Noticing, Noting and Notating Sound

Documentation and resources for the Collective Soundwalk project at the 2021 SpokenWeb symposium LINKS (1) Symposium Info (2) Collective Soundwalk Reader (3) Suggested Daily Activities (4) EMAIL: Angus Tarnawsky

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From Amanda Gutiérrez

(1)

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From Amanda Gutiérrez

(2)

"Thinking about ableism and inclusion

Where I can enter with a bike

When my steps are less intrusive to other ecosystems

Where a walk allows deep listening intro other echoes

Slowing down

When we include different paths"

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From Elisabetta Senesi

(1)

"Some new 'sonic notations' in relation to my final sonic journey which I sketched during the re-listening process at home."

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From Elisabetta Senesi

(2)

"This is a more ‘geographic' map of my surroundings, with the path of my final walk, it’s about 4 miles in total. Following the line for reaching Fiesole town center, and the dots for soundwalking score, pretty hilly village with an open public park over Florence."

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From Elisabetta Senesi

(3)

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From Elisabetta Senesi

(4)

"In this final step I decided to change partly my route, same timezone. As I’ve got inspired by some others notations, not a specific one but some parts of them, my intent was to re-orientate my last soundwalk towards a more urban path with specific spots which I had excluded in the previous walks. I chose to focus on very few actions, such as going up and down the stairs of an archeological site with houses around and circumnavigate this location, or walking backwards in tiny streets when possible, touching and smell surfaces such as walls, flowers or green leaves. My intent was to play more than usual with my body, and keep listening the space at night as much as I can. I encountered two men walking who greeted me, some distant groups of teenagers chilling out at the park, no birds or animals this time. No wind or water on my path last night, more voices and humanity around me. That was my attempt to perform the map, and in some ways I wanted to ‘problematize’ my final walk in terms of intentionality/non-intentionality of listening, materiality/immateriality of sound, dislocation and relocation of the body on space in order to re-invent my self. Somehow the audio-video documents this process, it is composed by two shootings I did during a final part of the walk, both with a smartphone and a digital recorder which I decided to combined together in a new way of understanding the town where I live. This workshop made me think about how many endless forms of listening and soundwalking we can explore together, physically and mentally. Many many thanks to Angus and all the people involved in this, ciao!"

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From Jacky Sawatzky

"I chose Amanda Gutiérrez's sound nation or more her prompt as inspiration for my walk. I meandered through the barns letting Amanda’s words seep in "Have you ever felt in a dreamy space when talking is not needed?” Surprised no llamas were in the llama house, yesterday and the previous it was packed. The noise of the fan droning out their voices. Some were ruminating others sleeping, or just dreaming away. The fans created a space and time where there was no need for llama talk. Today, however was different, the fans were on and it is hot, even hotter than yesterday, though the llamas were scattered in the various shelters. Some joined the alpacas in the ladies barn, others were sleeping under the awnings. A gentle breeze provided cool air, the llamas were quiet, only a gentle grunt from Salsa when I squeezed myself beside her. We sat together in a dreamy space where indeed talking was not needed. It was enough just to be together, llamas, a human and alpacas. Noise of the fans were audible at a distance."

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From Dinah D

"The construction crew has taken an extra long weekend and are not here, despite the fact it is Friday! This was a pleasant surprise so I decided to stay home and document the audio soundscape of my farm without the sound of construction next door. To mimic the dichotomy between the two soundscapes, I reach the phone through the fence to show the two different worlds, both audio and visual (green at the Fun Farm, brown at the construction site next door). These differences are shown in the number of living plants and creatures on one side of the fence compared to the other but in an audio context as well. It is hatching season and you will see the vid start with the sound and visuals of the 3 day old ducklings and it ends with a visit to the old English Gamebird chicks who are 1month old now. Of course, visits with the adults birds( ducks, chickens) happen too. It was a pleasant surprise to have quiet here :) "

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From Ali Barillaro

"Sound Walk | Day 3 | Tiohtià:ke / Montreal: Took a slightly different and shorter route around the plateau area. This time I brought a notebook with me to write down what I heard as I walked. Rather than just keep track of the sound sources, I wanted to try to, I guess, phonetically interpret some of them (which was much harder than I expected) and also transcribe words or phrases, spoken or sung, that really stood out."

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From Jason Camlot

"Rather than follow the prompt of engaging with someone else’s documentation and bringing it into my own walk, I decided to redo my walk, the same route, a third time, and this time take a few photos that reflect (in a paltry way) the sense of spatial awareness that I developed from repeating the same path three times in three days."

(1)

"The colonnade captures the sonic experience of sound starting and stopping as one walks by one column after another. The big 1960s building across the street (called the Hall Building) was actually a sonic emanator that I didn’t mention or document in my first notation, but it can be heard big time in the sound recording. That big building (takes up half a block, emits much very loud, diffuse (sort of white-noise like) sound. As if it is a giant fan (as heard through zoom) in the middle of the block. It is a great disruptor of subtle attendance to sound, as it washes most interesting little sounds out. The traffic sounds, that are louder and so audible over it, seem like even louder variations on the theme of sonic disruption. "

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From Jason Camlot

(2)

"The photo of the first street corner (de Maisonneuve and Bishop) captures these louder sounds of cars, with the sound of the Hall building still sometimes audible. "

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From Jason Camlot

(3)

"The second street corner (Bishop and Sherbrooke) captures the dominance of car sounds over any other sound. The fact that this pretty big street is slightly less trafficked than usual (due to the pandemic) seems to make it louder than usual, as cars are always moving, and moving faster than they would otherwise be able to. "

[spokenweb]

From Jason Camlot

(4)

"Trees are visible in some of these earlier images, but the sounds that come with them will only be heard in earnest when we get to the foot of Redpath (corner Sherbrooke), looking up towards the ascent to the dog park."

[spokenweb]

From Jason Camlot

(5)

"Here, on this stretch, the trees are a structure for many active (and talkative) birds, which can now be heard because fewer cars make their way up Redpath."

[spokenweb]

From Jason Camlot

(6)

"Finally, one image of the dog park, from the east side (with a bit of the gate that can be heard in the sound recording). I forgot to document the descent because I did this last walk with my mother (who lives nearby) and she was talking to me about various things that distracted me from my soundwalking tasks. I attended mostly to her, on the way down. She’s in her 80s, so the ascent and descent took a while. She noted as we neared the bottom, 'I’ve sat, at one time or another, on just about every stoop on this street' (taking rests along the way, she meant). "

[spokenweb]

From Manami Izawa

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From Manami Izawa

"Seeing people who did their soundwalks in nature, I also wanted to walk in a forest or park, which ended up listening to the car noises again. This time I decided to do my soundwalk by running. The running experience was different from my daily run when I listen to music through bluetooth earbuds. Starting at Sherbrooke and Guy street, I ran up to Dr Penfield and Cedar Avenue. It was less tiring than I thought as I focused on the environmental sounds rather than the pace or lyrics. When I reached the neighborhood at Westmount, the sounds of car engines became more obvious as there were only a few. I also heard the sound of a water fountain at one of the houses in the high-end neighborhood. I ran back to my home through Sherbrooke street, which is the same route as the two previous soundwalks. However, due to the loud traffic noise and humidity, I gave up on my run and walked home. After coming home, I remembered that I used to run with my friend on the same hill where I went today."