Hofstra Drama 20 – Sound for the Theatre

1- 2/4/13 – 4:24 PM – Unispan
2- Identify and list the sounds farthest away from you. – Furthest away from me, down at the bottom of the ramp I could hear the low roar of the people and activities in the student center. There was a distinct echo and more hollow noise that one could imagine from a gymnasium. The volume of activity combined with high ceilings creates a chamber for noise to get trapped in. 
3- Identify and list the sounds at a medium range from you. – Within a medium range of me I could hear the activity of the many people on the unispan going from residential to academic. There were few discernible conversations going on, one girl passed speaking in Chinese while another student walked through advertising to others about the Jewish club on campus. I could never hear a full conversation or even sentence; just brief words. Tiny, one word, snippets of  conversation is all I could ever pick up. “Martha – smoking – my alarm – UPS was late” As I focused in even further into these sounds around me on the unispan I began to pick up the distinct sound of the occasional student shuffling their feet. Every so often I could hear someone walk by that was just a little bit too tired to actually lift their feet while they walked and I could hear the scraping noise as their shoes slid across the concrete floor. As I sat there with my eyes closed, I began to try to decipher whether the person passing me was a male or female simply by the way their feet hit the ground. 4 out of 5 times I was correct, somehow I was able to pick up on the very subtle differences, I think it had to do with the higher and cheaper sound “Uggs” make when the hit the ground as opposed to the more solid construction of most men’s shoes. Men also seemed to have a larger gait with a more spaced out step than the girls did. 
4- Identify and list the sounds closest to you (You can include internal sounds if noticed or relevant). – Closest to me I could hear the wind whistling through the small cracks in the window behind me. I could also feel the deep vibration of the bridge traveling through the hand rail and if I focused in on it hard enough it seemed to have a low rumble or roar to it. 
5- Describe the general sound level and amount of sound activity. – Overall there are noises coming at me from all 360 degrees around me. All sounds are at a reasonable level with the exception of the occasional loud student. The loudest noises are the ones at a middle range from me. The noises from the student center were only a soft noise in the background and the immediate sounds were almost non existent. 
6- Assign a one word description to the “sound environment”. – Comatose 
7- Select and list 3 sounds which are essential to the sound environment. Note: you need to try and figure out what sounds make up this environment and which of those sounds need to be there for the feeling of the environment to stay intact. – Foot shuffle, deep rumble of the bridge, small pieces of speech