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Final Blog Post (#8): Summative Reflection

My last blog post! Thank you for a wonderful semester!

What did you learn?

In RTA 907 I gained a greater understanding of sound and how it affects my life. I learned how the hairs inside my ear work. I learned about hearing safety. I learned about podcasts. I learned about multiple sound theories. But the two things that stuck with me the most were Michel Chiron’s three modes of listening and soundwalks. (Beckstead)

Michel Chion’s three modes of listening are such useful concepts that I was surprised that I didn’t already know about them. Since discussing them in this class I have noticed them significantly more in my life. When the house phone rings two rooms over and I turn my head, I now think about causal listening. When I listen to podcasts I am reminded that I am listening semantically. When I listen to instrumental music I realize that I probably do more reduced listening in my life than any other kind. Knowing the difference has made me a better semantic listener because I can now tell when the words are no longer registering and I need to take a break. This awareness ended up improving my audiobook consumption because I haven’t had to spend as much time going back to re-listen to what I missed. (Chion)

I also had a chance to focus on sound through going on soundwalks. Walking through my neighborhood and taking the time to really appreciate all of the interesting little noises was a pleasant and relaxing experience. If I had to choose a theme for this class that theme would be “mindfulness” because I think a deep exploration of sound as a topic leads to greater listening skills. Going on these walks kept me grounded during these stressful and unprecedented times, and I have ended up making it into a bit of a habit. (Radicchi)

I also gained a greater appreciation and understanding of the broader context of sound media. Applying historical lenses to the way we look at sound (particularly in relation to film) gave me a wider perspective of media as a whole. (Beckstead)

What concepts do you expect to apply to future projects/courses/endeavours?

As mentioned earlier, Michel Chion’s three modes of listening have positively affected the way I focus on semantic listening. I often catch myself shifting into reduced listening (focusing more on the sounds than on what they mean) and knowing that has allowed me better focus. I intend to bring that level of focus into my future classes and endeavours. (Chion)

Additionally, being mindful of these distinctions has given me motivation to do more sound-related media work in the future. I would like to focus this concept into the way that I design sound in future projects. I am interested in the idea of mixing around audience expectations around these three modes. I think it could be interesting to explore reduced listening to human speech, semantic listening to instrumental music (perhaps in the form of a code), and causal listening to an object that is never where one expects it to be.

How did the course content tie in to your program/area of study--what are the commonalities, intersections, similarities, differences?

My area of study at Ryerson is centred around music. This class’ emphasis was not exclusively on music, but I think a greater awareness of sound contributed heavily to the way I thought about music this semester. I had expected this class to focus more heavily on music, but because it didn’t I think I actually learned more information that I could apply to music. I have previously taken Music in Film at RTA and while that class and this class discuss some overlapping historical events, I never felt as though the material was repetitive. Next semester I intend to take Sound Theory and I am interested to see what overlap exists.

What are the key takeaways overall from this course?

As previously stated, I am leaving this course with a greater sense of mindfulness. I think that if more people spent time thinking about the sounds in their world, the world would be a more grounded place. Additionally, I leave this course with the knowledge that the historical context for concepts like sound is often much more complex than the average person may know.

Thank you again for creating this really wonderful learning environment through the internet. I very much miss being at Ryerson in person, but you made the semester run smoothly. I hope your winter break is enjoyable and refreshing!

Works Cited:

Beckstead, Lori. “Sound Media.” RTA 907. Ryerson University, Toronto. 2020. Lectures.

Chion, Michel, et al. Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen. Columbia University Press, 2019.

Radicchi, Antonella. A Pocket Guide to Soundwalking. 2017

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Blog Post #6 (Week 9)

For this blog post I would like to reimagine the sounds of the TTC. Public transit in Toronto is often crowded and overly crowded spaces are a potential source of stress and tension for TTC riders. To combat this tension, I would like to create the new TTC sounds around the marimba. A marimba is a large instrument made of small wooden (or in some cases metal) bars that can be hit with a mallet to create a soft melodic sound. They are similar to xylophones. Marimbas remind me of elementary school music classrooms and I think they create a pleasant and calming vibe. 

