Recientemente, he estado trabajado en un ensayo para mi clase de la historia musical del siglo XX. Tuvimos la libertad de escoger nuestros propios temas por este ensayo, y elegí escribir sobre la composición de John Cage que se llama 4’33”. En toda mi vida, especialmente en mis clases de la música en la preparatoria, la idea de esta composición me parecía como una broma. Sin embargo, esto no era mi culpa. Incluso mis maestros me decían que la composición les parecía muy rara, y por eso, estaba de acuerdo con ellos hasta que aprendí como escuchar.

Recently, I have been working on an essay for my 20th century music history class. We had the opportunity to choose our own topics for this essay, and I choose to write about John Cage’s composition titled 4’33”. Throughout my entire life, especially in my high school music classes, the idea of this composition seemed like a joke to me. However, this wasn’t necessarily my fault. Even my teachers used to tell me that the composition seemed really weird to them, and because of that, I agreed with them until I learned how to listen.

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La cosa más fascinante sobre esta composición es que fue inspirada por el uso excesivo de música de la fonda (en ingles, se llama “background music”) en los 1940s y 50s. The Muzak Company estaba transmitiendo música adentro de restaurantes, casas, oficinas, aviones, autobuses, y básicamente cualquier lugar público imaginable. A Cage, él pensaba que el mundo debería aprender a apreciar los sonidos non-musicales. Creía que no había necesidad de llenar cada lugar público con la música y que hacerlo era una atrocidad y una violación grave de los derechos humanos básicos.

The most interesting thing about this piece is that it was inspired by the excessive use of background music in the 1940s and 50s. The Muzak Company was broadcasting music into restaurantes, houses, offices, planes, buses, and basically any imaginable public place. Cage thought that the world should learn how to appreciate non-musical sounds. He believed that it wasn’t necessary to fill every public place with music and that to do so was an atrocity and a serious violation of basic human rights.

Aunque esto era la meta de esta composición, la recepción pública fue muy mal. No entendían el mensaje de Cage sobre los sonidos del mundo, y le pareció a la audiencia como un acto llamativo. En realidad, la meta de Cage era enfatizar la presencia constante del sonido. Incluso cuando no escuchamos a la música, estamos rodeados de varios sonidos: el viento, las aviones, la risa, etcetera. Cage sabía que después de las guerras, el mundo estaba empezando a ahogar muchas ideas y culturas, y por eso, él sabía que también estaba empezando a ahogar sus sonidos. A Cage, la música significaba la cultura, la idea, el pensamiento, la palabra — no solo las notas que se tocan por los músicos que vemos en el escenario.

Although this was the goal of his composition, public reception of the piece was really bad. The audience didn’t understand Cage’s message about the sounds of the world, and to them, the piece seemed like a mere flamboyant act. In reality, Cage’s goal was to emphasize the constant presence of sound. Even when we aren’t listening to music, we are surrounded by various sounds: the wind, planes, laughter, etc. Cage knew that, after the wars, the world was starting to drown out many idas and cultures, and because of that, he know that the world was also starting to drown out their sounds. To Cage, music meant cultures, ideas, thoughts, words — not just the notes that are played by the musicians that we see on the stage.

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Si esta composición no hubiera sido presentado al mundo en 1952, ¿quién sabe como sería la sociedad hoy? ¿Nos importarían los sonidos además de la música en absoluto? Estoy agradecido de que Cage compuso 4’33” e hizo esa declaración filosófica porque yo veo la importancia y el valor del escuchar, y sé que es mi deber continuar la misión de Cage.

If this composition hadn’t been presented to the world in 1952, who knows how society would be today? Would we care about sounds besides music at all? I am thankful that cage composed 4’33” and made this philosophical statement because I see the importance and the value of listening, and I know that it is my duty to continue Cage’s mission.

En el 24 de octubre, 2019, el laboratorio acústico dirigió un taller sobre los sonidos del desierto Sonoran. Lo planeamos algunas semanas por adelanto, y afortunadamente, todos los participantes les gustó al fin. Aunque la mayoridad de nosotros nos sentimos un poco incómodos al principio, la discusión que tuvimos al fin del taller probó que hicimos un real impacto en cada persona allí.

