"What I Hear"

I chose to do my "Soundwalk" through the general Hunter college area, mainly surrounding Lexington avenue. I would describe the texture of the sound as very organized, yet extremely erratic. One of the reasons why I say that is because the noises blended together harmoniously in certain areas, but there were some instances where other noises abruptly broke the constant fluidity. For example; there were some streets that weren't as busy as others, so the bustling of cars and honking of horns that seem to fade into the background in more congested streets was not a normality when walking through a quiet block. One minute you're serenely walking down a block, the leaves of the trees are rustling, chains on dog collars are quietly shaking, and all of a sudden a car accelerates past you at a high speed. The entire harmony that was felt before is now completely broken. Like I said, this isn't the case for crowded places, like Lexington Ave for example. When walking down Lexington the constant flow traffic is rhythmic. All of the sounds being generated in the street by cars and other vehicles seem to create a stable foundation. it's like the constant sound you hear even when other noises such as the opening and closing of department store doors cease to happen. While on my walk I tried to pick up the different sound footsteps make when stepping on different surfaces - For some reason I find that interesting. Picking up the noises footsteps make when stepping over metal coverings on the sidewalk, or a puddle of dirty water. All of that's pretty fascinating to me. And it also depends on the kind of shoes that people are wearing. For some reason I really seem to like the noise that high heels make when women walk, I didn't intend to make that sound strange, but it's a fact...