During class today, Dr Louise Marshall conducted an exercise where we had to listen to the sound in our current environment. We were instructed to write down some words describing the sound in abstract terms instead of descriptively. Below is what I wrote:
For a moment I’m hearing almost nothing. Then there are little echoes of conversation seeping through the thin line of my window. I feel more at home now as I relate to the cheerfulness. I can hear my breathing. I’m wondering if I’m always hearing it, and the fact that now I’m consciously listening to it. A crackle of some sort. It’s memorable. I replay it in my mind as I hear nothing again. I’m noticing there’s sound in the sound that I called nothing; a constant frequency. It’s steady and feels as if it’s going to a destination while going in no particular direction, but at the same time it’s already arrived.
Looking back on what I wrote, I remember I was having difficulty trying to avoid writing down the obvious description of each sound. I think that exploring sound this way is something I want to do more of in the future.