Staten Island's New Year's celebration was announced by the muffled sounds of fireworks set off from somewhere else, with a cottony "thrump-thrump-thrumpety-thrump" sound. Then a smattering of hoots and hollers could be heard up and down Hamilton Avenue. I imagined bottles of sparkling drinks being popped, though I heard none. Bob and I clinked plastic glasses of water and white wine. On TV, the black-and-white sounds of the French Resistance, caught in the rough staccato of French actors performing in a 1960's film. The motors of WWII autos and Red Cross trucks spoke of axle grease and oil changes; grinding gears in shifting and dangerous times, far from the sound of 21st Century tires rolling on the wet pavement of Academy Place on this muted, overcast New Year's Eve.
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One sound I totally ignore but hear all the time is my computer mouse. And my keyboard. The muffled tapping of soft fingers on cushioned keys. How many sounds do I not hear every day? How much of the world do all of us miss because we have tuned out our immediate surroundings? Perhaps it is natural for the "normal" sounds to fade, so unusual sounds can catch our attention and raise the alarm. Then again, the sounds we hear everyday are actually quite dominant, even if we are not aware of it. They mask other sounds. Consider central air conditioning. If the air conditioning in your office building suddenly stopped, the "silence" would be deafening. If all of our computers, cell phones, coffee machines, refrigerators, fans, water heaters, radiators, escalators, elevators, garage doors and car motors suddenly stopped, all over the world, it would be an M. Night Shyamalan moment!
I count three kinds of crickets outside tonight. One group is rubbing their legs in a very predictable, double quick-time. Another group has an arrhythmic pattern that repeats, rhythmically. A third group of crickets (cicadas? grasshoppers?) has a slow, lazy two-note that is spaced out by silences. It is a challenge to listen closely enough to separate out each group's sound. They mix so well with each other, creating a complex and layered sonic experience. I can also hear a distant rumble of traffic—it's an odd soundscape for a borough of NYC.
Sounds carry historical and political significance even if they are intended for pure entertainment.Animals, birds, celebration, commerce