{"id":1724,"date":"2019-04-09T18:12:49","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T18:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wri-101k-s19.andrewrippeon.com\/blog\/?p=1724"},"modified":"2019-04-10T14:34:07","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T14:34:07","slug":"davidson-college-soundscapes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wri-101k-s19.andrewrippeon.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/davidson-college-soundscapes\/","title":{"rendered":"Davidson College Soundscapes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Abstract<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For students at Davidson College, stress from the school environment is a prominent factor that dominates most of their lives. In this project, I analyze the culture of the soccer locker room and how the soundscape creates a barrier between school and a positive social environment with friends and teammates. Through different recordings, I captured the cultural aspects that accompany this space before and after practice. The recordings show the change in attitudes of the people in the locker room once being free from school versus the attitudes of individuals coming back to the school environment.  This study intends to display the impact a soundscape has on certain individuals, altering one\u2019s mental state and the way one acts through auditory cues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Locker Room<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The soccer locker room is a special soundscape that holds a variety of noises that change individuals\u2019 mental states before and after practice. In writer R. Murray Schafer’s terminology, certain \u201ckeynotes\u201d and \u201csoundmarks\u201d in the locker room are what make this soundscape so much different from any other place (Schafer 101). Many of these sounds are interpreted differently in the locker room. Some of my teammates put on headphones and block out all music, dialogue, and any other auditory disturbances so they can focus on performing well in practice. For others, their eyes drift, oblivious to any noises around them after an exhausting day of class, lift, and homework. For me, it is a place where I can escape the stress of school and be with friends and teammates that relax my mental state. Like many soundscapes, there is a collection of sounds going on at once, most of them we choose to ignore. Implicitly, the noises are what free me from life in the classroom. This soundscape allows me to release any tension and want to go out and play the game I love with all my friends. The sounds produced in the soundscape of the locker room create an environment isolated from the school work, thus allowing myself and my teammates to escape into a stress free environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every Monday through Friday around 4:00 pm, the soccer team flocks out of their dorms or class to head past the Armfield apartments toward the locker room. Most students are tired and quietly walking back to their rooms to start their work, but the soccer players are excitedly waiting to get on the field. On one particular Thursday afternoon, I made my way up to the locker room joyfully awaiting my friends after the long day. As I walked up to the building, I could already hear music playing as well as my teammates talking and laughing. I opened the door to to the song \u201cKeep On Loving You\u201d by Reo Speedwagon. The calm and soothing beats and lyrics were the perfect remedy to help me forget the built up tension from school. Within the first ten seconds of the recording, my friends make me laugh while the joyful song resonates in the background. These auditory elements of music and laughter perfectly represent the keynotes alluded to by Shafer is his essay, \u201cThe Soundscape.\u201d In the background, my friends Mateo and Stefane are joking around with each other, also acting as a special keynote to the soundscape. They are playfully fighting over a pair of socks, trying to convince each other over who they belong to. This example shows the bonds we create with our teammates in the locker room. Through this soundscape, the joking and messing around shows how comfortable we are with each other. These bonds between my teammates have strengthened due to encounters such as those pictured in the recording before practice. For example, at minute 3:45, our assistant coach walks in and greets us with multiple \u201cHey\u2019s\u201d and \u201cWhat\u2019s up\u2019s.\u201d This informal relationship with the coaches is a stress reliever because it makes me feel as if I can let loose and do not have to be in the serious mood that I have been stuck in the entire day for class. Instead, we have funny conversations such as where he got his new haircut. At minute 5:00 the whole team jumps in to  debate about which barber shop is the best. My friend Jaylen begins yelling \u201cRaeford\u2019s\u201d to emphasize his preference, and another group begins chanting, \u201cSports Clips.\u201d While the discussion continues, we all get dressed and walk out listening to \u201cAfrica\u201d by Toto to once again lift our spirits. No longer is anybody thinking about their class or work, but instead people are focused on bonding as a team through the funny conversation before practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once practice is over, we arrive back in the locker room around 6:30. Like all other days, my teammates and I stagger back to our lockers on this Thursday afternoon. This soundscape changes immensely before and after practice due to our tired mental states. There is no \u201cKeep On Loving You\u201d or \u201cAfrica\u201d playing as we sit down at our lockers. Instead, all that I hear is the running showers mixed in with conversation between a couple of individuals. People are coughing, sniffing, and voices sound exhausted from the training session. The muffled sound of running water from the showers is a special keynote for this soundscape after practice. It is this sound that brings me back to my senses of the real world. While I do not physically pay attention to the sound of the showers, in the back of my head, I know what comes