People take busses and subways throughout the day and throughout the night. They take them when tired, when overworked, when hungry, and when stressed. People taking the TTC may be coming home from a bad day at work, may be rushing to work late, may be on their way to an event they are anxious about or may have other worries and problems that they take with them onto the TTC. So I think that creating a cheery, calm, and overall welcoming environment is a must.

A marimba “gliss” is when the mallet slides either up or down the keys, creating an ascending or descending scale. When the doors to the bus or subway open, an ascending (low-to-high) marimba gliss will be played from speakers in the bus or subway car. When they shut a few moments later a descending (high-to-low) marimba gliss will play. This should create a satisfying rise and fall effect, with the pause of the open door adding anticipation. Additionally, a marimba gliss has always sounded whimsical and fun to me, whereas the three robotic notes that the TTC currently plays have always felt hollow and repetitive. To avoid the marimba gliss from becoming too repetitive, different keys and rhythms will be used for different stops and stations. That way the subway creates continuous music that changes based on your route. However, it would be important for the speakers to be pretty soft in case people on the subway want to listen to their own music on headphones. In the Sound Mood Board (link at the bottom of the blog post) I have collected a few marimba glisses to demonstrate the idea.

I think that the lobby area of the subway stations (the areas that sometimes contain small shops or cafes) should also have marimba inspired music. The TTC has designated areas for buskers, so it is important not to play these new TTC soundtracks where the buskers are, but with careful planning the TTC could be a more cheerful environment. In the video game Animal Crossing, there is a musical soundtrack that changes every hour (in real-world time). The song that plays at 8am plays every 8am, the song that plays at noon always plays at noon, etcetera. I think that the subway lobbies could incorporate a time-based element into their soundtracks in a way that corresponds to when the next bus/subway is coming. In the Sound Mood Board (link at the bottom of the blog post) I have included a few songs featuring marimbas to demonstrate the mood I think the soundtrack should have.

Lastly, I would like to reimagine the Toronto streetcar system as one that spreads music throughout the city. The TTC has a busker program that gives Toronto musicians a way to spread their music through the city, but those busker spots are all stationary. I would like to propose a special busker spot in the last car of the streetcar. The seats in that last car could face the back of the vehicle to create an audience-stage dynamic. The last car would be closed off by a soundproof door, so that no one has to listen to the music if they don’t want to. Perhaps the soundproof door could be between every car so that the audience space can be expanded if the demand is high. This would create a way for Toronto commuters to feel engaged with the culture of their community while commuting, making the streetcar a fun experience for riders. If these streetcar shows become popular, that could encourage people to use public transit instead of driving.

Sound Mood Board: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1476q6EBA25bCgKcL2JCcVFtIh0CF6OFj?usp=sharing

Works cited:

Animal Crossing: City Folk instruction booklet. Nintendo of America

 Marimba - History. (2002). Retrieved December 08, 2020, from https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Marimba/History/

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Blog Post #5 (Week 8)

Part one: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice, and Sound Effects in Cinema

In chapter 7 of Sound Design: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice, and Sound Effects in Cinema, David Sonnenschein details many of the ways that music and other sounds can help deliver a narrative storyline. He dives into several techniques that a filmmaker could use when incorporating sound into a film, and includes several experiments for the reader to try (all labeled with “Try This”). 

Key points:

Anempathetic Music: Anempathetic music is music associated with a specific setting or mood, but used in contrast with that association. Calm music during a chaotic or violent scene, cheerful music during a tragic scene, sad music during an otherwise happy scene, etcetera. Anempathetic music can be used to create a dissonance between the characters emotions and the audience’s emotions, sometimes for comedic effect. An example of Anempathetic music in film would be the scene in Finding Dory in which a truck full of fish comes crashing down to the sea. The screaming driver is inaudible, his voice replaced by Louis Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World.

 Diegetic VS non-diegetic audio: Diegetic audio in a fictional work is audio that canonically happens in the world of the characters. If a character attempts to remove the needle from a record player and accidentally drops it, that record scratch is diegetic. The character can hear it and it is physically happening in their world. However, if a character receives a piece of shocking new information and the audio design includes a record scratch to symbolize their brain processing new information,  that is non-diegetic. It isn’t happening in the world of the characters, it is a metaphor for the audience.

