Anne-Marie Houy Shaver
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Raindrops keep falling

2/19/2018

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This semester, my friend+colleague Hunter and I have been developing a program to lead weekly soundwalks (as part of the Acoustic Ecology Lab at ASU). And we officially had our first walk!
SoundWalks
We planned on following the same path I had taken a class on earlier this semester. But there was one major difference this time…
 
Rain.
 
And it wasn’t the standard desert rain of pour for 2 minutes, then be dry until next year. No, this was a constant drizzle for hours (I would even venture to say the rain lasted a few days). How often does something like that happen?? So I was pretty pumped to walk around with these atypical conditions. And it also worked out great because most of the stops on the walk were at fountains – the weather definitely contributed to the “water” theme.
 
And man, the rain did not disappoint in the sound department.
 
First, drops hitting the umbrella to create a little envelope of sound around my head.
 
Water pouring down the side of a building, its landing softened by leafy plants.
 
Drops hitting a metal table. Loud and distinct pings.

Walking in wet gravel(!!!); it is such a rich and complex sound. And so cool. I HIGHLY recommend finding some gravel to crunch next time it rains in your location.
 
Bicycle wheels cutting through puddles and lightly splashing the nearby ground.
 
Planes (of course).
 
Bell chimes from the clock tower echoing off different surfaces, dancing, as we moved through various spaces.

An INTENSE group of birds in a nearby tree. Their sound was almost overwhelming. One of the participants likened it to the music of Gÿorgy Ligeti, who composed with shifting masses of sound.
 
I was surprised that the rain actually made some sounds sharper; my assumption was that it would create a blanket of white noise, therefore dulling many other sounds. But the opposite was true for certain things, like footsteps or wheels on the pavement. The quality of sound in these cases was definitely enhanced.
 
The other participants shared their observations: the different rhythms of the fountains (the first one being in a “swing” style) and how some plants being hit by water actually sounded like plastic.
 
Overall, successful inaugural soundwalk :)

February 14, 2018
5:45 - 6:15pm
Temperature in the 50s, rainy

Until next time!

P.S. - Please  join us for our next walk! All are welcome!

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