Youth and New Media – Sound waves

A project that attempts to promote the art of listening is offering students and teachers creative ways of integrating Information and Communications Technology (ICT) into arts subjects. Jana Phillips, explains.
Sonic Postcards is a truly nationwide initiative that reflects the diversity of cultures, environments and experiences within the UK through sound. Through the project, young people are being encouraged to engage with their surroundings by listening carefully to the sounds that make their environment sonically unique. These sounds are recorded, then edited and composed on school computers using free downloadable software called Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net), and the resulting composition provides an aural snapshot of a sonic landscape. Unlike an ordinary picture postcard, this Sonic Postcard is sent via email to other schools taking part in the project and uploaded onto the Sonic Postcards website, where it can be accessed by the general public.

Current research (http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/strategies/noise) has shown that in many areas of the UK, exposure to high levels of so-called ambient noise can contribute to social, psychological and health-related problems. Children in particular are at risk of suffering from poor auditory discrimination, poor memory, low reading ability and, consequently, having difficulty concentrating in class. Sonic Postcards aims to address these issues and to show how concentrated listening can have implications within and beyond the classroom and the scope of the project.

Accessibility is vital. Students as young as eight years old are able to experience the pride associated with creating their own professional-sounding composition and being able to send it to recipients of their choice. A student with Asperger?s syndrome at Nettleham CofE Junior School in Lincolnshire went home after finishing the project and, along with his siblings, sang ?Happy Birthday? into a microphone on his family computer. Using Audacity, he mixed the sounds and created a sonic birthday card for his mother, who was delighted. A student at Hamnavoe Primary School in Shetland, who completed the project last year, continues to carry a small notebook everywhere to jot down any unusual sounds she hears.

For teachers, the project?s intentions are twofold: it fosters cross-curricular links and a greater open-mindedness in teaching strategies, whilst simultaneously aiming to remove the fear sometimes felt by teachers who lack the confidence to use ICT in the classroom. The project always begins with staff training, where the equipment is introduced and demonstrated and teachers have the opportunity to practise some of the tasks that their students will later learn.

This also allows the workshop leader to audit the ICT facilities at the school and ensure that the school network is able to handle the data that will be generated. This often brings to light quite extreme limitations in school computer systems and has encouraged improvements in ICT provision in these schools, making them more usable not only for the duration of the project, but also for the future. The fact that students are able to work with established sonic artists and composers who live in their community, endorses and signposts creative career options and provides positive role-models. Sometimes there is also the option to work with an additional artist ? for example, a visual, moving image, or spoken-word artist ? who helps develop the project further and increases the interdisciplinary possibilities.

Although technology forms an important part of this project, Sonic Postcards is extremely flexible and even a mobile telephone can be used for recording and transporting the sounds. In fact, perhaps one of the pivotal aspects of this project is an aim to show that technology is only ever a tool for the creation of something that originates from human imagination, dedication and hard work. The project and website are intended to serve as springboards for creative thinking and a more informed understanding of the effects of sound.

By constantly referring to the local environment, challenging participants? perceptions and identifying ways to utilise skills and software creatively and thoughtfully, Sonic Postcards can help to establish incredibly mature work and noticeable improvements in behaviour, concentration and self-esteem along with a greater awareness and respect of our sonic environment.

Jana Phillips is a Sonic Postcards Project Manager. t: 020 7928 7337;
w: http://www.sonicpostcards.org