On October 24th, 2019, the acoustic ecology lab lead a workshop about the sounds of the Sonoran desert. We planned it a few weeks in advance, and fortunately, all of the participants were pleased in the end. Although the majority of us felt a little uncomfortable at first, the discussion that we had at the end proved that we made a real impact on each person there.

Empezamos con una introducción muy breve sobre la identidad del laboratorio, y Derek dirigió una actividad donde cada persona hizo un movimiento en su propio cuerpo para hacer un sonido que se introdujo. Fue muy interesante ver los tipos de movimientos que hizo cada persona. Nadie me pareció tan incómodo con esto.

We started with a very brief introduction about who we are, and Derek lead an activity where each person made a movement on their own bodies in order to make a sound that introduced them. It was really interesting to see the types of movements that each person made. Nobody seemed too uncomfortable with this.

Una foto que tomé en febrero de 2019 en las montañas Superstitions / A photo I took in February 2019 in the Superstition Mountains

Después de la introducción, empezamos la próxima actividad. Entonces, había siete estaciones donde los participantes podían improvisar con la voz y los varios instrumentes “naturales” que proporcionamos, como piedras, palos, frijoles, hojas, papel, y más. Cada estación se dedicó a un tipo de sonido específico: tuvimos estaciones por biofonía, geofonía, y antrofonía (las otras estaciones fueron dedicadas a relajar y enfocar en los sonidos que los otros participantes estaban haciendo).

After the introduction, we started the next activity. At this point, there were seven stations where the participants could improvise with their voices or the various “natural” instruments that we provided, like stones, sticks, beans, leaves, paper, and more. Each station was dedicated to a specific type of sound: we had stations for biophony, geophony, and anthrophony (the other stations were dedicated for relaxing and focusing on the sounds that the other participants were making).

Al principio, casi nadie estaba muy entusiasta con esta actividad, pero cuando todos nosotros nos damos cuento que estábamos haciendo una conversación profunda entre los distintos grupos, algo mágico pasó. La comunicación entre los grupos fue asombrosa, y finalmente estábamos creando la escena acústica de una tormenta de lluvia en el desierto. Algunas personas estaban haciendo el sonido de la lluvia, otros el sonido del trueno, otros las aves, otros los insectos, y de repente el teatro realmente empezó sonar como si estuviéramos en el desierto Sonoran.

At first, few people appeared to be enthusiastic about the activity, but when we all realized that we were having a deep conversation between the different groups, something magical happened. The communication between the groups was amazing, and eventually we were creating the acoustic scene of a rainstorm in the desert. Some people were making the sounds of the rain, some the sounds of the thunder, the birds, the insects, and suddenly the theater really started to sound as if we were in the Sonoran desert.

Una foto que tomé en agosto de 2018 en St. David, AZ / A photo that I took in August 2018 in St. David, AZ

Al fin del taller, hicimos una actividad que yo dirigí donde todos los participantes se formaron un túnel, y todos nosotros usaban cualquier forma de hacer sonido que pudiéramos para imitar la ecología acústica del desierto Sonoran. Mientras estábamos creando este mundo sonoro, cada participante tuvo la oportunidad de caminar por el túnel y experimentar la mágica del sonido imaginativo. Esta actividad me gustó mucho, y creo que fue muy exitosa. En general, HIDA Day fue un éxito real, y ¡me alegro que el laboratorio tuvo la oportunidad de hacerlo otra vez!

At the end of the workshop, we did an activity that I lead where all of the participants formed a tunnel, and we all used any form of making sound that we could to imitate the acoustic ecology of the Sonoran desert. While we were creating this sonic world, each participant had the opportunity to walk through the tunnel and experience the magic of imaginative sound. I liked this activity a lot, and I think that it was quite successful. Overall, HIDA Day was a real success, and I’m glad that the lab had the opportunity to partake in it again!

En nuestro último paseo del sonido, Anne-Marie y yo nos dimos cuenta de que mucha gente nos da miradas raras cuando caminamos por el campus sin hablar, sin hacer ruido. No tratamos de ganar atención, pero por alguna razón, la falta de sonido entre un grupo de personas hace que la gente se sienta incómoda. Aún cuando hay una falta de conversación, la gente usualmente recurre al distraerle con sus celulares, mirando a redes sociales o aún fingiendo que sí tienen cosas importantes de las que preocuparles.

