Our audio field is constantly being stimulated around us, what we choose to listen to is for us to decide. This project brought me to the idea of isolating the sounds and enjoying the auditory experience without experiencing actions associated along side. For this project, I focused on sounds in my everyday audio field that are identified with a personal action. These sounds tend to go unnoticed and become obsolete when linking the action to routine physical responses. The first few sounds (alarm clock song, fan, flushing of a toilet, and closing door) all signify the start to my morning. Each sound, whether that be the hum of the first few notes to my alarm or the rush of water into the drain from the flush of a toilet, all signify aspects of my morning associated with an action. The actions include waking up all the way to leaving for class in the morning. Interestingly enough, whenever I hear my alarm clock song at any point of the day, my body almost routinely tells itself to wake up even when already awake showing the physical effect that a single sound has on my body. This physical auditory connection can relate back to Murray Schafer’s article “Open Ears” in the section “The Ear in the Imagination” whens stating that, “Most of the sounds busy people listen to are the signals of activity.” (38) I find it interesting how linking sounds with specific actions become skewed if one appears without the other. Thus the reason to focus this project on sounds associated with an action, is to isolate the audio field and make us listen to the sounds alone that are commonly paired with an action.
The next sounds in the line up (a backpack zipper unzipping, the buzzer at Simpson Dining, the silverware disposal, a friends laugh, the unlocking of my buildings door, and finally the typing of keys) all relate to actions that typically happen at night, whether that be the buzzer at dinner signifying the action to eat or the typing of keys on a keyboard representing the action of homework. The particular sounds that stand out to me that are affiliated with an action in this line up happen to be the sounds of the silverware disposal and the laugh of a friend. Both of these sounds are often overlooked. We recognize the sound of silverware, and react (both verbally and physically) to laughter. But often, I find myself not appreciating these sounds by themselves for what they truly sound like. The reason why the silverware disposal stood out to me is because every night, silverware is a part of my dinner. Each night, I, along with every other student, use the utensils provided by the dining hall. A simple, routine, task. Silverware has become so common in our life the sound of the metal becomes so overlooked. I wanted to use this project to let my audience hear the raw sounds that typically are disregarded. This reminded me of a quote in Lawrence English’s article on The Introduction to Field Recordings. The article stated that, “Ultimately what we hear is not always what we listen to.” This quote stood out for me because I feel it relates to the connection of physical actions and auditory experiences. English states that “what we hear is not always what we listen to” and that could be do to the fact that we are not listening to certain sounds because of the overpowering nature of a physical action that associates with it.
These ten sounds represent my everyday life, but none of them stand alone. Each carries a physical action associated with it, so I tried to isolate the sound to fully appreciate my unheard auditory field. This project help me isolate the sounds that I typically don’t hear and moving forward, I’m really going to try to appreciate each sound individually, giving it the attention that it deserves alone. I encourage you to do the same.
English, Lawrence. “The Sounds Around Us: An Introduction to Field Recording.” The Conversation 8. Feb. 2015. Web.
Schafer, Murray. “Open Ears.” Journal of Acoustic Ecology (2003): 38. Print.
Movement. Like Lust. Movement. (2014)