Subject assignment ("ontwerpopdracht") nr. 2: Making a "sound map"

Making a “sound map”: listening and "drawing sounds"
Benedict Weisser

I made the following exercise last November at Laar en Berg for a special project (klas 2 havo/vwo/MYP, English-language strean) about Smetena’s orchestral work Die Moldau. It can be done with any number of people.

Needed:
Paper, pencils, graph paper, a room with windows

1. Turn all the lights out in the room, and open all the windows.
2. On the count of three, everyone should close their eyes and be very quiet for exactly one minute.
3. Turn the light back on. What did you hear? Write everything down, no matter how seemingly unimportant.
4. Repeat step 1: turn all the lights out in the room, and open all the windows.
5. Repeat step 2: on the count of three, everyone should close their eyes and be very quiet for exactly one minute.
6. Turn the light back on. From which direction was the sound coming? Try to draw it on the paper, and pretend that you are a set of stereo loudspeakers, with your left ear being the left side of the page and your right ear being the right side of the page.
7. Can you draw a picture of the sounds? (for instance, if you heard speaking you can draw mouths open and words coming out)
8. Was it a loud sound or a soft sound? How can you draw that?
9. Was it a long sound or a short sound? How can you draw that?
10. Putting it all together, can you draw a complete “sound map” of what you heard? You need to “draw” the sounds like you did in step 7. You need to determine whether you heard them from your left or right ears as you did in step 6. You need to determine the dynamics and length as you did in steps 8 and 9. You now also need to determine where they occur on the page in relation to each other (for instance, not just “left” and “right” but which sounds were “ more left” or “more right” than others.
11. Use graph paper to work within limits. For instance, set a top and bottom limit as to how loud the loudest sound can be represented, and how soft the softest sound can be.