You have a number of steps for your homework this first week. MOST IMPORTANT among them is to spend time actively listening!

Listen as you sit, listen as you walk, listen as you lay. Think about sound and about the qualities of sound.

One More Reading

I want you to read one more article, by Pauline Oliveros for this week.

• Oliveros, Pauline. “Some Sound Observations”, from Audio Culture. Edited by Christopher Cox and Daniel Warner, Bloomsbury Academic, 2004.
• The article can be found on Moodle under the reading and resources tab.
• You only need to read pages 102-106

Available through the course Moodle site

Listening Response

Having read the Oliveros chapter, “Some Sound Observations”, I would like you to sit outside of wherever you live and listen. As you experience this time, try to really hear the sound events that are creating and existing in your soundscape.

You may ask yourself questions such as;

• Can I identify the source of the sound?
• Can I describe the quality of the sound?
• What is the effect of all of these sounds mixing together?
• Do I like these sounds, find them interesting, appreciate them?
• What mode of listening am I using (considering the modes of listening by Chion)
• Is there silence, and if so, what is its quality?

After listening and observing for a while, please create a new note to write your responses and thoughts in. In this note, I would like you to try and describe the soundscape or sound events that you hear. You are welcome to mimic Pauline and write as she does, or you may choose to write about this soundscape with prose that are authentic to you.

Homework Specifications

1. Listen constantly
2. Create a new discussion post on the course Moodle site in the “Week 1 Submissions” Forum under the “Listening and Introductions” section.

3. Week 1 Submission Forum under the 1 Listening and Introduction section.

4. In this discussion post, please put your name as the “Subject” and then include the following;
   1. What year/level you are (i.e. second year or junior)
   2. A few sentences on what do you hope to get from this class?
   3. What is your favorite sound?
   4. Finally, include your listening response from above.