For paper #2, I will be using “Living with Music” by Ralph Ellison and the sounds of pandemic New York to talk about the significance of sound. Although there are times that we wish for silence, the sounds we hear can bring light into our lives and uplift people especially in times of need. In “Living with Music”, Ellison describes how he was agitated listening to noisy sounds from his neighbor in his New York City apartment. However, after a while, the same sounds had inspired him to play music again. After he moved, he missed the sounds he had become accustomed to. During the pandemic in New York, every night at 7 pm a lot of New Yorkers came together to cheer on healthcare workers and first responders. They have been through a lot of sorrowful times during the pandemic and needed some joy. The joy that was brought to them was the sounds; the sounds of the city coming together cheering on its heroes. To conclude, the sounds around us can bring delight into our lives that we never knew we needed.

For paper #2, I will be using “ways of hearing” by Damon Krukowski and “Living with music” by Ralph Ellison to demonstrate how sounds shaped the way we lived. Living in the city, we encounter different types of sound either it is obnoxious or pleasing to the ears. Learning to adapt to the sounds we hear is essential in places where noise pollution is inevitable. Through the use of technology, we are able to manipulate sounds and turn them into our personal liking. Digital media paired with earphones, speakers, or phones can create a personalized space that allows one to detach from the physical world and to reconnect to the desired place or person.

In my second article, I would like to talk about how Dominicans want to make noise about everything that happens to them in life. They don’t need a reason to celebrate late at night. They also put mufflers in their cars and engines, which are very loud and annoying. On the other hand, religious cults offer their masses their horns to the maximum, causing many people to become enraged by the noise. I know that sound is essential, but we must know how to use it not to affect the environment. not all noises are good, and we must respect other people who may not want to hear the same thing. However, so much noise around us has made us pamper ourselves more with our phones. We prefer to listen to music on our headphones as street noise is very annoying. We have lost interest in nature or cannot rest properly due to the noise from our neighbors. Although we have laws that help us lead a peaceful life, some people do not comply. Some people still don’t understand how annoying loud music is. However, when we want to rest, we want to sleep no matter how beautiful the noise sounds.

In this paper I will be discussing how David Kurkowski and Murray Schafer both believed sound played an important role in our environment. Everyday we encounter millions of sounds, but do we listen to them all? When listening to sounds it requires your full undivided attention to be able to connect with the sounds around you. Kurkowski claims you’ll be able to identify an importance a place holds by the sounds shared in that space. For example spaces that hold concerts and parties are usually remembered by the songs sung or played. A person using their headphones, reading a book, or constantly having our phones shoved in our faces are ways people choose to disconnect with sound everyday. For the most part we all maneuver the rest of our day in a secluded bubble because of this. Structural features also have a big impact on what we choose to listen to. For example If you’re accustomed to listening to a certain language in your household, subconsciously it’ll grab your attention just because it’s something you’re already familiar with. Kurkowski & Murray Schafer both believed sound is a reflection of events  occurring around us. For instance an individual is listening to music if they’re happy or sad their music will reflect on that emotion he/she is feeling. Which proves how much sound plays different roles in society. 

For paper #2, I will be attempting to give a go at comparing the differences in the interpretations of the significance of music as described in Living With Music by Ralph Ellison and episode 2 of Ways of Hearing: Space by the podcast host Damon Krukowski featuring writer/activist Jeremiah Moss and historian Emily Thompson. The appraisal/interpretation and the environment like one’s neighborhood in which sounds become synthesized ultimately affects the recipients’ experience with those sounds. Space reveals how sound-space dynamics can alter sounds and in turn alter one’s subjective experience to those sounds. Reporting from New York City, sounds on the street generations ago were louder, more abundant, more blended, and of course, more unavoidable. Nowadays, sound has the ability to be manipulated like never before which means there are more auditory dynamics in numerous places and the people there’s subjective experiences with them. One’s home is the last place in which they would like to hear noise and it is their conclusive perception of that noise which will ultimately guide their experience with those sounds. Living With Music is a first person narration on the effects & influences of growing up with musical bombardment in you guessed it, the inescapable New York City. The author shows the audience different effects music can have on a person and the practical applications it can produce under certain conditions such as deliberately using it to improve one’s own mood when feeling down. Ellison assures the audience that if one were to live under similar conditions to his, it would either incite an unlivable, drowning in noise or lead to an acceptance and harmonious relationship to those tunes. This is one way how interpretation can alter one’s subjective experience with auditory stimuli as the author evidently chose to “live with music” as opposed to “[dying] with noise.” Interestingly however, in choosing to accept living with music, the author later describes himself in the story putting strenuous amounts of effort into creating a contraption that would ultimately manipulate his subjective auditory environment for his liking or in response to his neighbor’s inevitable sounds.

In my paper, I want to talk about how the significance of sound is represented by the texts “Living with music” by Ralph Ellison and, “The Soundscape” by R. Murray Schafer. Although sometimes people want quietness and no sound, sound is important and it greatly impacts our environment and us, by affecting how we interpret things, acting as a method of taking in information, and many more ways. I want to use how examples from “The Soundscape” to show how sound impacts the environment around us. Also, to show how sounds should be appreciated. For example, he speaks about how due to so much noise around us, we don’t discern them and “listen.” Also, I want to use “Living with Music” to show the beauty of sounds.