Narrative cueing: Narrative cueing is the process of using non-diegetic sound to create a mood or help advance the narrative. Non-diegetic music is often used for this purpose.

Part Two: Designing a Movie For Sound

In Randy Thom’s essay “Designing A Movie for Sound”, Randy Thom bemoans the modern idea that “good sound” is merely loud sound. Thom argues that a dynamic piece of audio that fits well with the story is better than loud and all-encompassing noise just for its own sake. Randy Thom also criticizes the common treatment of sound design as an afterthought. He notes that in both Star Wars and Apocalypse Now sound was a continuous process alongside the filmmaking, sound was accounted for and thought about during all stages of the filmmaking process. As a result, both films have excellent sound design that contributes to their story. Thom makes the case that by relegating sound to a post-production role, filmmakers miss out on creative and innovative ways to use sound in their work. Thom also makes the argument that film is not a visual medium, at least not exclusively. Film is like a marriage between audio and visual, both play equal roles.

Key Terms:

ADR: Dialogue that gets created or recreated in post-production. Sometimes this dialogue is “walla” (ambiguous background talking that the audience does not need to understand) and sometimes it is the main dialogue (usually because the original take is unusable).

The 100% Theory: The idea that every department involved with a piece of media takes on their role as though the quality of the film is 100% dependent on their work specifically. This can be a problem because having an overwhelming amount of dialogue can mess with the sound design, an overwhelming amount of sound design can drown out dialogue, some directors make no consideration for the other departments at all, and this problem at its worst can destroy the cohesiveness of a film.

Starving The Eye: Starving the eye is intentionally subtle filmmaking that leaves room for ambiguity. Randy Thom argues in favour of starving the eye, claiming that the ability to answer questions in a film is one of the main things that compels an audience to watch that film in the first place.

Part 3: Sound Talents

For a film that uses music to “suggest a mood, evoke a feeling” I would point to the use of Carol of the Bells in Home Alone. In the film, 8-year-old Kevin is in a fight with two burglars after being left alone during the Christmas season. Carol of the Bells is a recurring motif during tense moments of the film. Carol of the Bells works well in this role, because it is a tense piece of music. The repetitive “Hark! How the bells, sweet silver bells” melody grows in intensity with every iteration and the feeling is harrowing. However, Carol of the Bells is also a Christmas carol, so it does a marvellous job at evoking the feeling of danger at Christmas.

For an example of a film using sound to “clarify the plot” I would use the Disney film Enchanted. In Enchanted, Gizelle and Edward sing the song I’ve Been Dreaming of a True Love’s Kiss when they meet and the motif follows Gizelle throughout the film. When Gizelle is poisoned and only true love’s kiss can save her, Edward kisses her and the motif swells. However, Gizelle does not wake up and the motif is played again in a minor key. This musical motif change tells the audience that Edward is not Gizelle’s true love,

As my example of a film that uses sound to “heighten realism or diminish it” I am going to discuss the 2013 film adaptation of The Great Gatsby. The film is set in the 1920s, but the music throughout the film is contemporary and the score was executive-produced by Jay-Z. This creates a disconnect between the lavish 1920s settings and the pop-and-hiphop-filled score. This diminishes the realism of the film for effect and draws a comparison between Jay Gatsby and modern-day celebrities.

My last example is of a film that uses sound to “exaggerate action or mediate it”. For this example I would like to look at the beginning of the Disney film Frozen. The film begins with the audience looking up from below the surface of a frozen lake. Soft footsteps can be heard as a man walks across the surface of the ice. The lull of the soft footsteps is broken by the sound of a saw piercing the ice, followed by several more saws. The saws follow a perfect rhythm that exaggerates the action of cutting the ice. This exaggeration is important because it sets up that ice is valuable. The people who cut the ice are not cutting it to fish, they are selling it. We later meet Kristoff, a man who sells ice for a living and this theme is reinforced. When Queen Elsa comes to accept her ice powers at the end of the film it is no surprise to the audience, because ice = valuable was ingrained from the first second of the movie.

Works Cited

Buck, Chris, and Jennifer Lee. Frozen. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2013.

