Hofstra Drama 20 – Sound for the Theatre

Date: March 13th, 2022

Location and Time: My bedroom, 5:58pm

Far Sounds: An airplane flying over, water pouring into the sink from our broken washer, buttons scraping the dryer, leaves rustling outside my window, truck driving by, the hum of the dryer

Medium Sounds: Evening doves chirping, a crow flying above and cawing, neighbor bringing their trash bin out, my radiator making a low humming noise, Nia walking up the basement stairs, Lizzy shutting her door upstairs, neighbor getting into car and starting it

Close Sounds: Lizzy singing “Smoking Out the Window” by Bruno Mars, Lizzy adjusting the clocks on the microwave and oven, someone washing dishes in the kitchen and humming, chickadee that is chirping outside my window

Sound Description/Level: Serene, calm with an occasional blip

One Word: Calming

Most Important Sounds: Evening doves chirping, Lizzy adjusting the clocks, neighbor dragging trash bin out, Lizzy serenading me

Date and Location: March 13th, 6:15pm, Living Room

Far Sounds: Anna and Andrew talking upstairs, footsteps upstairs, cupboard being closed, bag being dropped on the floor, creaking of the radiators, car driving in the street/wheels on the road

Medium Sounds: Front door being opened and closed, front door locking, someone walking up the stairs, water heater clinking, faucet in kitchen running

Close Sounds: Creaking of sliding door/wind against the door, laptop keys clacking, low hum of mini fridge, laptop whirring, Joey talking with me, laptop being closed shut

General Sound level and Atmosphere: mostly quiet; what an average evening sounds like in our house with a steady soundscape that I recognize as normal

One Word: Comfortable

Three Important Sounds: Low hum of the mini fridge, Joey talking with me, footsteps upstairs

March 13th, 2:11 pm, The Adams Playhouse lobby

Far Sounds: Faint windy buzz from the air system, muffled sounds of dialog, doors opening and shutting

Medium Sounds: circus-like music, opera singing, laughter, applause, occasional gasps

Close Sounds: footsteps, keys clanking, voices and footsteps as people walk through, keyboard clicking

General Sound level and atmosphere: a medium level of sound, it rises and falls with the show, there’s a decent variety of sounds but the majority of them are muffled

One Word Description: Pensive

Three Essential Sounds: Music, applause, muffled dialog

March 11th 2022

Eve Journal 2 

DATE: 03/09/2022

TIME: 11:00 pm 

LOCATION of the sound environment: In my room Bill of Rights 1113 

• Identify and list the sounds farthest away from you.

Sound of the trees moving

Some people yelling in the street

The cars on the road and the ambulance

• Identify and list the sounds at a medium range from you. 

Noise of doors closing

RA on duty

Voices from other students in the hallways

• Identify and list the sounds closest to you (You can include internal sounds if noticed or relevant).

The wind hitting the windows

Typing in the computer

• Describe the general sound level and amount of sound activity.

The level and activity of sound varies because inside it is really low and quiet and outside is really high and strong.

• Assign a one word description to the “sound environment”.

Unbalanced

• Select and list 3 sounds which are essential to the sound environment. 

• The wind hitting the windows
• Ambulance and cars
• Students opening and closing their doors

Date: March 8, 2022

Location and Time: Psibrary in Lowe, 4:08 pm

Far Sounds: students rehearsing in musical theater class, footsteps going upstairs

Medium Sounds: freshman talking, laughing, and singing in the drounge, opening and closing of Lowe doors

Close Sounds: Nicole and Olivia typing on their computers, Olivia adjusting her chair 

