R. Murray Schafer, a Canadian composer, author, educator, and pioneer of acoustic ecology passed away recently.

Many years ago I stumbled into acoustic ecology when I was studying at SFU, and promptly switched my major. Although I never met Mr. Schafer, his book The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World was revelatory — an astonishing read that roiled with ideas I’d never considered.

A 2009 short film by David New serves as a brief introduction of some of R. Murray Schafer’s ideas: