SoundWalk

Niko Yuvienco

Media

HW

3/29/18

Soundwalk

                Soundwalking is used for deep focus on your environment and to further enhance your ability as not just an artist, but as a human being to help you fully understand the world. It is about opening up your ears to new sounds and even sounds that are normally there but we as humans don’t really actually listen to them on a deeper level. This day and age people are more accustomed to using their mobile phones and electronic devices. I believe that has made people lazier and less in tune with nature and the world that surrounds us.

                On my soundwalk I walked around my neighborhood, which is fairly quiet until a helicopter comes flying past me overhead or a car starts hocking its horn in frustration, but this is New York after all so what can you do. On my walk I tried to detach myself from all communication, not using my phone at all, not listening to music, or even humming while I walked. I just took a meditation stroll and listened to my surroundings. It is amazing to think that all the sounds I have been around 24/7 were there without me even knowing. Although sounds that I normally here and can’t get away from even if I wasn’t looking for them I can still hear them like cars driving by, dogs barking, and people talking. However, there were also sounds that I knew existed but actually focusing on them and really listening to them helped me feel relaxed and made me think about the world in a whole new light. Sounds like the birds chirping, construction vehicles moving, and joggers passing by. Each footstep of those joggers passing by made me think of music, they were like a beat and the other sounds around were making a song.

                I went around noon time and walked around for about two hours. The sounds that were most meaningful to me were the birds chirping. They made feel like a child again. When I was little I used to listen to the birds with me nanny and we would make up things that they were saying. It was like we were the birds having a conversation. It brought me back to a time when I had no worries, just having fun being a child with my nanny.

                I really feel like this soundwalk opened my eyes to the world and helped me relax. The sounds of Queens, NY of course are a lot different from anywhere else. Even though sounds are different and meanings to those sounds can be different depending on the individual, I believe that just listening to our environment and taking the time to be non-electronic based humans again can help us in a spiritual way and help us think about things more clearly.