Sound Off! Parent Letter (a.m.)
Dear SEP Families,
“What sounds like home?” and “What music do we like to listen to?” These were some of the questions asked throughout this course. These discussions helped us uncover how sound guides us through life. Some sounds provide familiarity and a sense of comfort, such as a mother’s voice or the laughter of our friends. We charted out the soundscape of SEP, reflecting on how our experiences at St. Anne’s Belfield are shaped by the sounds around us. We also took a trip to the University of Virginia, examining how the concept of “noise” has changed over time at the institution, and shaped its history and reception.
The students had fun while learning throughout all of these lessons and activities, taking joy from the science and history of sounds, and using the class to enhance their experience at SEP. I believe that the Sound Design project was everyone’s favorite part of the class. The students were asked to make the soundtrack for a silent film, creating everything from the sounds of walking to the background music. Everyone contributed to this project, coming up with creative ways to tell the story of the film through sound. But more than anything, the project highlighted the main lesson of the class: that sound can be created and understood in infinite ways.
Some lessons were learned quickly, such as the way our ears work, or how songs can be structured. Others took more time, specifically the way sound has come to mean many things throughout history. This knowledge does not come through a short lecture, but must be discovered and explored continuously. We often discussed questions like, “How does sound convey information?” While these questions can be challenging, that does not mean they cannot be fun. Our Sound Design project was a creative attempt to engage with these thoughts by thinking about how to tell a story through abstract sounds
“What sounds like home?” and “What music do we like to listen to?” These were some of the questions asked throughout this course. These discussions helped us uncover how sound guides us through life. Some sounds provide familiarity and a sense of comfort, such as a mother’s voice or the laughter of our friends. We charted out the soundscape of SEP, reflecting on how our experiences at St. Anne’s Belfield are shaped by the sounds around us. We also took a trip to the University of Virginia, examining how the concept of “noise” has changed over time at the institution, and shaped its history and reception.
The students had fun while learning throughout all of these lessons and activities, taking joy from the science and history of sounds, and using the class to enhance their experience at SEP. I believe that the Sound Design project was everyone’s favorite part of the class. The students were asked to make the soundtrack for a silent film, creating everything from the sounds of walking to the background music. Everyone contributed to this project, coming up with creative ways to tell the story of the film through sound. But more than anything, the project highlighted the main lesson of the class: that sound can be created and understood in infinite ways.
Some lessons were learned quickly, such as the way our ears work, or how songs can be structured. Others took more time, specifically the way sound has come to mean many things throughout history. This knowledge does not come through a short lecture, but must be discovered and explored continuously. We often discussed questions like, “How does sound convey information?” While these questions can be challenging, that does not mean they cannot be fun. Our Sound Design project was a creative attempt to engage with these thoughts by thinking about how to tell a story through abstract sounds
Sound Off! Parent Letter (p.m.)
Dear SEP Families,
Early on, the students began to understand that sound can mean an infinite number of things. It is this aspect of sound that allows it to guide us through our lives. We talked about what “home” sounds like to each of us, the importance of everyday conversations, and why we listen to certain songs when we’re happy or sad. Part of this rested in how sounds are created and heard, with differences in melody, timbre, technology, and volume representing various ideas. We also discussed the idea of “silence,” and the multiple ways we can understand what makes an environment a “quiet” one. For example, we spent some time writing down the sounds we hear at SEP, and talked about which ones we would add or remove to make St. Anne’s Belfield a quieter space for students.
The students had fun while learning throughout all of these lessons and activities, taking joy from the science and history of sounds, and using the class to enhance their experience at SEP. I believe that the Sound Design project was everyone’s favorite part of the class. The students were asked to make the soundtrack for a silent film, creating everything from the sounds of walking to the background music. Everyone contributed to this project, coming up with creative ways to tell the story of the film through sound. But more than anything, the project highlighted the main lesson of the class: that sound can be created and understood in infinite ways.
Some lessons were learned quickly, such as the way our ears work, or how songs can be structured. Others took more time, specifically the way sound has come to mean many things throughout history. This knowledge does not come through a quick lecture, but must be discovered and explored continuously. We often discussed questions like, “How does sound convey information?” While these questions can be challenging, that does not mean they cannot be fun. Our sound design project was a creative attempt to engage with these thoughts, thinking about how to tell a story through abstract sounds.
We covered a lot of ground over these past two weeks, and our last activity, a game of Jeopardy, was a fun acknowledgment of the students’ ability to remember and digest all that we discussed. I am very pleased to say that they not only learned quite a bit, but enjoyed learning it.
Early on, the students began to understand that sound can mean an infinite number of things. It is this aspect of sound that allows it to guide us through our lives. We talked about what “home” sounds like to each of us, the importance of everyday conversations, and why we listen to certain songs when we’re happy or sad. Part of this rested in how sounds are created and heard, with differences in melody, timbre, technology, and volume representing various ideas. We also discussed the idea of “silence,” and the multiple ways we can understand what makes an environment a “quiet” one. For example, we spent some time writing down the sounds we hear at SEP, and talked about which ones we would add or remove to make St. Anne’s Belfield a quieter space for students.
The students had fun while learning throughout all of these lessons and activities, taking joy from the science and history of sounds, and using the class to enhance their experience at SEP. I believe that the Sound Design project was everyone’s favorite part of the class. The students were asked to make the soundtrack for a silent film, creating everything from the sounds of walking to the background music. Everyone contributed to this project, coming up with creative ways to tell the story of the film through sound. But more than anything, the project highlighted the main lesson of the class: that sound can be created and understood in infinite ways.
Some lessons were learned quickly, such as the way our ears work, or how songs can be structured. Others took more time, specifically the way sound has come to mean many things throughout history. This knowledge does not come through a quick lecture, but must be discovered and explored continuously. We often discussed questions like, “How does sound convey information?” While these questions can be challenging, that does not mean they cannot be fun. Our sound design project was a creative attempt to engage with these thoughts, thinking about how to tell a story through abstract sounds.
We covered a lot of ground over these past two weeks, and our last activity, a game of Jeopardy, was a fun acknowledgment of the students’ ability to remember and digest all that we discussed. I am very pleased to say that they not only learned quite a bit, but enjoyed learning it.
Resources for Continued Learning
Books that your student might find interesting
• Haunted Weather: Music, Silence and Memory by David Toop
• Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening by David Hendy
• The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World by R. Murray Schafer
Websites with great sound studies resources
• Record the Earth (https://www.recordtheearth.org/)
• Everyday Listening (http://www.everydaylistening.com/)
• Sounding Out! (https://soundstudiesblog.com/)
• British Library Sounds (http://sounds.bl.uk/)
• World Soundscape Project (http://www.sfu.ca/~truax/wsp.html)
Thank you for being a part of SEP Session 3!
• Haunted Weather: Music, Silence and Memory by David Toop
• Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening by David Hendy
• The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World by R. Murray Schafer
Websites with great sound studies resources
• Record the Earth (https://www.recordtheearth.org/)
• Everyday Listening (http://www.everydaylistening.com/)
• Sounding Out! (https://soundstudiesblog.com/)
• British Library Sounds (http://sounds.bl.uk/)
• World Soundscape Project (http://www.sfu.ca/~truax/wsp.html)
Thank you for being a part of SEP Session 3!
