“In order to listen we must stop, or at least slow down – physically and psychologically.” (Wrightstson, An Introduction to Acoustic Ecology). Listening involves more than hearing, its an active process that involves interpreting the din and noise around you into meaningful signals. For my soundwalk, I did just that in the neighborhood I go through everyday. The Gramercy/Murray Hill/Kip’s Bay area, I walked up First Avenue across twenty-eighth street and down Lexington until Gramercy Park. This neighborhood is bustling with Indian restaurants, hospitals and students. As I actively listened and interpreted the noise around me, I was able to focus on certain sounds and their purpose. I was shocked at my ability to hone in on a certain noise and concentrate on it.


KEYNOTE: A very strident keynote, or background noise during my soundwalk was the incessant drilling of a construction worker on a manhole on 1st Avenue and 26th Street. As I left my dorm on 25th, I could hear the rhythmic drone and drill of metal on pavement. It started as a hum, escalated to a crunch and culminated in unbearable drilling noise, in which if I had tried to say something to the person next to me, he would have had to cringe to understand. An interesting thing about this drilling noise is that might have began as a typical cityscape keynote; a background noise to fill the space. Because sound waves attenuate, the noise was bearable from afar, yet upon approaching them they could no-longer stand as passive keynote.


SOUND SIGNALS: One sound signal or foreground sound intended to attract attention that I could not ignore on my soundwalk, was the loud Bollywood-inspired music that roared from a the Banana Leaf Restaurant on Lexington Avenue. The owner consciously played this music from the dining room in hopes of attracting customers with an appetite for naan and curry. The music first grabbed my attention as I turned the corner from 28th to Lexington. An allegro tabla line combined with the squeaky scales of the main female singer. Perhaps, because I could not understand the language, I could concentrate on the intricate rhythms and layers of the music. This music is meant to be inviting to customers, and it says, “We’re an Indian Restaurant, Exotic! With Music! Come EAT!”


SOUNDSCAPE: Because this neighborhood does not have a definite identity and is a cluster of medical and professional buildings- hospitals, clinics, dental schools, and Stuy-Town, it would be difficult to name a soundscape. But as a resident of the area, I could easily pinpoint the most recognizable sound for the neighborhood—the blaring ambulance horns. In fact during my 35 minute stroll, I heard a total of 4 individual ambulances blaring through 23rd Street, Up 1st Avenue or down Park Avenue. These sirens have the implication—of medical concern, haste and precedent over any other vehicle in its path. Yet because of the neighborhoods dynamic, it also means you are close to a hospital.