Today’s lectorial carried on from this week’s reading by looking at sound.

We covered the basics of sound, such as the differences between listening and hearing, how soundwaves work and the components of sound.

But the part of the lectorial that interested me most was Rachel’s performance of an abridged version of John Cage’s 4′ 33″. Essentially, it was a about a minute of silence, forcing us to listen to the sounds in the room. It took me a few seconds to understand what was happening, initially I thought she was struggling to play an audio clip, but once I knew what was going on I could understand the benefit of such an exercise.

I’ve never been particularly comfortable with silence. I’m the kind of person who is constantly listening to my iPod. So taking a moment to listen to the natural sounds of my environment was different for me, but surprisingly enjoyable. It helped that there were so many other people in the room, so I could hear the buzz of the air conditioner and others speculating to one another what was happening, or perhaps discussing something completely unrelated to the class.

While I’m not about to cast my iPod aside, it probably wouldn’t hurt me to spend some time listening to the world around me and try to understand it a little better.