrew. 2020. Mojo Magazine, January issue. Male, Andrew. 2019. Mojo Magazine, September issue. Male, Andrew. 2016. ''Mojo'' Magazine, March issue. Male, Andrew. 2014. ''Mojo'' Magazine, January issue, p. 67. Male, Andrew. 2013. ''Mojo'' Magazine, September issue, p. 91. As an author, Harnetty has written for ''New Music Box'', ''Experimental Music Yearbook'', ''Sound Effects'', and ''Cultural Studies''.

Education

Harnetty received his

undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher ed ...

from

The Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

. He then received his Masters of Music from the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

, where he studied

music composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

with

Michael Finnissy Michael Peter Finnissy (born 17 March 1946) is an English composer, pianist, and pedagogue. An immensely prolific composer, his music is "notable for its dramatic urgency and expressive immediacy". Although he rejects the label, he is often reg ...

. In 2014, he received a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

from Ohio University in

interdisciplinary arts ''Interdisciplinary Arts'' was an academic department in the School of Media Arts at Columbia College Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Overview As one of the earliest interdisciplinary arts programs in the United States, it was an inc ...

. Currently a Lecturer in Music Composition and Musicology at Ohio State University, Harnetty has taught music and interdisciplinary arts at

Kenyon College Kenyon College ( ) is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1824 by Episcopal Bishop Philander Chase. It is the oldest private instituti ...

Goddard College Goddard College was a Private college, private college with three locations in the United States: Plainfield, Vermont; Port Townsend, Washington; and Seattle. The college offered undergraduate and graduate degree programs. With predecessor ins ...

, and

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

Music

Harnetty is known for working with sound archives as compositional source material. He uses field recordings alongside ambient, folk, and experimental soundscapes as a way to evoke both memory and history. His process has been compared to "working like a novelist...to create a new text, breathing new life into old chunks of sound by radically recontextualising them." Many of his pieces transform archival material––including field recordings, transcriptions, and historic recordings––into newly re-imagined sound collages. Harnetty works closely with archivists, historians, and communities connected to sound archives. He uses the practice of "sonic ethnography," referred to as "the study of people, place, and culture through sound" and "the practice of listening and experiencing." Harnetty has done recording projects with the

Berea College Berea College is a private liberal arts work college in Berea, Kentucky. Founded in 1855, Berea College was the first college in the Southern United States to be coeducational and racially integrated. It was integrated from as early as 1866 ...

Appalachian Sound Archives in Kentucky; the

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific ou ...

/ El Saturn Creative Audio Archive in Chicago; and the Little Cities of Black Diamonds Archives in Shawnee, Ohio, and the Anne Grimes Collection in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

Interdisciplinary Art and Social Practice

Since 2010, Harnetty has worked in Appalachian Ohio, producing sound and listening projects across the disciplines of sound art, installation, performance, music composition, video, and writing, all with a focus on

social practice Social practice is a theory within psychology that seeks to determine the link between practice and context within social situations. Emphasized as a commitment to change, social practice occurs in two forms: activity and inquiry. Most often appl ...

. These projects reflect the history, landscape, and people of the region, and offer listening methods as a means to enact social change. The work’s themes include energy extraction, inequitable economies,

environmental degradation Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

and recovery, land use, and divisions between rural and urban people. In each project, Harnetty’s uses “contemplative listening” as his primary method, which brings together the environment, attentive listening, and mindfulness. He uses contemplative listening to move between the tensions of reflection and social action.

Honors and awards

* Faculty Fellow, Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme, The Ohio State University (2022-23) * MAP Fund Award (2021) * MAP Fund Award (2020) * Individual Artist Excellence Award, Ohio Arts Council (2020) * MOJO Magazine, 2019 Underground Album of the Year (2019) * Loghaven Artist Residency, Tennessee (2019) * Marble House Project Artist Residency, Vermont (2019) * A Blade of Grass Fellow for Contemplative Practice (2018) *

Creative Capital Creative Capital is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in New York City that supports artists across the United States through funding, counsel, gatherings, and career development services. Since its founding in 1999, Creative Capital has co ...

award for Performing Arts (2016) * National Performance Network Residency Grant (2016) * Individual Artist Excellence Award, Ohio Arts Council (2016) * ''MOJO'' Magazine, 2013 Underground Album of the Year (2013) * ''Paste'' Magazine, Artist of the Week (2009) * Artist in Residence,

Headlands Center for the Arts Headlands Center for the Arts hosts an internationally recognized artist-in-residence program, and interdisciplinary public programs. It is situated in a campus of artist-renovated military buildings in the Marin Headlands, in Marin County, Cali ...

, California (2005) * Individual Artist Excellence Award, Ohio Arts Council (2003)

Discography

* ''Desire and Winter Birds'', (Tell-All, 2006) * ''American Winter'', (

, 2007) * ''Silent City'', (Atavistic, 2009) * ''The Sociophonic Key'', (Scioto, 2012) * ''The Star-Faced One: From the Sun Ra/El Saturn Archives'', (Atavistic, 2013) * ''Rawhead & Bloodybones'', (

, 2015) * ''Ohio National Forest'', (Winesap, 2019) * ''Shawnee, Ohio'', (Karlrecords, 2019) * ''Many Hands (vol. 1)'', (Winesap, 2019) * ''Many Hands (vol. 2)'', (Winesap, 2020) * ''Many Hands: The Complete Collection,'' (Winesap, 2021) * ''Forest Listening Rooms,'' (Winesap, 2021) * ''Words and Silences,'' (Winesap, 2022) * ''The Workbench,'' (Winesap, 2023)

External links

Official site

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harnetty, Brian 1973 births Living people American male composers 21st-century American composers 21st-century American male musicians Atavistic Records artists