Cuando nos dimos cuenta que era prácticamente imposible movernos a través de un espacio así sin recibir miradas raras, nos puso un poco frustrados. ¿Por qué es más aceptado distraerse constantemente con nuestros celulares, con nuestra música (gracias a los AirPods), y con millones de otras cosas que simplemente parar y escuchar? Por qué soy el extraño si no tengo mi celular en mano en cualquier momento que no estoy hablando con alguien o estoy sólo en público?

Me gusta preguntarme cómo sería el mundo si a la gente le gustara escucharlo. ¿Daríamos cuenta mejor a nuestros alrededores? ¿Escucharíamos mejor a nuestros amigos? ¿Nos sentiríamos más conectados al mundo y nuestros hábitats e ecologías? Creo que probablamente sí. Cada vez que Anne-Marie y yo lideramos un paseo del sonido, notamos algo increíble — ya sea es un músico tocando por casualidad o es el fuerte sonido del trueno antes de que comience una tormenta. Sin importar lo que notamos, siempre hace que me sienta más conectado al mundo — un gran sentimiento con el cual finalizar el día.

Recientemente, Garth me envió un enlace de una entrevista entre dos personas que estaban hablando sobre paseos de sonido: lo que significa caminar, escuchar, y hacer una combinación de los dos. El científico del sonido, Steven Feld, tiene una perspectiva muy profunda del movimiento, y cree que es la cosa más importante para entenderlo. Como explica al entrevistador, Carlos Palombini, el paseo de sonido se lleva a cabo en la cabeza y el cuerpo, en la manera de escuchar, en la atención al campo de sonido que nos rodea. Además, dice que aunque sí nos movemos a través del espacio durante un paseo de sonido, lo que lo convierte en un paseo de sonido es nuestro cambio de atención. Como ya sabemos, el sonido es algo que solamente ocurre en la mente. En otras palabras, creamos todos los sonidos que oímos basado en nuestras experiencias, recuerdos, emociones, educaciones, culturas, y mucho más. De hecho, Steven Feld nota que su historia de escuchar y aprender a escuchar, durante los últimos 25 años — básicamente, sus últimos 25 años de vivir y ser humano — le han ayudado mucho en desarrollar su habilidad de experimentar el mundo sonoro.

Aún así, Feld dice que incluso cuando nos quedamos quietos, el sonido todavía tiene una fundación basado en el movimiento. Las ondas sonoras empujan el polvo que está en el aire y todas las partículas que no podemos ver para darnos una idea del estado actual del mundo que nos rodea. Recuerdo que Garth me ha dicho en el pasado que escuchar es una experiencia encarnada, porque cuando recordamos un sonido que nos gusta (o que no nos gusta), el recuerdo nos da más información que sólo el sonido que escuchamos. También nos da información sobre el olor, los colores, las luces, y como nos sentimos en el momento. Cuando sonidos entran nuestras orejas, ya están a cargo del estado actual del mundo, dándonos información en un nivel más profundo que podemos entender ahora.

Lo que tratan de hacer los científicos de sonidos como Steven Feld, las ecologistas, y los artistas es difundir el conocimiento la importancia del sonido con el resto del mundo. La esperanza es que este conocimiento aumente el nivel al que la naturaleza (animales, montañas, ríos, árboles, insectos, y desiertos) le importa a la gente. Con tiempo y más personas como Steven Feld, ¡estoy seguro que el mundo puede cambiar y empezar a escuchar más!

On May 13, 2019, Anne-Marie Shaver and I were interviewed by Maggie Dellow and Jonah Hrkal at the Fulton Center on the ASU Tempe campus for the “Innovation Happens @ ASU” podcast, a program that highlights the different groundbreaking projects that are going on within the university. After Jonah participated in a soundwalk with us a few months ago, he decided that the Acoustic Ecology Lab was an example of exactly the type of innovation that he thought was representative of ASU.

