Conservatory Soundscape Study

        For this assignment, I studied the soundscape of the conservatory. Most parts of the conservatory soundscape stay fairly constant throughout the day as there are always people practicing in the practice rooms and sitting in the lounge as long as the buildings are open. The volume of the sounds usually begins to decrease around 8 or 9pm, but there are still people practicing and doing work past 11:30pm, even on the weekends. My recordings were done mostly in the practice rooms in Robertson and the lounge on the first floor, but I also did some recordings outside the conservatory for contrast.

        During the process of my recording, I identified two types of sound; anthrophony and biophony. Anthrophony is the sounds made by humans as well as that made by man made objects. Biophony is the sounds made by any nonhuman living thing. Anthrophony has several subcategories including physiological, controlled, and electromechanical. Physiological sounds are those made by the human body, such as talking, coughing, or breathing. Controlled sounds are sounds such as music or theatrical performance. Electromechanical sounds are those made by man made technology and can range from the sounds of keys being pressed on a keyboard or the hum of overhead lights to the sounds of trucks or airplanes passing by.

            

        One thing that I noticed while recording was that there was a lot of diversity in the types of people who spend their time in the conservatory. I saw several friend groups in which some people would never have met if it wasn’t for their share of love in music. Music brings people together, which is something that I think tends to be forgotten, but it is an important fact because I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like some kind of music. Another thing I noticed was the number of different sounds I could hear. Walking by the practice rooms, one can hear five or six different instruments and vocalists at once, which can be overwhelming. Recording a single sound would have been impossible, there are so many sounds happening at once that seem to be of equal importance.

        The recordings I did inside have in them a number of sounds that identify them as being a part of industrialized society; conversation (physiological anthrophony) and music (controlled anthrophony) could be heard in almost every part of the building, and even outside, although the music was quite faint; it seems unlikely that even the best audio recorder could have picked it up. In the lounge area, there were many examples of electromechanical anthrophony such as the sounds of keyboards, the overhead lights, and the tick of the clock’s minute hand.

        The recordings I did outside also picked up conversation, as well as car engines and horns and bicycles (also electromechanical anthrophony), but they picked up biophony as well. On the recording, one can hear insects chirping, the occasional bird call, and once, the sound of a fish breaking the surface of the water in the pond. These sounds are quite different from those found inside the conservatory, but they are also often quieter, which means that if you listen, you can hear the sounds from inside the building.

        Studying the sounds of an environment can be beneficial in the understanding of its inhabitants as well as their surroundings. It also helps you to pay closer attention to the soundscape, which makes it more likely that you will hear things you never would have heard before. This is especially true of things we consider to be “noise,” which has many definitions, but I define as sounds that are not intended to hold meaning. These are things like lights, fans, computers; anything that produces a sound as a secondary function. Although these sounds aren’t meant to hold meaning, they can still give one insight into an environment.

        This exercise, much like the one in which we wore earplugs for an extended period of time, gave me a new perspective and made me a little bit more aware of my surroundings. It also led me to realize that the conservatory might be one of the most culturally diverse places on campus, with the exception of places like Mudd and the dining halls. Although I only analyzed a small portion of the conservatory, I know from the range of departments and programs that the rest of it is just as diverse, but there are still common themes throughout. An interesting future experiment would be to compare the soundscape of the conservatory to those of other academic buildings on campus, or even to other places on campus where music can be found, such as the practice rooms in Kahn, performances in the Cat, or marching band practice in Hales.