Sound Ecology

When I hear the term soundscape, it makes me think of the section in Walmart by the candles that has the odd collection of CDs with waterfalls, the ocean, the rainforest, etc on them. Even though I've relied heavily on listening for information due to my poor eye-sight, I never considered my surrounding environment to be a soundscape. I enjoy walking outside and listening to the birds and the wind blow because it's relaxing. We live in a time where TVs are always on, people are on their cell phones whether texting or talking, music is playing somewhere, and more. There's a calming sense of sound minus all of the extra noise. Because of this I enjoyed the Listen video. What I got from the video is that listening to your surroundings can be more visual than actually seeing something with your eyes.

The interview with R. Murray Shafer by Anjula Razdan was very informative. It mentioned the used of sound by the military which is something I had never heard about. The section about Harley Davidson copywriting the sound of the motorcycles seems very outlandish, but at the same time having a specific sound is what sets them apart from competitors. The more familiar people are with a sound, the more comfortable they are. Sound can have a major impact on an individual whether its how you feel or how and what it makes you feel.