Columbus, Chris. Home Alone. Twentieth Century Fox, 1990.

Lima, Kevin. Enchanted. Disney., 2007.

Luhrmann, Baz. The Great Gatsby. Warner Bros., 2013.

Sonnenschein, David. Sound Design: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice, and Sound Effects in Cinema. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 2001

Stanton, Andrew, and Angus MacLane. Finding Dory. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2016.

Thom, Randy. Designing a Movie for Sound. 1999.

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Blog Post #4

For this blog entry, I listened to five podcasts: The Big One, TEDTalks Daily, Bear Brook, Office Ladies, and The Promise.

While listening to these podcasts, I thought a lot about advertisements. I did not usually mind the advertising in the assigned podcasts. I thought it seemed clear when something was being paid for, so it never felt manipulative. In an odd way, I felt more connected to the host because of the ads. These people were no longer disembodied voices, they had wants and needs that cost money.

The one exception to this rule was The Big One. The Big One is a podcast about the inevitably of a large earthquake in California. It takes on an educational tone, the speaker has a pleasant voice, the guests are interesting, and the subject matter feels grippingly morbid. The Big One just has one problem: it is sponsored by earthquake insurance. Hearing an advertisement for earthquake insurance right before a programme about the terrifying nature of earthquakes dulls the impact of the podcast. There is an obvious conflict of interest! Of course The Big One wants me to be afraid of earthquakes, they are being paid to generate that fear. Nothing said after that advertisement sounded authentic to me. I kept hearing “conflict of interest” in my head like a mantra.

Most of the podcasts that were assigned to me were between 20 and 40 minutes, creating an atmosphere of focus. I have difficulty focusing on just audio while my hands are idle, so I listened to them while painting. The one exception was TEDTalks Daily.

TEDTalks Daily is short compared to other podcasts. The episode I listened to was about 9 minutes. I was able to listen to it without moving, something that seems unthinkable to me when applied to other podcasts. I enjoyed the first episode and listened to several more, without even thinking to do something else at the same time. The short but engrossing nature of TEDTalks Daily might make it a good choice for someone who is new to podcast listening.

TEDTalks Daily also follows a different formula from other podcasts, as each episode has a different host. I listened to the episode “My Story of Love and Loss as a Transracial Adoptee” with Sara Jones, which I found to be an authentic-feeling story about the journey to find one’s family. In the episode, Sara Jones tells the listener about a tattoo she had when she was adopted as a baby, and how she used photos of that tattoo to find her birth family. She also connects the removal of said tattoo by her adoptive parents to the sad reality of cultural erasure that many transracial adoptees face. I enjoyed the episode a lot, but I could see myself giving up on the podcast prematurely if I had chosen an episode that didn’t resonate with me.

I was intrigued by Bear Brook because I have made an effort in the past to avoid “true crime” style media. I have found that true crime style television often feels disingenuous. Media revolving around police officers often gives me the impression of trying to sway public opinion on the legal system more than provide entertainment. In my experience, the prevalence of police-centred media makes serious conversations about politics more difficult (as generations of people have grown up with the “law enforcement = hero” narrative). However, I did not get the impression that Bear Brook was trying to glorify law enforcement, or romanticize crime. The two episodes I listened to both handled the subject matter with dignity. Bear Brook may have single handedly changed my mind on true crime content.

Office Ladies is a podcast in which two actors from the television show The Office rewatch the show and discuss each episode. The hosts come off as the perfect blend of authentic and cheerful. The podcast episode made me feel happy and I enjoyed listening, but I did come into this experience at a disadvantage: I have never seen an episode of The Office. Despite my lack of The Office related knowledge, I found the tangents and rapport of the co-hosts really enjoyable.

Lastly, The Promise is an exploration of a neighbourhood in Nashville undergoing gentrification and how that affects the people in the neighbourhood. I had some difficulty connecting to the host of The Promise, she seemed overly rehearsed in a way that came off as well-read but less authentic. However, the guests on the show were open and raw with the audience in a way that really brought their stories to life.

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Blog Entry #3

For this blog entry, I went on a sound walk around my neighbourhood. The walk took place largely outdoors, with one detour into a Dollarama.

