Hofstra Drama 20 – Sound for the Theatre

Me trying to clean my guitar strings, and my aunt being very being very annoyed by it.

Time 1:17 am west hempstead NY, March 16 2017.

Recorded in my room. What it sounds like when you strum on the headstock of a guitar.

My boyfriend Daniel sings and plays the guitar, messes up, we laugh and he plays random themes out of frustration.

Location: Enterprise, 6th floor

Sounds Heard: You can hear the sounds of my resident playing the electric guitar in his room, the sounds of my residents harmonizing and singing in the bathroom and then having  a conversation. You can hear the shower running in the background of them. Whether or not they were singing in the shower is unknown and I wasn’t about to find out.

1- Monday, March 24, 2014, 9:43pm, Enterprise, 6th floor

2- Identify and list the sounds farthest away from you.

Furthest away from me, I can hear the sounds of some of my residents playing the electric guitar as well as the sound of the shower in the boys bathroom.

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

At medium range from me, I can hear the voices of my residents as they sing in the bathroom and proceed to hold a conversation. (Yes, I did ask their permission to use this sound clip.)

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

Closest to me, I can hear the sound of my breathing as I listen to their voices and distract myself from the mountains of homework I have to do.

5- Describe the general sound level and amount of sound activity.

The general sound level is that of a typical Monday night on my floor. Everyone is busy doing something, but it is soft and relaxed. Everyone is getting used to being back from break and just enjoying being back on campus.

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

Relaxed

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.

Three sounds that are essential to the sound environment are the sound of the shower in the background, my residents harmonizing and proceeding to have a conversation, and the residents playing the electric guitar in their room.

Sounds Heard: general chatter, Chris Reilly singing “meow” in a rhythm, the strumming of a guitar, a conversation about favorite music, me saying “I want to hear Isaac,” someone saying “testing” into a microphone, someone playing a guitar and signing, Chris asking if anyone hears a piano

Location: Student Center, back cafeteria Hofstra Concerts Coffee House

Location: 6th Floor, Enterprise Hall

Sounds Heard: The tuning of an electric guitar with some conversation among my residents.

1. April 11, 8:55 pm, Lowe 106

2. Heavy footsteps, air unit hum

3. Voices talking, papers and pages turning

4. Guitar playing, singing, pencil on paper

5. Low. Generally calm, slightly chaotic.

6. Relaxed

7. Guitar, footsteps, talking

Location: Techie Variety Show, Spiegel Theater.

Sounds: David Henderson playing guitar. (he gave me permission to post)

Also, relevant to the screaming goat sound of the day, watch this if you please:

It’s screaming goat with Les Mis songs. Enjoy.

1:  Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 3:14 am, Alliance Hall, 7^th Floor Bathroom

2:  Identify and list the sounds farthest away from you.

Inside the shower, water falls steadily in thin, high-pressure streams onto an assemblage of plastic, toiletry bottles, of which the varying degrees of emptiness create an array of tonalities.  The water also drums on the edge of a plastic shower curtain, creating the full, soft sound of rain on wide-leafed flora – the sort of sound one hears on a recording of a lush rainforest, meant to work as a relaxation/sleep aid.

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

A girl sits in a stall on the other side of the bathroom, talking on the phone in a low yet urgent voice.  Each syllable, no matter how hushed, ricochets off the smooth, Formica countertops and the hundreds of small tiles, echoing onto the start of the next syllable and garbling her words so that only the vague sounds of pleading and apologizing can be discerned.  The conversation has the intimate, shameful tone of a confession to a romantic partner, and she seems to have sought relative privacy in the bathroom at 3:00 am, presumably to not disturb her sleeping roommate.  The sound of me showering has made her self-conscious, and she murmurs sheepishly for the better part of my shower.

4: Identify and list the sounds closest to you (– you can include internal sounds if noticed or relevant).

Outside the bathroom, a resident can be heard strumming his guitar inside his single room.  However robust the sound may be within the room itself, when emanating through the wood of the bathroom door and the curtain of water, the notes sound eerie and thin.  Compounding this effect is the slow, lilting pace at which the player strums as he tries to find his way through the ill-remembered chords.

5: Describe the general sound level and amount of sound activity.

The sound level is somewhat low, in keeping with the time of night and the solitary nature of the various, simultaneous activities, from my ablutions to the girl’s chagrinned confessions to the boy’s meandering guitar practice.

6: Assign a one-word description to the “sound environment”.

“Intimate”

7: Select and list 3 sounds that 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.

All three levels of sound work well together, however disparate the individual sounds may seem in character.  Each is the product of a private activity, carried out alone in the latest hours of the night, and thus creates a sound suiting one such mood.  As a result, the tone of each sound fits nicely within the theme of the collective.