Listening to the World

After a brief introduction, we will go quiet and still, lying on the floor or sitting in chairs, with eyes closed  We will begin by focusing on the breath and on the sense of touch, scanning the full body.  Then we will turn our attention to hearing.  

 

I will suggest imagining the ears having pupils, like the eyes, which become much larger in the dark and smaller in bright light.  We can imagine the “pupils” of the ears opening and allowing the sound of the room to pour in, rather than fending it off and ignoring it.  Doing so will make the quiet room seem much louder than it did before.

I will be pointing out to the group that everything we perceive, including vision, occurs within our own mind and body, even if it is caused by something external.  

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After several minutes, the members of the group will be asked to share what they noticed during the session. 

Next we’ll explore and discuss ideas about sound and listening.  We will categorize sound in several ways:

1.    Intermittent vs Constant: Constant sounds are easy to miss, and sometimes are only noticed when they stop, such as refrigerators and fluorescent lights.
 
2.    Frequencies:  From lowest to highest, how does each affect the body?  
   We will discuss how we  perceive sound waves with our skin as vibration, in addition to the ears.  

         

3    Sounds of the natural world,  the mechanized world,  and hybrids of the two.

We’ll discuss this idea for a while, using the board to write down memories and ideas.
We’ll start with big general categories, and ask group members to remember examples of each.

 

 

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We will begin with another quiet listening session.  

Then, we will explore and discuss what participants heard and noticed during their listening explorations.  

Then, we will explore SOUND AND IMAGINATION

Participants will be asked to imagine sounds that they associate with emotions, events, seasons, etc.  These sounds can come from other people or any other source.  
Some examples:

-Sounds that make you angry, or that come from angry people.

-Sounds that make you sad and sounds that make you happy.

-Sounds that make you nostalgic.

-Sounds that make you happy.

-Sounds that make you tense and sounds that make you relaxed.

-Sounds that bring a feeling of loneliness and a feeling of community.  

Next, participants will be asked to think of sounds that remind them of times and places, such as sounds of winter, spring, summer and fall, and sounds of morning, afternoon, evening and night.  

Next, if time allows, we’ll explore two more ideas:  

SPEECH and LANGUAGE:  comprehensible vs,  incomprehensible. What makes language unique as a sound? 

MUSIC:  Briefly described.  What constitutes music? What natural sounds resemble music? Why and how?  Music with lyrics, which is both sound and language.  

We’ll conclude by having the group listen with full attention to a large bell I will bring that has a very long decay.  I’ll ask them to listen to it until the sound dies away.  We’ll do this several times and discuss.