It had just stopped raining, and drops of water still clung to the trees. The rhythmic, almost musical, noise the drops made when hitting the ground was a sound signal throughout the outdoor portion of my walk. The sewer drains had filled up with water making a sloshing sound, but the keynote of this part of the walk was the low pitched audible rumble that could be heard from the water rushing under the sidewalk. 

The occasional car brought with it a collection of noises: the rumble of an engine, tires splashing through puddles, horn beeps, and the high pitched whistle of the car cutting through the wind. My neighbours remained inside, but I could hear the muffled sound of a television.  I live near the Scarborough Bluffs (which offer helicopter tours) so twice in my walk I heard the low-pitched soundmark of whirring helicopter blades overhead. 

Most of my listening during this portion of the walk could be described as causal listening. (Chion, 24) I paid a lot of attention to where sounds were coming from: the television, the sewer, the cars. I wish in retrospect that I had put more energy into reduced listening the way I had during the listening exercise in my first blog entry. I enjoyed looking for the origins of the sounds around me, but I think it distracted from the enjoyment of the sounds for their own sake.

As I listened for sounds, I also started to notice the sounds that I was adding to the soundscape. My raincoat rustled as I walked, my shoes made a dull thud against the ground, my breathing felt amplified as I became mindful of it.

I then reached my destination: Dollarama, home to many discordant sounds. The sound signals were the beeping of the credit card machine, the rhythmic footsteps of everyone in line moving forward and stopping in unison, and the ugly clink of shopping carts banging into both the walls and each other.

The keynote of Dollarama, along with most stores, was the music. During my visit, the music belonged to one category: Odd covers of famous songs. First, the store played an auto-tuned boy-band cover of Africa by Toto. This was followed by a warped off-key rendition of Like a Virgin by Madonna. As I left, I was guided out of the store with an off-puttingly cheerful bubble-gum-pop cover of S&M by Rihanna. I am confident that the musicians making these covers meant well, but I was reminded of the concept of Sound Imperialism (Schafer, 77). It crossed my mind that these covers may have been chosen to prevent loitering. Regardless of my personal dislike of these songs, this phenomenon seems intrinsically tied to Dollarama in my experience, so I suppose this music choice could also be a Soundmark of the store.

I think that if everyone practiced listening this way, the world would be a calmer place. Going on this sound walk felt peaceful. I had been feeling stressed earlier in the day, but the sound walk helped me ground myself. I think I will go on many more sound walks in the future.

Sources cited:

Chion, Michel, et al. Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen. Columbia University Press, 2019.

Schafer, R. Murray. (1977, 1994) The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Turning of the World. New York: Alfred Knopf / Random House.

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Blog Entry #2

In The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Turning of the World, R. Murray Schafer warns of what he calls the Ultimate Low-Fi Soundscape, a state of noise and discord, a din so encompassing that it is “no longer possible to know what, if anything, is to be listened to”. (Schafer, 71) His work is nostalgic towards a more Hi-Fi past, and pessimistic towards the future of sound. Schafer’s work discusses at length the potential for power imbalance within the soundscape. This fear also influences his concept of Sound Imperialism: the idea that by wielding sound, people hold power over those who cannot wield as much sound. This issue is rooted in many of the same power dynamics that systemic bias already leans towards. (77)  Wealthy business owners create soundscapes that augment the reality of both workers and shoppers. To the already powerful, sound is another tool in the arsenal of control.

However, in his essay Schizophonia vs l’Objet Sonore: Soundscapes and Artistic Freedom, Francisco López criticizes Schafer for putting a limit on the types of sounds he views as good. López says that Schafer’s “supposed evil condition of certain noises or noise environments is tried to be justified by untenable relational assertions”. (López) Schafer’s criticisms of the Lo-Fi soundscape target the worry that sound can grant power to the already powerful, but in the context of music and art Schafer seems critical and dismissive of art forms that use Lo-Fi sound. López finishes his essay with a call to “let us Schaefferians to have the freedom of a painter”. (López)  In this conclusion, López references himself as a follower of Pierre Schaeffer, another sound theorist. But how does Schaeffer differ from Schafer? (Other than the extra letters in his name.)

