Sound

During the week 7 Media Lectorial, Jasmine spoke to us about the element of ‘Sound’.

She described sound as being pervasive, multi-directional, complexly layered, intimate and prioritised by the ear. 

 

The more I think about the element of sound, the more curious I become of it.

 

Sound is constant. Even silence is a ringing in our ears.

 

Every single day we become exposed to hundreds of various noises that enter our ears and consciousness.

There are the desirable sounds. These may be our favorite music, the song of birds, the crash of waves, the laugh of our best friends. Then there are the undesirable sounds that we usually attempt to avoid. This could be the crying and screaming baby next door, the banging of construction, or the screeching of traffic.

Our classroom activity entailed tuning into our immediate environment and paying attention to the figure sound, ground sound, and field sound.

Figure: The dominant focus of interest. In our lecture room the figure sound was Jasmine’s voice as she spoke to us.

Ground: This is the sound within the setting or context. In this situation the ground sound was the hum of the projector and the subtle movement of students.

Field: The background and ambient space. For us, the background sound was the chatter of people in distant rooms and the sirens or traffic stemming from the streets below.

 

I found this topic and activity both quite interesting. There is so much auditory material persistently surrounding us, and as human beings we tend to block out so much of it. This is in order to prioritise the figure sounds.

 

Jasmine also chatted to us about other some aspects of sound such as social distance and soundscape.

In conclusion, I found Jasmines part of the lecture interesting, informative, and engaging.  I always thoroughly enjoy observing and deconstructing the everyday elements of life. The ones that we often take for granted.