Today's sound walk exercise was something I've never done before. A sound walk is an activity that devotes a certain amount of time to appreciating the sounds of the outdoors. For our walk, we broke up into pairs and silently shared in the experience. What was cool about this exercise is that each pair was given a unique set of directions for approaching sound. Our set of directions was to intently listen to the sounds on campus, and to follow the ones that were most alluring. This was particularly hard to do in tandem fashion because some sounds beckoned my partner Sam that did not beckon me. Without verbal communication we had to make slight gestures in order to stay together and we eventually alternated leadership. This activity was interesting because on a busy college campus sounds are constantly in motion. For example the 'wizzing' of bike tires would beckon us in a certain direction but would quickly disapear as other sounds (and other bikes) would come to the forefront of my ears. I couldn't help but be conscious of how strange I must have looked with my constant direction changes, but I thought it was funny.
What I took from the exercise was the awareness that I rarely isolate sounds when I walk on campus. Usually the wealth of sounds just gets mixed together and turned into noise in my head. With this activity I focused on individual noises and their source. I listened to my surroundings in a way I have seldom done before so I thought it was very worth while.
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