Analysis & Reflection #1 – Question 4

Listen to the first 10 minutes of Glenn Gould’s radio documentary, “The Idea of North”.

The idea of North 10min.wav or Files are here (experimenting with different sizes and file types) If possible, use headphones. Record your impressions in a paragraph or two.

My impression of Glenn Gould’s ‘The Idea of North’ was that it was really hard to follow. I found myself not so much listening to what he was saying, but what could be heard in the soundscape. At first, the overlapping foreign voices began to confuse and overwhealm me. However, as they progressivley became more ‘one at a time’, I started to understand what they were talking about. They were talking about venturing to the north, whether it be Hudson’s Bay, Canada, Iceland or Morocco. On the other hand, I found that I kept zoning out of what they were saying and continously drawn back to the soundscape of their environment. I could hear train breaks screeching to a holt on the rails at a station. I could hear crowds of people talking, forming an ocean of incomprehendable mutter. The subjects’ accents were foreign to me, like as if they were from Canada, Germany, or somewhere with a European twang. I could hear it in their voices, and it distracted me. I couldn’t focus on much else when the first subject began to talk, as I was too busy trying to uncover the origins of her accent. All in all, the radio documentary, while confusing, was interesting at times to listen to. It made me think about what I could hear, as well as making me think or imagine the origins of the sounds I could hear.