next. Getting dressed and going back to my room to start homework is the last thing I want to be doing after a long day. Schafer describes this situation as he writes, \u201cEven though keynote sounds may not always be heard consciously, the fact that they are ubiquitously there suggests the possibility of a deep and pervasive influence on our behavior and moods\u201d (Schafer 101). His knowledge on keynotes perfectly match my mental state as the noises going on in the back of my head affect the way I feel and act in this soundscape. Adding to this, the soundscape after practice is much more quiet than before. While there is a couple faint conversations throughout the recording, the silence is a prominent factor that affects my mental state. Before practice, laughing and happy music was able to take my mind off the idea of school, but the silence does not accomplish this side tracking mechanism. My mood immediately changes because now I am thinking about the loads of work I still have to do before the next day. The locker room soundscape has a different impact on myself and my teammates after practice due to certain keynotes that put us back into the stressful mindset that accompanies the school environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though the locker room is one single soundscape, the noises produced change the moods of different individuals based off how they are heard and experienced. In Emily Thompson\u2019s essay, she characterizes this space as she writes, \u201cLike a landscape, a soundscape is simultaneously a physical environment and a way of perceiving that environment; it is both a world and a culture constructed to make sense of that world\u201d (Thompson 117). The locker room culture before practice is a enjoyable environment where people can let go and enjoy the company of friends before going out and playing soccer. The culture in the locker room after practice is more of a state of realization where myself and others are less energetic and ready to get back to work. Thompson also describes how individuals\u2019 attitudes may change based on how certain keynotes are interpreted as she writes , \u201cA soundscape\u2019s cultural aspects incorporate scientific and aesthetic ways of listening, a listener’s relationship to their environment, and social circumstances that dictate who gets to hear what\u201d (Thompson 117). Through Thompson\u2019s analysis, one can understand why people may hear the same noise but may interpret them completely different. For example, players on the soccer team who hear the music before practice are compelled to feel excited to go out and play soccer amongst friends. On the other hand, people who pass by this soundscape may still hear the music but will not be filled with the same energy as the soccer players. This is because the keynote of the music has a different relationship to the players than the people passing by. The music will serve a purpose to the soccer players while the same keynote may be deemed meaningless to any other person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The locker room is a unique soundscape of Davidson College as it incites an array of emotions based off the individual listener as well as the time of day. For players on the soccer team, before practice means laughter and enthusiasm before heading out to the fields to have fun. Joyful music is resonating through each locker while teammates are bonding over conversation and jokes. The environment positively affects our mental states after a long day of work, freeing us from the stressful thoughts of class and studying. The interpretation of the soundscape changes from before to after practice. Different key notes such as the water from the showers have different effects on myself than the joyful music. Before practice, my teammates and I are able to escape from the burdens of school to a more enjoyable mental state before having fun playing soccer. After practice is the exact opposite. Here, I am awakened by the thought of coming back to the reality of the work I still have remaining for the rest of the night. The culture of the locker room hosts a mixture of emotions, all of which can be witnessed through actions of others developed from the unique keynotes that are associated with the soundscape.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bibliography<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schafer, R. Murray. The Soundscape, Sound Studies Reader. Edited by Jonathan Sterne, Taylor <\/p>\n\n\n\n

and Francis, 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thompson, Emily. Sound, Modernity, and History, Sound Studies Reader. Edited by Jonathan <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sterne, Taylor and Francis, 2012. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abstract For students at Davidson College, stress from the school environment is a prominent factor that dominates most of their lives. In this project, I analyze the culture of the soccer locker room and how the soundscape creates a barrier between school and a positive social environment with friends and teammates. Through different recordings, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","category-writing-project-3-the-davidson-soundscape","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wri-101k-s19.andrewrippeon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wri-101k-s19.andrewrippeon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wri-101k-s19.andrewrippeon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wri-101k-s19.andrewrippeon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wri-101k-s19.andrewrippeon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1724"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.wri-101k-s19.andrewrippeon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1765,"href":"https:\/\/www.wri-101k-s19.andrewrippeon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1724\/revisions\/1765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wri-101k-s19.andrewrippeon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wri-101k-s19.andrewrippeon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wri-101k-s19.andrewrippeon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}