Sound Walk.

I did the Sound Walk with students from AUT early this week. Could be a new dance craze sweeping the nation...now what would that look like? But no, I lead these mostly very young folk around downtown Auckland and we listened. I devised a wee form they could fill out as they listened, suggesting things to listen out for. It asks them to note the presence/absence of the following qualities in a particular sound they are hearing:

Emotion (-: )-: |-:
Duration S/M/L
Frequency H/M/L
Drone Y/N
Melodic Y/N
Rhythmic Y/N
Proximity N/M/D
Location F/L/R/B
Natural Y/N
Mechanical Y/N
Distraction Tally:

Here is my explanation of each category:

Emotion – does the sound provoke an emotional reaction in you?
Positive (-: Negative )-: Neutral |-:

Duration – how long is the sound you have noticed?
Short/Medium/Long.

Frequency – Is the sound that has captured your attention of High Mid or Low frequency?

Drone - Does the sound have sustained/continuous qualities?
Yes or No.

Melody - do you hear a melody in the sound? Yes or No.

Rhythm - is the sound rhythmic? Yes or No.

Proximity – how close is the sound to you?
Near/Mid distance/Distant.

Location – where is the sound relative to where you are facing? Front/Left/Right/Behind.

Natural – is the sound a product of nature? Yes or No

Mechanical – is the sound the product of a machine? Yes or No.

Distraction Tally - track how often your thoughts distract you from listening to the sounds around you. Try not to be judgemental if you keep being distracted by your thoughts. Just make a note in the tally and return your concentration to what you can hear.

The Distraction Tally is the most interesting part of this process to my mind. I've always been intrigued how a thought, which has no objective decibel reading, can drown out even very loud sounds. And its nice to sneak in some good old fashioned mindfulness training thanks be to Shakyamuni!