Pierre Schaeffer takes a more optimistic approach to sound theory. Schaeffer loves sounds, he collects them in what he calls his Symphony of Noises. (Kane, 1) While R. Murray Shafer worries about the implications of a world full of sounds, a Lo-Fi soundscape, Pierre Schaeffer welcomes this cacophony of noises into his life with open arms. Schaeffer also holds a fascination with the idea of sound as an object. While Schafer views sound as an encompassing force, Schaeffer views it as a thing to be held. Shaeffer also argues that while sound demands one’s attention, physical objects demand that attention as well and are no different. In his book Treatise on Musical Objects: An Essay Across Disciplines, Schaeffer writes “I never cease to perceive. I live in a world which does not cease to be here for me, and this world is sonorous as well as tactual and visual.” (Schaeffer, 104)

I think that both Schafer and Schaeffer are correct in many ways. It is true that an abuse of sound is possible through the creation of a Lo-Fi soundscape. We see the effects of Sound Imperialism in stores and factories already. I believe that being diligent in the fight against abusive power is a good approach. On the other hand, Schafer’s focus on sound feels a bit naive. Schaeffer is correct in his assertion that we live in a world of perception and that sound is only one piece of that puzzle. Ultimately, the joy that Schaeffer finds in sounds that Schafer views as ugly is a compelling reason to side with Schaeffer. If we can find ways to enjoy the Lo-Fi soundscape, we do not need to fear it. I believe that R. Murray Schafer’s theories contain validity, but I choose to side with the more optimistic Schaeffer.

Sources Cited:

Francisco López “Schizophonia vs l’Objet Sonore: Soundscapes and Artistic Freedom.” Francisco López [ Essays // Schizophonia vs L'objet Sonore: Soundscapes and Artistic Freedom ], 1997, www.franciscolopez.net/schizo.html.

Schaeffer, Pierre, et al. Treatise on Musical Objects: an Essay across Disciplines. University of California Press, 2017.

Schafer, R. Murray. (1977, 1994) The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Turning of the World. New York: Alfred Knopf / Random House.

Kane, Brian. 2014. Pierre Schaeffer the Sound Object and the Acousmatic Reduction

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Blog Entry #1

PART 1:

In The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Turning of the World, R. Murray Schafer discusses the concept of the flat line in sound. Most sounds present in nature are dynamic and changing in both volume and pitch. A river will babble and shift, wind will continuously change in speed, most animal calls will start at one pitch and move upwards or downwards, and a fire will crackle and change. Before the industrial revolution, soundscapes were largely made up of these changing nature noises. That changed with machines, which “create low-information, high-redundancy sounds” (Schafer, 78) adding an ever-present hum to the way people experience sound. 

Schafer discusses flat line sounds through the lens of the unnatural and the constructed, but I can think of city noises that are not flat line. Different types of shoes thumping or clicking against the sidewalk, the three notes that play as the subway doors close, and the sound of a car engine revving up, all vary in pitch and volume. 

That shift in how sound was experienced brings us to another concept: Lo-Fi and Hi-Fi sound. Schafer describes Lo-Fi sound as “an overpopulation of sounds” (71), meaning that in a Lo-Fi soundscape, there is no silence to balance out the sound.  Flat line sounds contribute to Lo-Fi soundscapes by providing a constant unchanging noise that fills up the soundscape. Schafer describes the ultimate Lo-Fi soundscape as being so full of constant sound that it is “no longer possible to know what, if anything, is to be listened to”. (71) 

This reminded me of the concept of “brick walling” in music production. To brick wall a song is to heavily compress it. The goal is to make the song sound louder by making the quiet parts as loud as the loud parts, but this practise limits the dynamic range of a song. Greg Milner of The New York Times describes the pressure to brick wall music this way, “A louder record grabs your attention — and will often be perceived, at least at first, to have better sound quality than a less compressed album — and musicians didn’t want their product to sound weak by comparison”. (Milner) Mastering a song with this method creates something similar to the idea of a Lo-Fi soundscape, taking away the parts of the song that change in volume. 

