September 13, 2006
deep listening

I'm writing this from my class. It's called "deep listening" taught by Pauline Oliveros. She was a contemporary of John Cage.

you can understand my excitement.

she is like a zen monk. calm and centered.

today we were asked to bring a found sound.

I brought my bike wheel.

I'm going to go play it now. Maybe I will let you hear a recording here later.

here it is:

I like the idea of 'found sound'.

the possibilities are endless.

what can you hear right now?

right where you are sitting.

Posted by kerismith at September 13, 2006 02:23 PM
Comments

Oh, and by the way, is that a baseball card on your bicycle spoke? I have on on mine. It makes a similar sound...

Posted by: Sabine on September 18, 2006 07:50 PM

Two clocks ticking in synchopated harmony
My two pet rats crawling arund the desk, periodically stepping on he keyboard
the computer's soft hum
my own breath, calm and relaxed

Posted by: Sabine on September 18, 2006 07:49 PM

your found sound helped me appreciate the hammering outside my window. (thanks!)

Posted by: rama on September 15, 2006 07:37 PM

I can hear the tickety tick from people typing, and fractions of conversations held all over the office landscape where I sit. Most of the time I will escape the constant sound by listening to loud music on my headphones as I write lines and lines of code.

Posted by: Maria on September 15, 2006 05:31 AM

love, love, LOVE the bike tire sound.... thank you for a trip back to childhood!

Posted by: VelvetBrick on September 14, 2006 11:25 PM

your found sound got my cat Arrow's full attention 3 times. His ears and face went directly toward the speakers. Thank you.

Posted by: Melly on September 14, 2006 09:06 PM

great images and sounds......
What can I hear right now?.......

The 'tick' of the log fire as it heats up.
My dog sighing as he curls up on his bed.
Magpies warbling in the garden.
Newsreader on the radio telling me it's going to be 27 degrees today.
The Bear snoring in the bedroom.
The coffee pot on the stove, perking.

Good morning!

Posted by: herhimnbryn on September 14, 2006 06:08 PM

sounds like a pebble in a tin box, wonderful, thank you

Posted by: ainelivia on September 14, 2006 04:10 PM

I interned at EyeBeam Art and Technology Center in NY a few months ago and Pauline was there for an event.

It was incredible. You are truly lucky to have an experience like this!

Posted by: Meg on September 14, 2006 01:40 PM

right now I can hear my co-workers talking about what they're going to have for lunch -- and the air-conditioning unit in our office, people on the phone. The opening and closing of the microwave door.

The best sound I heard this summer was of an approaching rainstorm at the cottage -- I sat in the screened porch one afternoon, the air was very heavy and still, and I heard a low rumble of thunder, then the sound of raindrops hitting the leaves in the distant woods, then closer and closer as the clouds moved overhead. At first I didn't recognize the sound, it was like applause getting louder -- I don't think I've ever heard the rain quite so distinctly before. It was lovely.

Another time I heard a tree fall in the forest (Yes, Bruce Cockburn, someone does hear!), which was rather startling -- it sounded like fire-crackers going off and then a huge cracking, splintering, screeching as the tree collapsed in on itself and then went over with a crash. Not so lovely.

Posted by: sheila on September 14, 2006 12:47 PM

I swear to god, as soon I finished reading your post, my husband blew his nose. awesome!

Posted by: amanda on September 14, 2006 10:39 AM

I hear the hummmmmm of the computer and someone laughing out in the hallway.

Great lesson! Thanks sweet, Keri.

Posted by: bev on September 14, 2006 10:35 AM

miss robyn,
we were on a break when I wrote. I also have a problem with computers during class time.

i am a most attentive student. a sign of respect to the teacher.

