A Study of Sound
When I spent ten minutes in silence, I noticed many things. I heard the constant buzzing outside Glass Hall through my open window. Voices carried through the air from the hall outside my apartment or from the stairs leading to the gate. I could hear the clang of the gate opening and closing, as well as a rhythmic banging as if someone was hitting a metal railing over and over for about five seconds. My roommates were getting ready to go to class–printing papers, zipping backpacks, drinking water, washing dishes.
I found my mind wandering, but not in the way it usually does. Usually, when my mind wanders I think about my plans for the day or week or whatever I had just watched/read, or what I planned to watch/read, or I think of ideas for the story I am currently working on. This time, however, I was focused on sound. My mind wandered to thoughts like “What is making that buzzing sound? Why? Where are those people going? Who are they talking to?” As I thought and listened, I looked around my room but I did not notice anything because I was focused on sound, not sight. I looked at my room as I always had, and I noticed nothing out of the ordinary. It was just me, sound, and my thoughts.
The biggest thing I noticed was myself. I was lying on my bed with my hands on my stomach, and with nothing but soft background noise to occupy me, my attention was drawn to my body. I felt the bed beneath me conforming to my body. My heartbeat resonated through my hands on my stomach. I observed the length of my breaths and felt my stomach rising and falling with each one. My bare arms were cold, the rest of my body a comfortable temperature. I felt the tug on my head made by my braided hair and its weight on my shoulder. My rings, bracelet, watch, and necklace felt like a second skin since I wear them every day. It was almost as if there was nothing but me.
I felt that present-ness again when I switched to the heightened sound environment. For that, I played three of my most “hype” songs using headphones with the volume all the way up. Those songs are ones that always get me moving and seem to lift my body up with their energy, so I immersed myself in them and tried to focus solely on them. With the music playing so loud, it felt like it was really in my head. The sound was coming through my headphones, but it felt as if there was a speaker in the center of my brain playing the music throughout my entire body, but mostly my head. I could barely fight the instinct to dance as if no one was watching. The music took over everything, so even when I looked around the room or at other people, I felt detached from it all as if nothing else existed.
With this focus on the music itself, I was aware of things I had not noticed before in the songs. There were instruments I had not heard before and harmonies I never noticed. There were shifts in the presentation of the music–on the left side, right side, or both–that were completely new to me and changed the way I heard it. Unlike before when everything was silent, my mind could not wander because it was so focused on the music and noticing things there that I had never heard before.
Both experiences were very interesting and informative. The ten minutes of silence passed a lot quicker than I had expected since I was focused on being aware and noticing everything I was feeling–emotionally and physically. With the silence, I was very aware of my body while still listening for background noise and observing my wandering thoughts. With the heightened sound, I was aware of my head as I listened to the music that felt like it was coming from me. It felt as though I was standing next to the artists as they recorded their songs.
These experiences have definitely taught me to be more aware of sound, as it really does have a significant impact on life. Even the absence of sound means something if you are willing to listen.
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