Schafer also discusses the concept of Sound Imperialism, the idea that sounds from one source have significant power over an entire area. Schafer writes that “A man with a loudspeaker is more imperialistic than one without because he can dominate more acoustic space.” (77) By having that domination, someone can use sound to augment the experiences of the people around them. For example, the person who chooses the music in a store drastically impacts the mood of the shoppers. The music may be calm and inoffensive, angry scream-filled metal, or a genre that some demographics find alienating such as classical music or exemplative-filled pop. More maliciously perhaps, high pitched noises that can only be heard by young people could be used to drive away perceived trouble-makers. 

This made me think of other ways that areas are tailored to alienate certain people. In Toronto bus shelters, the benches are small and tipped downward with a cold metal armrest dividing them in half. This design makes the benches nearly impossible to sleep on, making them unusable as a place for people without homes to stay at night. 

PART 2:

For my listening exercise, I sat on my back deck in the late afternoon. The last of the summer cicadas made a loud buzzing noise. I could hear some high pitched birdsong. The fairy lights around the deck moved with the wind and made a clunking sound against the wood. My neighbour was building a birdhouse, so the rhythmic sounds of a handsaw also pierced the silence. Near the end of my listen, a cat from down the street sat near me and purred.

What did you discover/what insights did you gain through doing this exercise?

I felt really at peace while sitting on the deck. The sounds were not always peaceful, but they really felt like the end of summer in a way that made me emotional. 

I did find it a little difficult to focus on only one sense. It was an interesting experience to try blocking out inaudible senses, but smell managed to creep into my notes without me meaning for it to. The smell of smoke from a chiminea a few houses down, the smell of flowers, the smell of fresh-cut-grass. I will take time in the future to pay attention with one sense at a time, as it is not a skill I have yet developed.

We discussed Michel Chion's three modes of listening in class. Give several examples of when you employed Chion's three modes of listening.

Causal listening “consists of listening to a sound in order to gather information about its cause” (Chion, 24) I used causal listening when trying to determine why I could hear a handsaw from my deck. The answer to this question, as it often is in Toronto, was construction. Very small construction, my neighbour was building a birdhouse.

Semantic listening is listening “which refers to a code or a language to interpret a message”. (28) This is the listening that spoken language should fall under, if one is paying attention to what is said. I did not listen to any human speech during this exercise, but I was briefly joined by a purring cat. I do not claim to speak cat, but the message I interpreted from Mina was something to the effect of “Today is a good day, very sunny”.

Reduced listening refers to listening done for its own sake, not tainted by a search for meaning or a desire to gain anything from the sound. Michel Chion does not provide a simple definition, but uses the example of listening to pitch, referring to pitch as an “inherent characteristic of sound, independent of the sound's cause or the comprehension of its meaning.” (30) My enjoyment of the singing birds and the shrieking cicadas is an example of reduced listening. The cicada shrieks have a meaning, the cicada is old and would like to mate before it dies, but I did not think about cicada mating during this exercise.

Relate some of Schafer's concepts from the chapters provided to the listening exercises you've done so far. What connections and insights can you draw?

The soundscape from my back deck was definitely a Hi-Fi soundscape. Schafer describes a Lo-Fi soundscape as being full of unchanging sound pollution to the extent that one cannot tell the important sounds from the noise, (Schafer, 71) and my deck’s soundscape was mostly silent with the occasional punctuation of birds, sawing, cat purring, and cicada calls. Each sound was distinct and memorable. I never felt overwhelmed by noise.

The sawing made me think of Schafer’s thoughts on Sound Imperialism: “A man with a shovel is not imperialistic, but a man with a jackhammer is because he has the power to interrupt other acoustic activities in the vicinity.” (77) The hand saw was much quieter than a jackhammer and it was likely inaudible a few houses down, but it did dominate my soundscape at times. A man with a handsaw may fall somewhere between the two men in the Schafer quote. Perhaps Sound Imperialism is a spectrum.

Sources Cited: 

Chion, Michel, et al. Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen. Columbia University Press, 2019.

Milner, Greg. They Really Don't Make Music Like They Used To. 7 Feb. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/opinion/what-these-grammy-songs-tell-us-about-the-loudness-wars.html.

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