Over the course of our hour-long recording session, we were asked an array of truly thought-provoking questions – some of which initiated some nostalgic reflection on the year-and-a-half that Anne-Marie and I have been leading weekly soundwalks. What had we accomplished since we started? Something I know that we are both proud of is that through our weekly soundwalks, we have helped give people some listening tools that enable them hear past the buzzes, chimes, and rings everyday life, shifting their attention toward sounds that they had perhaps unnoticed.

We are also proud of the variety of people that we have been able to impact through our Soundwalk program and connections through the Acoustic Ecology Lab, such as the Speech and Hearing Clinic with Dr. Aparna Rao, the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, among others. One of the fundamental principles of soundwalking is to include anyone and everyone who is interested, so the fact that we have been able to reach out to so many people and organizations is something we are really happy about.

In fact, one of Anne-Marie’s answers to a question we were asked brilliantly encapsulated why we think that our work in the Lab is meaningful and innovative. She said (and I paraphrase), “We know that we aren’t the first ones to do this… For millennia, sounds had always been important and essential to certain indigenous populations in order to survive. I think what makes our work special is that we are taking these ancient listening practices and we are finding ways to apply them to our current situation, in a way that is relatable and approachable to anyone and everyone. ”

I couldn’t agree with Anne-Marie more. Although everything we do in the Lab is in some way or another related to sound in a general way, every project that we work on is specifically catered for a certain goal in mind. With marvelous projects like Kyle Hoefer’s gunshot detection project in Costa Rica in December 2018, for example, Anne-Marie and I were able to confidently say that the Acoustic Ecology Lab is a brilliant example of innovation happening at ASU.

Since Anne-Marie and I have started leading weekly soundwalks on campus back in February 2018, we haven’t had many participants. We usually end up with a handful of faithful regulars that come back around for a few times, but eventually dissipate for unknown reasons. Who knows? Maybe it’s just the Arizona heat that’s repelling people in these first few months of the semester.

Recently, however, Anne-Marie have been extra determined to expand our program and reach out to more students, faculty, staff, and community members. We have created our own website (https://asusoundwalks.weebly.com), we made (arguably cute) business cards, we updated our logo and printed flyers to post around our school, we have presented our program to various classes in the School of Music to gain more student participants, we performed a Pauline Oliveros piece at a School of Music social event, and we’ve done many more behind-the-scenes planning that we are excited to begin to enact. We are ready to take this program to the next level!

On our Wednesday, September 12th, 2018 soundwalk, we had a total of six participants! The majority of them were first-year music school students who heard about our soundwalk via my presentation to their class earlier this week. They were very engaged with our pre-soundwalk description of what the acoustic ecology lab does, some basic modes of listening, and things to “listen” out for while on our journey. Some of the questions they asked before we started included, “What kinds of things should we look out for?” — a great question for someone being introduced to a soundwalk. We explained that soundwalks can use many different modes of listening, including picking out individual sounds, listening to the entire sphere of sound at once, comparing two or more sounds together at once, and countless other possibilities.

After our soundwalk, which was wonderfully led by Anne-Marie, our eager participants fruitfully participated in the discussion that we initiated, and began telling us all of the new things that they noticed while paying closer attention to the sounds of our campus. From being more aware of animal presence to noticing how truly loud machinery noise can be, I’d say that we successfully introduced our participants to the wonderful world of acoustic ecology. We hope that they’ll all come back to join us on a soundwalk (or many more soundwalks) in the future, and we are excited to see how much more our program keeps growing! Stay tuned for more good news from the Acoustic Ecology Lab in the future!

Over the weekend, the Acoustic Ecology Lab presented at the Arid Lands Symposium at Scottsdale Community College in three different ways, providing meaningful outreach to the scientific communities (both professionals and citizen-scientists) of the Valley. Anne-Marie Shaver, Bailey Reynolds, and I created a poster about the sounds of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, mostly regarding how the flight noise above the land is adversely affecting the wildlife; Garth Paine gave a talk on Psychoacoustic Diversity; and I led a soundwalk planned by Anne-Marie during the Saturday lunch break.

I think it’s important to preface this blog with the fact that this conference was strongly rooted in the life sciences domain, so I’m extremely happy with how well our semi-arts-based presentations were received there. In fact, we had multiple people ask us for our business card so they could potentially get us involved in their various projects, such as community outreach for Maricopa County, Pima County, and the Town of Scottsdale, as well as brainstorming ways to get people more in touch with nature. While a number of people were intrigued by our poster presentation, the peak interest in our work undoubtedly came from the hands-on experience of the lunchtime soundwalk.

