One of the best things I've learned about in the last few years is the practice of soundwalking. It is a practice that is exactly as simple as it seems -- walking with a primary focus on listening -- and full of complexity and opportunity. For me, walking practices are opportunities to pay attention (or give attention) to ways of being in the world that are outside my ordinary, day to day experiences.
 |
| Matthew listening to a bunny, or a bunny listening to Matthew? |
Often when I walk, to the train or to the grocery store, I am also listening to a podcast or talking on the phone or simply thinking about where I am going and what I need to get. When I soundwalk, I slow everything down, both how quickly I move from point A to point B, and I slow my rate of thinking. It is much more like a state of meditation where I notice something -- birds, wind, an electric hum -- but I try to not fixate on the whats, hows, and whys of the sounds (what kind of bird? does that wind mean rain? why is contemporary life SO LOUD?)
We live in a world that values the visual, yet we also inhabit bodies that are always listening. After all, we have eyelids but no earlids. Yet our relationship to sound is often unconsidered: many of us listen to music on tiny earbuds, we ignore unpleasant beeps in elevators and at ATMS, we no longer hear the constant roar of traffic until we suddenly find ourselves far away in a forest or by a lake. When I am on a soundwalk I aim to leave judgement behind. I might be more interested in some sounds than others, but I don't want to rank sounds as better or worse than. It was with this in mind, the great mix of all that is available to be listened to, that my frequent collaborator
Matthew Ariaratnam and I designed the City Centre Soundwalk.
 |
| The whole soundwalk route, on one little page. |
One thing I have come to appreciate about Richmond are it's contrasts, particularly between "natural" and "human made". As we moved from Minoru Park to the roof of the hospital parkade where cars and trees were well below us and the sounds of airplanes were still high above us, everything shifted. We were in a between: higher than some birds, lower than others. From here, our wanders past the hospital (an outdoor refrigeration unit producing a surprising tone), back to the park (birds and grasses, conversations in many languages, squeaks from wheelchairs and strollers), and then a pause near the waterfall, further displayed this contrast.
 |
| Taking a moment to tune in before walking. |
We made our way over a range of surfaces, gravel and dry crunchy leaves, before a short walk along Westminster Highway and it's constant sound of cars (even on a Sunday afternoon). One delight, and occasional bummer, of soundwalking is that the planned experience is never the same as in the moment. On our day of planning, the back door of Cool Chinese Cuisine was open and we could hear kitchen sounds spilling into the rear parking lot. While we missed this our Sunday walk, the door was firmly closed, we did take a long pause to witness the surprise event of re-turfing the lawn bowling courts.
And this is where the futility of focusing on just one sense must be acknowledged: in paying attention to listening, we also pay attention to everything else. At the end of the walk some folks said the colours seemed to get brighter, and I saw many people taking time to touch plants and flowers in a way they never would. We paused to look at bunnies and stood clustered next to an apartment building gazing up at a wind chime hanging from a balcony, hoping it would sound.
 |
| What do you think this sounds like? |
The biggest sonic shift was moving from in and around Minoru Park into Richmond Centre mall. The space is cavernous and closed off. We rode the escalator upstairs to the "Dinning Terrace" (where the lower ceilings and seated bodies changed the soundscape once again), before heading down a corridor, entering Sport Chek (the winter coats and carpet absorbed sound and made for a refreshing softness), and finally exited to the parking lot.
 |
| Listening, and feeling, the fountain! |
From there we made our way toward the Cultural Centre, were surprised by a talking crosswalk, and then taken in by the high spraying fountain and start stop playing on the public piano. Near the playground a ball made a roundly satisfying sound against the blue court surface, and the sports teams while visible were quiet.
Back at the Chapel the group of walkers wrote lists of what they heard, and then our final piece of listening was to each other. It was wonderful to hear reflections and observations from everyone, some shared, some quite individual, and most of all to hear just how rewarding it can be to take an hour from the day and spend it without talking, but with ears (and eyes and fingers and noses) open to the world around us.
 |
| Most of our Sunday soundwalk group |
P.S. Join me for another soundwalk on Saturday,
September 28 from 11:00 am - 12:30 pm as part of Richmond Culture Days. The route will be similar but the experience is sure to be completely different.
