For my sound walk, I decided to sit in my backyard. It was 10:00AM on a Sunday, just when the neighborhood seems to be waking up. I live in Hollis, NY. You can consider this neighborhood a suburban part of Queens, however the neighborhood is still alive with sounds.
Some sounds that I noticed almost immediately were the "Keynotes." Due to the nature of this assignment, my focus went straight to the background sounds. Such sounds included:
- The morning lawnmowers cutting the grass- The texture of this sounds was an odd combination of smooth and rough. By using reasoning you can come to this conclusion because many lawnmower companies in my neighborhood put silencers on there equipment. However the obnoxious sound of the lawnmower does not disappear entirely. This is a sound that is a bit expected and is also a sound specific to my neighborhood.
- The humming of the bathroom exhaust fan within my house- The light hum of this sound is soft and pleasant, but still loud enough to be heard from outside. This is only specific to my house, rather than my neighborhood.
- The wind swishing through the trees- Of all the sounds, this is the most pleasant to me. It is smooth, calming and in a way leaves you feeling refreshed! Maybe its all the oxygen, but the atmosphere this wind sound emanates is one that is similar to all suburban towns. It gives the neighborhood a stamp of "a peaceful place. "
Some of the "Sound Signals" I heard include: Birds chirping, kids playing and shouting to each other, a dog barking, my mom making noise in the kitchen from hitting utensils together and the television on in the living room. While I described most of these as sound signals, many could also be considered "Soundmarks." Other than my mom and the television, all of these sounds can be heard while walking down the street in my neighborhood. My community is made up of these daily sounds.
Almost all of these sounds were expected, but my favorite to listen to were the trees blowing in the wind. It is not often that you get to ignore all your troubles and just listen to the beauty of nature. It became and almost meditative experience to me. I recommend everyone do it.