The soundwalk, though it was the largest group I’ve ever taken (there were about 12 people on the walk), it went smoothly and felt quite normal, where people felt awkward at first due to years of social conditioning telling them that all sonic absences need to be filled with music or conversation, but eventually the mood shifted to a point where everyone was comfortable enough to focus on the wide array of sounds that encapsulated them in a fruitful soundscape. The route, carefully crafted by Anne-Marie, was perfect for the walk, including locations with water, grass, gravel, concrete, bridges, heavy vegetation, and ceilings overhead. The birdsong was robust, and the campus was so calm that we could hear the sound of insects flying, with enough concentration.

The most intriguing part of the soundwalk, however, was the discussion that happened afterward. The unique combination of town and county representatives, scientists,  and other professionals helped facilitate a rich discussion about our observations during the soundwalk. One woman notably mentioned that she had accidentally forgotten to do her meditation that morning, but participating in the soundwalk helped clear her mind and essentially replace it. Moreover, another person was very concerned with how noise created by machines was disrupting the sounds of nature and wanted to know of ways to remedy it, which was inspiring to hear.

From the very beginning, one of our main goals in the lab has been to increase sonic awareness in the community, and I think that all three of our presentations greatly succeeded at it this weekend. It was inspiring to see an audience of life scientists captivated by Garth’s talk, and overall, our presence at the event led to a great number of scientists being introduced to Acoustic Ecology for the very first time. I’m proud of our work this year and our performances this weekend, and I think that events like these are the stepping stones to accomplishing even bigger feats in the future.

Last night was one of the monthly First Friday events, hosted by various organizations in the Phoenix area. The lab was lucky enough to come across the opportunity to partake in an event that was specifically hosted by ASU’s Center for Applied Behavioral Health Policy in the Westward Ho building. While equipped with three posters, two VR headsets, and an energetic atmosphere, our small  (yet effective) team from the lab was able to thoroughly educate and, in most cases, entertain everyone who stopped by.

One of the first things that we noticed when we set up our station, though, was how diverse and unique the First Friday community was. There were people from all “walks of life” — old, young, poor, wealthy, ill, healthy, and many more. However, by being present in that ballroom yesterday evening and demoing our VR headsets, along with explaining what the lab does and how what we do applies to the medical field, it seemed like all social barriers were completely nullified.

It’s hard to explain.

Perhaps the best way to put it is that when something is meaningful enough to people, when something clearly has the power to change the world for the better, to help people in need, to inspire change, to motivate research and innovation, and to instill the desire to create something impactful, the social dynamics of an environment inevitably shift. Suddenly, nothing in the room becomes more important than the thing that could potentially change the world.

Last night, the thing that people thought could change the world, was our project with the VR headsets. I had countless people approach me with genuine excitement, joy, and wonder, asking me how soon we could have our technology implemented in hospitals nationwide. Most memorably, I spoke with a woman who worked in nursing, and she passionately explained to me that the majority of patients who are terminally ill and are likely to pass away rapidly usually pity that their place of death is in a white, sterile, unknown place. She continued, and articulated that passing over would be much more peaceful and serene for patients if they had the opportunity to remotely travel to a national park of their choosing.

I also had the chance to speak with two people who worked as full-time caregivers for people of various states of mental and physical health. They explained that most of the people for whom they give care often never leave their homes, or even go into their own backyards, which often leads to a much faster declination of mental well-being than people who regularly go outdoors. Moreover, they went on to say that if each of their patients had the chance to use our technology to visit different places all over the globe, or watch concerts as if they were truly there, their happiness, motivation, and energy levels would dramatically increase.

Overall, the amount of pure emotional investment that we got in return from displaying and presenting the work that we do with the lab was outstanding. People from all “walks of life” were wholeheartedly supportive of our work and wanted to see more of it, and there were folks who approached our table not knowing a single thing about what we do, but left with magnificent smiles on their faces.

Clearly, the work that we do leaves people with a genuine sense of hope and excitement about the future, and I think that’s quite an honorable accomplishment.