Listening for silence

NASA researchers conducting tests on aircraft engine noise in 1967

 

As we think about what kind of spaces where we will work with kids, I am thinking about the different qualities of sound. This year, the classroom where I volunteer shares a wall with a special needs classroom. Although sometimes shouts and other sounds come through the wall, the children I work with have become used to the sounds for the most part. I think they have gained some comfort with this proximity to these sounds through visiting the class at times and doing activities with both classes together. The special needs kids and "gen ed" kids know each other to some extent, which is good for everybody.

 

When I have had students who will be using their voices in performance, I do different listening experiments with them. I have them say words or phrases in different ways and at different volumes. Then I have them start listening to "negative space,"i.e., what it sounds like immediately after making a sound. Of course, there are echoes and ambient noise that most kids would not have noticed previously. But there are also subtleties in the transitions from noise to noise, or noise to "silence." For example, some kids experience the silence following a loud sound as spreading outward from a central point in the room, filling the room. I have kids think about these things for several reasons. There is so much to be learned by noticing your surroundings while engaging with your senses. We can also connect emotions to sound. When possible, I start a project with a quiet activity like painting, and I play music that is meditative but also has steady energy. Later we talk about how they felt during the activity, and why they think they were affected that way by the activity and the music.

 

Because children's lives are so full of noise and stimulation, we can also bring that into the discussion. How do they feel the moment after they have ended a video game? How do they feel when they are riding in a car? What ambient sounds are in their homes? Are there any sounds in their lives that will be memorable and emotional for them when they are adults? What's the quietest place they've ever been? (Mine is in a shop that sells all kinds of foam, located in the U-District. I challenge anyone to beat this example for silence.) What is the noisiest place they've ever been? I might ask them that next time they're in a quiet or noisy setting, to try to hear as many individual sounds within it as they can.

 

I feel these kinds of exercises help kids feel more connected to the places where they work, play and perform, and they enrich their experience when they are in these places. In the Choices, Choices, Choices blog post, she describes the benefits to kids of being able to chose where to work in their classroom. I can picture including small, one-person or two-person sitting "nests," making them out of foam with three walls to surround the student(s). The reason it would be small is that the noise-absorbing foam would be pretty close to the ears of whoever was in the pod, and I bet it would be noticeably quieter than the rest of the room. It would be nice to let kids experiment in making such spots to be in, also.

Acoustic diffusing mushrooms hanging from the roof of the Royal Albert Hall.