Everyday Sound in Music

Reduced listening

Soundscape

Noise

Inspired by the sound diary assignment earlier in the semester, I decided to make a song

using everyday sounds. Prior to the sound diary assignment, I had never given a lot of thought

about the various sounds that make up my soundscape and acoustic arena but learning more

concepts and applying them to my daily life gave me an idea. I take for granted a lot of the

sounds that make up my soundscape and consistently occur. Soundscape, a sound or

combination of sounds that form from one’s environment, is something that everyone

experiences but no two soundscapes are ever the same. My soundscape is unique and includes

a wide variety of sounds from many different sources. Some of the sounds that included in my

song are the sound of a microwave beeping, a lawn mower, my dad snoring, knocking on the

door and the hum of a dryer. While recording the various sounds that I employed in my song,

the sounds made me realize how influential developments in technology and appliances have

been on our society. It seems impossible to distance yourself from it and I think a lot of people

don’t give this much thought since it’s prevalent in their daily lives.

Noise, unwanted sound that people consider to be disturbing or cause hearing

difficulties, has more rhythm than I imagined prior to this class. The beeping of a microwave,

even though it’s signaling that your food or beverage is ready, could be seen as an unwanted

sound and can become irritating if someone doesn’t open the microwave door or press a

button which stops the “noise”. I can hear the rhythmic pattern of the beeping and the beeps

seem to be timed perfectly with a short burst of silence in between each beep. The sound of

the lawn mower in my song can be seen as an unwanted sound but the buzzing sound reminds

me of summer and that particular sound puts me in a specific place and time. Schaeffer coined

the term reduced listening to describe the listening mode that tends to focus on the traits of

the sound itself which is independent of its cause and of its meaning. While it may be difficult to

speak about sounds in and of themselves, one should try to avoid the forms of retreat that go

along with reduced listening. Reduced listening allows the individual to know a particular sound

and the acoustic richness that’s evident in the sound. I tried to consciously think of this while

recording the various sounds for my song and I wanted to try to get inside of the sound and

figure out why the sound existed and the cause of the sound. Something that was as simple as

the water from a faucet or the sound a washer and dryer makes caused me to become really

focused on those actual sounds and think about why they cause the sounds that they do.

One thing that I tried to express through this song is how most humans tend to overlook

how capitalism, technology and advancements in appliances have had an effect on all of us for

good or for bad. The snoring that I used throughout the song helps to illustrate how most of us

are asleep while being awake and we don’t really pay a lot of attention to what goes on around

us. Capitalism helps to dictate to people what they need and don’t need but people will

purchase appliances anyway because they think they need something or they want to show off

wealth. The sound of breaking glass that’s heard in my song is unsettling and also is a wakeup

call that we are allowing corporations and businesses to have too much of an impact on our

lives and there can be negative consequences as a result.

The knocking on the door provides a random rhythmic foundation throughout the song

and is something a continuously hear throughout my everyday life. The knocking sound,

microwave beeping and the sound of the heater in the back of the bus are sounds I can’t

possibly get out of my head and they’re consistent for me on a daily basis. The microwave

beeping may seem to be a random sound but my mom and me often leave coffee in the

microwave and the “noise” from it causes angry reactions from my dad so I often associate the

beeping sound with him being angry. The various sounds that I use have different meanings and

all of them play an important role in my soundscape and the daily escapes in my life.