Blog Post #4: Say Something Bunny

Blog #2: “What I Hear”

I usually walk around the city with my headphones in, especially on Wednesdays because I have a four hour gap between classes. I live in Port Washington, so most of my week day involves commuting, leaving no time to actually explore the city. For this assignment I walked around Central Park for the first time alone. Without any headphones, I was surprised by how many sounds were around the park. Very distinct sounds at very different locations. 

The texture of the sounds varied. When walking into the park at the entrance two blocks from the school, the texture of the sounds were very broad. There would be some chit-chat happening along with runners gasping for air as their shoes hit the pavement. Gusts of wind would make its way through the chit-chat and with that there would be moments of silence. As I make my way down the park, I hear drumming in the far distance and follow the sound as I listen to it gradually get louder. From far away, the sounds were very smooth and jazz like. There are kids running around as I approach sections of the park that has rocks. As I get to where the music is coming from. There are three men playing two instruments. Two men were taking turns playing the drums and a man playing the saxophone. Being front and center of the band, the texture of the sounds become very sharp and concrete. I was able to hear each snare, symbol, and bass hit. The saxophone played more of a background sound, while the drums stole the show as the foreground sound. 

Passing by the music, I hit a crowd of people. I hear the shouting of people naming different countries and states with very different accents. The texture of the sounds was a little more distorted and cluttered than before. Various tones of voices and cheering surrounded performers about to jump a long line of people at varying heights. 

My last two destinations had very lacy textured sounds. I went to a bridge that looked over people on boats in the water. From time to time, I’d hear some of the conversations, but they would lace there way into the foreground sounds. The foreground sounds were trees shaking in the wind and leaves moving against the wood of the bridge. After passing the bridge, I went to a little section of the park that had a gazebo where no one was around. I heard lots of ruffling in the trees following with the sound that I was waiting for after an hour. The texture of this sound is rich, yet soft. The sound of birds chirping. I never realized how much I missed that sound until I compared my new living environment to my old one. Back home, I would so outside, any time of day in the summer, and just hear bird chirping. I always found that sound very calming and therapeutic. It was worth the hour wait.