Soundscapes Revisited

The subject of the piece was Vancouver: city sound often is viewed as noise – raucous, invasive, disturbing, even damaging, and it is unusual for it to be highlighted for its beauty and mystery, and for its spiritual properties too; this is what happened when the unique sounds of Vancouver like the whistle of rumbling trains, the early morning siren, rain on umbrellas or water gurgling in a gutter were recorded and put together to create a musical fusion which was delightful. It pulled together the notes of the city that gave it its character, going beneath the loudness to reveal its voice in a special way. If you look at a bird from a distance you will see a flash of nondescript colours, but look at it close up and you will see the incredible wonder of intricate shading, pattern and hue that is the make-up of all birds, and indeed animals too; similarly, the song of any bird is unique to it even within its own species but so often we fail to hear the gift of beauty it gives us every day through its sound. So it is with our environment: we see it but fail to see it properly, and far less do we hear it, and by such an omission we miss so much. If it is of interest, wherever you are today, listen, go beyond the sirens and the traffic and the planes and discover what else is there in the soundscape. The beauty of the sounds is there, if you choose to find it.  ]]>