Sound Description/ Level: Energetic, loud

One Word: Bustling 

Most important sounds: people talking, doors opening and closing

1. March 11th- 6:00PM-Outside of Axinn Library 
2. Far Sounds~  Clanking as the wind whips and makes the flag hit the flag pole, thudding of footsteps as people are walking off of the Unispan, wind whistling 
3. Medium Sounds~ Chirping of birds in trees and the scratching/scuttling of squirrels running up trees and their branches. 
4. Close Sounds~ Rustling of leaves from the tree I am sitting directly under, the labored breathing of the person next to me as they experience a cold chill from the wind in question. 
5. There seems to be a lot of sound activity happening but the level it is being produced is very soft and would be considered background noise that goes unnoticed during the regular day. 
6. Serene
7. Chirping of the birds, the rustling of the leaves, the slight whistle of the wind-  these three sounds I would say are essential to keeping the sound environment in tact. They all represent sounds in nature, furthermore a representation of how serene nature can be if we stopped to listen. 

Date: February 27, 2022

Location and Time: The Joan and Donald Schaeffer Black Box Theater, 1:50 pm 

Far Sounds: Muffled chatter of audience members sitting farther away from me, the faint pinging of a sound effect from the show, a phone falling out of someone’s pocket and hitting the ground

Medium Sounds: Clanging of seats as people were getting settled, Sigma Capella’s ICCA set playing on a phone a few rows ahead of me, Avery, Ben, and Cindy talking, someone coughing

Close Sounds: Joey speaking to me, footsteps of people approaching seats

Sound Description/Level: Light, casual pre-show chatter, not too noisy

One Word: Cheery

Most Important Sounds: People talking, accapella music, jingling of seats 

Sunday, February 27th, 2:36pm

Location: The breakfast nook at Jane Street

Far Sounds: A car speeding on the main road, The Dixie Chicks playing in Lizzy’s room, the wind making the branches creak, trash bags rustling in the wind 

Medium Sounds: The dryer going, a metal button scraping in the dryer, Tori and Arianna laughing and talking, a car with a loud muffler driving by my house, doors creaking open and close, the wind whistling up against the windows, someone listening to country in the upstairs bathroom

Close sounds: My phone playing “More Than This” by One Direction, the mesh screen hitting the window, Tori and Arianna pouring water in the kitchen, chair creaking underneath me, radiator blowing out hot air in the bathroom

 Sound Description/Level: Loud but quiet, the only constant sound is the dryer going. It is like I am trying to focus on all of these sounds at once but they all happen so quickly. Sometimes all the sounds can be heard at once, but sometimes it is only the dryer that is going

One Word Description: Sporadic

Most important sounds: The mesh screen hitting on the window, Tori and Arianna laughing, metal button scraping in the dryer, chair creaking

February 27th, 10:08 AM

Location: The couch in my bedroom, facing the open door toward the living room

Farthest: An airplane flying overhead, a car driving by, Anna playing music in her room far down the hallway behind her closed door, Anna’s metal garland pattering against her door as it swings open

Medium: Andrew’s loud footsteps as he walks between his room and the kitchen across the wood floor in the hallway, Andrew rolling a suitcase across the kitchen tiles, the low hum of the refrigerator, Anna sneezing, Andrew saying bless you

Closest: Andrew’s door slowly creaking open, his metal sign hitting the door as it closes, my stomach grumbling

General sound level: There is a low but constant noise as the baseline in this environment, especially with the music playing; it feels like there is a chaos contained to the point where it feels calm from the outside

Sound environment: Contained

Defining sounds: Andrew’s footsteps across the hallway floor, the music playing behind Anna’s closed door, the suitcase rolling over the tiles

Time/Location: Paper Source, 4:00 pm, 2/25/22

Far Sounds: cars driving past, honking, slight wind, light rain

Medium Sounds: construction from next door (muffled banging and screw guns), clacking key boards, boxes scraping over the ground

Close Sounds: miscellaneous customer conversations, loud contemporary pop music, scanner beeping

Sound Description/Level: Quite loud, always slightly overwhelming but just enough to set you on edge, many different kinds of sounds overlapping each other, conversations rise and fall but the music is a steady volume

One Word Description: hectic

Most important sounds: loud pop music, customer conversations, scanner beeping, and scraping boxes