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Vancouver English Bay Soundwalk
Andra McCartney led an hour-long soundwalk through Vancouver’s English Bay on Novemeber 9, 2011, with local residents and several members of the Vancouver Soundwalk Collective. I have included some of my impressions of the soundwalk and post-walk discussion below, along with a sound and photos piece, (aptly) entitled, “Vancouver English Bay Soundwalk.” English Bay is located west of downtown Vancouver and is one of the most densely populated areas in Canada. The Bay is well-known for its fireworks display in the summer, beautiful beaches, heavy construction, a mix of ‘nature’ and the ‘city,’ and a developed calming in the fall and winter months.
After the soundwalk, the group participated in a discussion that was recorded by Jennifer Schine (Simon Frasier University). The discussion covered everything from the layers of ‘urban vitality’ experienced in the area, with someone mentioning the way more lively sounds emanate from the high-rises in the summer months; to the way “a different breed of person” seems to move through the area during the quieter seasons of the year (fall/winter), and thereby associating quiet people with a better breed of people. There was also some really interesting talk of the difference between soundwalking in a group versus soundwalking walking alone. For instance, McCartney likened the group experience to an “ephemeral community,” which seems to connect well with her current ideas around love and listening. Repetitive listening and doing soundwalks many times in the same area are also important in her construction of intimate listening. Additionally, one listener talked of being led by listening on soundwalks (rather than being led by vision). To this participant, listening is a sense that slows things down and, therefore, is better for the nervous system. However, I would like to mention that this creates a hierarchy of the senses, by privileging listening over seeing (and idealizing it at the same time)… What about the power dimensions to listening, soundmaking and soundwalking?
The discussion also touched on the following ideas, which I will put forth in point form:
-The expectation of quiet in such a densely populated area.
-The way the area performs to keep outsiders at a distance: high-rise buildings make the area difficult to get through if you’re walking; the area is perhaps more easily accessed by cars; a lot of fences in the area; the beach is not well lit at night (somehow darkness seems complicit with masculine silence); the beach also cuts out the sounds of footsteps (which makes it less safe); access to the performance space on the beach was taken away by removing the stairs to the stage, as it ‘invited’ people to sleep there; it probably also ‘invites’ people to make noise.
-An idealization of ‘nature.’
-No bird sounds (which I hear from people a lot in soundwalk discussions).
-Quiet equals good citizen; versus noisy outsiders, who are a “different breed of person.”
-Nervousness/anxiety produced when sounds do not have an identifiable source.
-The sounds of the city make for “an uninteresting lover.”
After listening to the soundwalk and the discussion recordings, I developed a series of questions for McCartney in response to what I heard. Andra, have you ever conducted a soundwalk where you did not ask people to be mindful of their own talking? I think it might be interesting methodologically to see how people ‘improvise’ on a walk without being asked to be quiet beforehand. I wonder how this might affect group dynamics? Would people silence others making too much noise? Might they be less likely to privilege ‘nature’ sounds over the sounds of the ‘city’? Or, would people still remain quiet on soundwalks without even being asked to? Does the emphasis on quiet already direct listeners towards hi-fi soundscapes?
Below is a sound and photos piece that I produced using Schine’s audio recording and Andra’s photos from the English Bay soundwalk. At the end of the piece, I incorporated a sound sample from the post-walk discussion. The piece was edited by ‘cross-fading’ between audio clips and by playing with the volume levels. No digital effects were used in the piece, in an attempt to keep the sounds recognizable and connected to the context of recording.
Vancouver New Music Soundwalk
On Wednesday, November 9th from 7-8:30pm, Andra McCartney will lead a soundwalk around the English Bay area of Vancouver, hosted by Vancouver New Music. The walk will explore the varied soundscape of this area, made up of shopping areas, beaches, parkland, residential streets and roadways. There will be a discussion before and after the soundwalk.
For more info, please visit Vancouver New Music.
Also, the Vancouver New Music website is offering DIY soundwalk instructions. Follow the link and the site will generate unique soundwalk instructions for you to follow on your next soundwalk. My instructions were:
- Begin listening.
- Go outside.
- Walk — listening — to the nearest shop.
- At your destination, identify the softest sound you can hear. Locate this sound.
This morning, following these instructions, I walked to the corner store nearest to me in the Montreal neighborhood of Mile-End where I live. On the way, I heard distant metal-on-concrete drilling, buzzing chainsaw glissandos, the swell of near and far traffic, a bass-heavy pop song in Doppler effect from a speeding car, and the crazed squeals of recess as I passed a grade school. Inside the isolated soundscape of the small store, I listened closely for the first time out of hundreds of visits: a quiet, two-way greeting with the owner (both in our second language); the loud clang of the metal bell behind me; radio music with intermittent static; and dense layers of refrigerated hum. The softest noise I hear is glass clinking. It’s coming from behind the industrial fridge doors; most likely the owner’s son (it is only ever the owner or his son who work there, everyday, from 9am to 11pm) restocking beer.
Soundwalk at IPMC Conference
On June 5, 2011, Andra McCartney led a soundwalk during the ‘Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Music in Canada’ conference held at Mount Allison University, Sackville, New-Brunswick. This clip includes a short montage of the soundwalk followed by excerpts from the post-walk discussion. Audio recording and photography: Andra McCartney. Editing and montage: David Paquette.
Sleepwalking Kuala Lumpur–Montreal video
The whole video recording of the Sleepwalking event that took place April 19, 2011 at Concordia University is now online. More information of the event can be found here. Feedback and comments are welcome in the ‘comment’ section below!
IASPM Soundwalk
On Saturday, June 18, Andra McCartney led a forty-minute soundwalk in and around the McGill University campus, with a group of 20-30 participants. The walk was part of IASPM Canada’s annual conference (Music and environment: place, context, conjuncture) and took place on a beautiful, sunny day between 4:00 and 5:45PM, including a post-walk discussion with all of the walkers. McCartney opened with a ten-minute talk in Tanna Schulich Hall in the Schulich School of Music (McGill University), where she discussed various listening strategies for the walk (being aware of the human voice, listening musically, historically, mnemonically, and evocatively), and three possibilities for the soundwalk. Participants could follow McCartney and walk as a group; leave the group at any point; or do an entirely different walk from the start. She also read a quote from an essay entitled, “In almost absolute silence”: “I am listening to you as someone and something I do not know yet, on the basis of a freedom and an openness put aside for this moment…”
Our walk intersected with an anti-fracking demonstration near McGill’s Sherbrooke St. entrance. Fracking (or Hydraulic fracturing) is the fluid-driven drilling process of increasing the extraction rates of oil and natural gas from deep rock formations. Unfortunately it creates numerous health and environmental problems, including the contamination of fresh ground water reserves (i.e. our drinking water). A group of twenty protestors arrived in Montreal, walking from Rimouski, QC (634 km), joined by others along the way, to protest gaz de schiste. More information on ‘La Marche Moratoire’ can be found here: http://www.rimouskimontreal.net/
In the post-walk discussion, participants commented on the lack of birds throughout the walk, the way McGill’s campus has become more pedestrian-friendly, the numerous air conditioners and “air-handling” on the campus, the different campus activities that occur on weekends (e.g. less construction), the contrast between the campus and the city, and the “sonically (and architecturally) interesting” triangular courtyard behind the music building, filled with the sounds of musicians practicing and (more) air vents. One participant mentioned a Portuguese poet who writes about sound and memory; another talked of using audio recorders on soundwalks; another participant discussed the return of the HVAC in Toronto after a major power out…