Posted by: keri Smith on September 14, 2006 08:08 AM

listening to the exhaust fan from the back of my computer and the cars and buses vrooming by outside my window.
i just happened to google gary synder 2006
& discovered your blog a few months back.
i did it again tonight as i just got back from
a wonderful talk on happiness.
and low and behold you are in a deep listening class! where are you?
\/ I am into sound and did a deep listening workshop w/ pauline this summer and yes amazing - all this is connected and somehow I feel like we should met? talk? share sounds? or mushroom tart?
i emailed people recently if there was any sound blogs out there that they could recommend and i turn to your page and you've got a sound! - bike spokes to boot!
so very fun to hear in this way becuse they are so visually stunning and here you get to hear only - like listening to someone's talking over the phone instead of seeing them speaking face to face.

i also love John Cage ~ mushrooms - your quotes and writings an inspirations are so uplifting and we seem to share so many threads!
I sang a song to John Cage in the woods - to a mushroom.
i want to hold a fest. for him
i attended his 80th b-day celebration where my friend performed. I was too shy (overtaken) to go up and shake his hand as many people did in the audience.

anyways thanks for expressing you thoughts and sharing!

Posted by: mk on September 14, 2006 03:20 AM

Awesome!

Love the bicycle sound.

When I was a kid, I used to listen to the sound of my own heart beating when I layed down to sleep. I imagined it was a friendly giant knocking at my door bringing me cookies and milk.

:)

Posted by: Donavan on September 14, 2006 12:21 AM

It sounds like a fun course but ... teacher hat goes on :-) ... one wonders how deeply you are listening if you are writing blog entries?

I have a mental image of my own computing students passing e-notes when they should be doing their classwork.

Posted by: Robyn on September 13, 2006 10:47 PM

the bicycle music was great! really beautiful. thank you.

Posted by: paula on September 13, 2006 10:23 PM

my little girl playing with her duplex, and the noise from the main road that we live on, and my husband making a coffee in the kitchen.....
Love your site :)

Posted by: justine on September 13, 2006 06:15 PM

Traffic... sadly it's masking the ocean, my usual soundscape. I'll be listening out for that tonight as lay me down to sleep.

I miss it during the day.

Posted by: deeleea on September 13, 2006 05:47 PM

i'm so enjoying reading these. here's mine from class today (in the span of 15 minutes, an exercise to listen with intent)...

1. hum of the ventalation system
2. clicking of a light fixture.
3. mouth noises, someone moving their lips.
4. bodies shifting on carpet.
5. sighing.
6. a slightly repressed burp (someone behind me.)
7. weights clanging in the gym downstairs.
8. a voice yelling "hey" echoing.
9. joints cracking.
10. a digital phone ringing
11. distant rumble of cars.
12. myself swallowing.
13. a door closing
14. something hitting a table, "clunk".
15. myself inhaling and exhaling.

Posted by: keri Smith on September 13, 2006 04:27 PM

I hear lots and lots of keyboards typing - I am sitting in a computer lab - so there's lots of click,click,click-idy happening!

Posted by: Megan on September 13, 2006 04:25 PM

Lovely rain, rain, rain... (and the barely audible soft snore of my dog lying on the mat at the front door).

Posted by: nadine on September 13, 2006 04:20 PM

Do I find the sound or does it find me? Right now I would say that the latter is the case as I am sitting outside a cafe in downtown Northampton as I write this. So you know the sounds I am hearing: traffic, a conversation at the table next to me, the wind blowing in the trees across the street, a distant plane in the sky, me tapping on my keyboard - but mainly trafic, Northampton Main Street is not exactly quiet :)

Posted by: Kerstin on September 13, 2006 03:43 PM

I can hear my twin boys bouncing on their bunk beds and talking about wolves and witches.

Posted by: Irene on September 13, 2006 03:24 PM

Paul talking. Joe typing. Me typing. The air conditioner blowing. Justing typing on his laptop, which makes a light tapping noise. Joe talking. The faint noise of people behind me talking, all hisses and whispers. Sometimes I like to listen with my eyes closed. I fancy I can hear better if I am not distracted by what I can see.

Posted by: ethan on September 13, 2006 03:24 PM

it's so funny, because I just looked up from my computer screen and looked out the window to hear where 'that noise' came from - I had heard the wind rustling the flowering vine that grows in my courtyard.
how beautiful is the world if only we stopped and listened to it more often?

Posted by: susan on September 13, 2006 03:19 PM

hi keri,
your class sounds fun and i love the idea of found sounds. i can hear the hum of my old refrigerator.

would love to hear your bicycle wheel music. :)
cheers!
shari

Posted by: shari on September 13, 2006 02:26 PM
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