Hofstra Drama 20 – Sound for the Theatre

1- February 25th, 2014, 6:20pm, Hempstead Turnpike

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

Furthest away from me, I can hear the sounds of cars passing by and some honking going on because we’re in New York and that’s what everyone does.

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

At medium range from me, I can hear the sounds of my feet crunching the snow as I’m walking down the sidewalk.

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 the wind rushing through my ears and around my body as I struggle to make my way through the cold back to campus.

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

The sound level is very overwhelming. The wind doesn’t feel good against my skin and the sound hurts my ears. The cars rush past at scary speeds and their sounds are not always heard until they’re on top of you.

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

Overwhelming

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 which are essential to the sound environment are the sounds of the cars passing by, the crunching of the snow under my feet, and the wind rushing around and deafening out everything around me.

1- 4/8/13 – 11:13 PM – Walking from the student center to Lowe in the quad
2- Identify and list the sounds farthest away from you. – Furthest from me is the sound of a helicopter racing back and forth across the sky. It had a much harsher and deeper tone to the propellers that one would normally associate with a helicopter. It passed back and forth for about three minutes while I sat on the quad.
3- Identify and list the sounds at a medium range from you. – At a medium range from me I can hear a loud drone of different air units and air conditioners that are pulling air and running a fan at high RPMs. Coming from the building on my left are two different tones coming from two different units. These tones are similar but not identical, making somewhat of a choral effect as they rang through the quad and bounced their waves off of Bits. On the opposite side of the quad (at Bits) there are distinctly three other fans and air units that are running at a very high RPM and making a very loud choral effect as well. All of these tones are extremely loud and overwhelming as they rang through the quad but none of them were the same intensity, quality or tone as each other; however similar. 
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 the young grass being squashed under my shoes. This sound had a distinct difference from the noise one would usually hear when walking through grass as the grass I was on was younger and crisper in a colder harder ground. 
5- Describe the general sound level and amount of sound activity. – At a far and medium range from me the sounds are overwhelming and I can hardly stand to be in this space but it is almost calming to have the ever so soft pattern of my footsteps on the young grass buds beneath me.
6- Assign a one word description to the “sound environment”. – Paralyzing 
7- Select and list 3 sounds which are essential to the sound environment. Note: you need to try to 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. – Drone of fans, helicopter, grass footsteps