Hearing is a sense that is forgotten at times. We do not realise what we are listening to and we do not appreciate the sounds around us. After being assigned this project I became fully aware of all of my surrounding sounds and actually started to listen. I was surprised at the amount of sounds that go on around me that I do not notice or think about. I enjoyed picking out the sounds that I believe are important in my everyday life, I am so used to doing these things that I forget to sit back and just listen. The first sound on my podcast is the sound of my coffee maker, it’s such a familiar background sound that I don’t even hear it anymore. My four flight decline down to the first floor is another sound that I forget about, as my foot hits each stair I am just thinking about if I am going to be late to class or how aggravating it is to walk down four flights of stairs. I was stuck in my thoughts not listening to the sounds around me. I’m glad I can now appreciate the sounds of my life.

After classes I like to walk down to the waterfront and over to North beach, I find it very soothing to just sit and listen to the crashing of the waves and the rustling of the trees. Another part of my day that I find soothing and peaceful is in yoga. My favorite part is when the teacher instructs us to do om. This is when the entire class puts their hands at heart center and simultaneously says ‘om’. While my hands are on my chest I can feel the vibrations of this word while also feeling the vibrations of everyone else chanting. This always awakens me and gives me a burst of energy. Shelley Trower discusses the topic of feeling sound through vibrations in “senses of vibration”.

It was very strange to record things that go on during the day and go back to the recordings later and listen to them again and experience them in a new way. In “In the Sounds Around Us”, Lawrence English explains how field recordings open up a new way to perceive sound differently.

This assignment has opened up my mind about the sounds in my life. I now listen as I am making my coffee or taking a shower. These sounds i have recorded are events that happen in my life everyday and I hardly noticed them, it is amazing to finally appreciate the sounds in my life

Sounds in my podcast:

1. Making coffee in my keurig, very important part of my day. It gets me moving
2. Walking down four flights of stairs on my way to class
3. Lounging on North beach, my favorite time of the day because it relieves any stress i had from my classes
4. Shopping around city market, it is interesting listening to all of the noises going on at once, as i played this recording back I didn’t remember all of the other sounds, I just remembered the conversation I was having.
5. Doing my homework outside with my friends while listening to music
6. Dining hall
7. Frisbee practice, this is another part of my day that I really look forward to, it’s nice to exercise with a big group of friends. Frisbee has a lot to do with sound, there are up calls on which you rely on teammates voices telling you where the frisbee is because your back is turned and there is an entire language filled with rules and regulations on the game.
8. Yoga class
9. Hanging out in my friends dorm listening to him play guitar
10. Shower

Trower, Shelley. “Introduction Hearing Vibrations.” In Senses of Vibration. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, 2012.
English, Lawrence. “The Sounds around Us: An Introduction to Field Recording.” The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/the-sounds-around-us-an-introduction-to-field-recording-36494.