Listening in the park

Field experience reflection

We went to Millennium park as a school to listen to the Sonic Pavilion Festival. These were soundscapes in the Pritzker Pavilion. We ate lunch and then walked over to listen. It was our first field experience of this school year. I was very interested in what we heard. We were thinking about what makes a classroom and how we use the space and senses around us. I was very inspired by this field experience.


I listened to two different soundscapes. The first one was Fulcrum by Kitundu. Before reading the program, I thought the soundscape he produced sounded like birds flapping their wings. This was really interesting to me because I have two pet birds. It also sounded like cars going by on a busy street and going over potholes. After I read the program I learned that Kitundu was inspired by birds. It was nice to know that I perceived what he intended. His execution reflected his inspiration.

We were instructed to draw what the sounds made us feel. Since the sound was moving from left to right, I had the colors become more transparent as they moved right. I also drew potholes and a wing of sorts. It reminded me of living in a city and spending time with my birds. Since I live on a busy street when I am spending time with my birds I often hear the sounds of cars and trucks going by. This sound brought pleasant memories. I felt connected to the sounds.



The second soundscape was Sonorous Admittings by Kioto Aoki. The sounds caught me off guard. There were loud drums. This made me feel anxious and overwhelmed. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to feel or react. Sometimes with music or sounds you can guess the intentions of the artist but I couldn't with this. This was very perplexing since I couldn’t identify the emotions I was supposed to feel. Some artists have an intentional emotion or feeling in mind but I didn’t know what the goal was.

For this, I drew the sounds and the emotions I felt. There were many loud singular sounds. I was largely inspired by how the sound moved across the space. The sounds were strong so I chose strong colors. The soundscape didn’t feel sharp but instead dull and strong, like a thud. I didn’t know how to represent this. I didn’t know how to represent this without using sharp lines or sharp shapes. I felt stuck.

After this field experience I had several questions I wanted to think about.

Questions:
1. What is the purpose of sound?
2. How can we use sounds to do a job?
3. How can sound affect education?
4. How can we use all the senses to teach?
5. How does sound affect focus?
6. What defines a classroom?
7. Can we use sound to create a more immersive classroom experience?

This field experience inspired me to think about what defines a classroom and what is my relationship to sound. I am often very sensitive with my senses. I struggle with different sounds and textures and I found this acted as a challenge to push myself to focus through different sounds that I may not be comfortable with.