What is the last thing you heard?
What was it? Where were you? How loud or soft was it? Did others around you notice it? How was that sound created? Did you intend to hear it?
The definition of sound is “a pressure wave created by a vibrating object”. The act of listening is absorbing those waves. That absorption is happening all the time. Sounds surround us on a daily basis, constantly, yet when was the last time you were entirely aware of, and paying attention to, every sound you heard?
In this project, I decided I wanted to focus on the sounds around me. Before coming to Boston for college a few months ago, I had spent most of my life living in Westchester, New York in a house in the woods. I grew up surrounded by the sounds of nature; I went to bed comforted by crickets outside my window and woke up to birdsong. These sounds were familiar and comforting for most of my life, but I never realized how ingrained they were in my brain until I moved to Boston. Although I love living here, Boston has a very different soundscape. Instead of being lulled to sleep by the sounds of the wind through the trees, I’m now lulled by the T rattling right outside my window. Instead of waking up to the wind-chimes outside my window, I’m now woken up by honking and yelling from people in cars on the street. I’ve gotten used to these sounds by now, but when I went back home for the first time in months, I was startled by how these different sound environments helped place me in one location or the other.
My idea for this project was to highlight the different sounds of these environments in a way that most people never take the time to think about. Many people move from place to place their whole lives, yet never really think about the different sound environments they’re placing themselves in. My hope was to bring attention to these different soundscapes while also encouraging people to pay more attention to their surrounding sounds. The solution? A visual sound walk.
For my project, I decided I wanted to combine sound and my favorite medium: photography. My idea was to go on a sound walk in Boston and back at home in Westchester and record and take photos of the sounds and environments I encountered. At the same time on two different days, I walked with the intent of really listening in each location. In Croton (my town back home), I walked around my backyard. I recorded the stream near me, and leaves rustling as I walked through them, and the train horn you can hear from miles away. In Boston, I walked around my block. I recorded people getting on and off the T, cars rushing by to get to work, and the sounds of the gravel I step on to cross the street. The result is an almost 5 minute video encompassing the sounds of Boston and Croton right next to each other in a juxtaposition of environments.
My hope for this project is that it encourages people to listen. Not just to listen to my project, but to listen to their environment, wherever they are. By listening, we become aware of what is around us and how much we take that familiarity for granted. For such a powerful tool, we rarely stop and think about how much our ears absorb on a daily basis at every waking moment. So for just a moment at least, close your eyes and intend to listen.