This week I had the opportunity to go on a sound walk with nineteen 16-18-year-old students as part of a weekly class I’m doing for Tönstör over the course of five weeks. It took us just a minute or two to find silence, and then the group moved for 15-20 minutes in full concentration. Students experienced a number of things – here are just a few thoughts we discussed afterwards:
1) The sonic richness and depth that is available if we just listen, be it natural or cultural in origin, be it accidental or intentionally designed. We heard how sounds come from all directions and distances, how sound moves around and above us, be it vehicles or seagulls. How sound is shaped by architecture and how we move between buildings, by the ground we walk on. How many unidentifiable sounds we are constantly hearing in urban settings, how they inform our imagination and orientation.
2) The astonishing quality of shared silence, made more easily accessible by walking together at a steady pace.
3) How utterly inexistent shared silence is in public culture, outside of sacred spaces and the rigid prescriptions of the concert hall. What is shared silence? Not a group of strangers on a subway, each immersed in their own thoughts, books or gadgets. But a group that sits or moves together with shared intention, opting not to speak but just to listen – to receive, and not to send. At one point, we passed a man with a leaf-blower who was clearing a small alley. He started talking to us and was so confused by our polite smiles and nods that he actually grabbed one student by the arm quite forcefully and asked if we were on a funeral march.
A profound experience, always available if we’re with trusted people. I urge you to explore it.
If you are in Switzerland, I’m planning to offer more sound walks in the future. It also looks like next spring I might be doing a multi-day course revolving around listening as part of a music festival. Get in touch if you want to join me for either or both, or subscribe here to receive updates.
Tobias