Hello again, friends!
I’m back! Well, I’ve always been here…
I guess I should say, “the blog is back!”
This round of entries is going to be pretty different than the NYC flute times with Robert (I miss those days so!). A ton has happened since then, and now I’m in Arizona working on my PhD at Arizona State University. This spring is my second semester; in the fall, I did a lot of research on Pauline Oliveros and Deep Listening, the practice of listening to all sounds at all times. Stemming from that work, I’ve identified a goal for myself of committing to a weekly listening practice. I anticipate that this blog will become my little listening journal to document the sounds along the way. And this is week one!
I’m back! Well, I’ve always been here…
I guess I should say, “the blog is back!”
This round of entries is going to be pretty different than the NYC flute times with Robert (I miss those days so!). A ton has happened since then, and now I’m in Arizona working on my PhD at Arizona State University. This spring is my second semester; in the fall, I did a lot of research on Pauline Oliveros and Deep Listening, the practice of listening to all sounds at all times. Stemming from that work, I’ve identified a goal for myself of committing to a weekly listening practice. I anticipate that this blog will become my little listening journal to document the sounds along the way. And this is week one!
I decided to spend some time at Air Apparent, a “skyspace” by James Turrell on the ASU campus. My advisor showed me the structure when I first visited ASU, and this was my return to the spot. I sat for about 30 minutes, just listening and sometimes watching the clouds through the open “ceiling.” Striking was that I passed a plethora of loud people on my way to the space, but it seemed like they all vanished once I was inside. I mean, I didn’t hear a single human voice while I sat. Of course, that could have been the intense construction going on nearby...or the road noise...but for all the machinery going on, which indicated the presence of humans, I didn’t hear anything human. (Maybe think about that for a minute.) Now, I understand that excessive sound is tiring to our bodies and mind, but since I had knowingly placed myself in an urban soundscape, I decided to just roll with it.
Like I said, lots of road noise and machine sounds.
One sharp bird call.
Planes overhead.
Increased density of bird calls...have they been there all along and I was just unaware? (There’s a life message there somewhere...)
Machine beeps to the left and right. Left. Right.
And my favorite:
Beeps on pitches “ti” and “do” - I couldn’t believe it! Their sounds danced. I smiled. It was actually pretty beautiful.
Like I said, lots of road noise and machine sounds.
One sharp bird call.
Planes overhead.
Increased density of bird calls...have they been there all along and I was just unaware? (There’s a life message there somewhere...)
Machine beeps to the left and right. Left. Right.
And my favorite:
Beeps on pitches “ti” and “do” - I couldn’t believe it! Their sounds danced. I smiled. It was actually pretty beautiful.
January 9, 2018
3:00 - 3:30pm (ish)
77* F, cloudy
3:00 - 3:30pm (ish)
77* F, cloudy
Feel free to share your favorite sound you heard today :)
Until next time!