Minds On
Today’s vocabulary
Natural sounds are sounds from nature such as animal noises, raindrops, or the wind blowing.
Humanmade sounds are sounds that are not from nature such as laughing, singing, a chugging train, and a lawnmower.
Let’s get started!
Examine the following landscape by collage artist Clover Robin.
As you explore the image, think about the sounds that someone might experience in this landscape.
An image of an outdoor setting. There is a person observing a body of water. Their arms are up as if they are possibly holding binoculars. They are looking at a body of water. The top of the image has small hills in the background. In the middle ground, is the water and in the centre of the image are ten birds flying together. On the left and right are spikes depicting grass. In the foreground on the left and in the centre are spikes depicting grass.
Let’s record some of the possible sounds, sound effects, or natural sounds that may be in this landscape.
Press the following tabs to learn about sounds, sound effects, and natural sounds.
Anything that can be heard. Sound is made up of sound waves.
An artificially created sound.
Sounds created by non-humans within their usual surroundings. For example, the wind in the trees, or waves of an ocean.
Record your possible natural and humanmade sound ideas in the following fillable and printable Sound Ideas document. You can use the document or another method of your choice for this activity.
Only record the “sounds” that you thought of. We will record sound effects later in this learning activity.
| Type of sound | Possible sounds | Possible sound effects |
|---|---|---|
| natural sounds | ||
| humanmade sounds |
Press the ‘Activity’ button to access Sound Ideas.
When you’re ready, press the following 'Sound Ideas' button to reveal some possible natural and humanmade sounds from the landscape.
|
Type of sound |
Possible sounds |
Possible sound effects |
|---|---|---|
|
natural sounds |
|
|
|
humanmade sounds |
|
Student Success
Think-Pair-Share
What other sounds did you think of? If possible, share your sound ideas with a partner.
Note to teachers: See your teacher guide for collaboration tools, ideas and suggestions.
Action
Get ready, get set…
Collecting sounds
Sounds can be reflected through art. Sound may allow people to immerse themselves in the art piece. They tell a story about the art and allow people to explore art at their own pace. When people explore an art piece, they may use their experiences and imagination to imagine the sounds that could be experienced in the depicted setting, space, or landscape.
Let’s revisit the landscape from the Minds On section.
An image of an outdoor setting. There is a person observing a body of water. Their arms are up as if they are possibly holding binoculars. They are looking at a body of water. The top of the image has small hills in the background. In the middle ground, is the water and in the centre of the image are ten birds flying together. On the left and right are spikes depicting grass. In the foreground on the left and in the centre are spikes depicting grass.
We’ll now return to the Sound Ideas document you used in the Minds On section.
Using this document, you’ve collected both natural and humanmade sounds and recorded them while exploring the landscape.
Press the following ‘Sound Ideas’ button to reveal some possible natural and humanmade sounds from the landscape.
|
Type of sound |
Possible sounds |
Possible sound effects |
|---|---|---|
|
natural sounds |
|
|
|
humanmade sounds |
|
Sound effects
Next, let’s think about possible sound effects as sound ideas.
Sound effects are artificially created sounds. They are short recordings that can be used to imitate sounds.
For example, you may have thought of water as a possible sound in the landscape artwork. We could use a special sound effect to create a water sound. This could be a sound effect of water splashing or even water coming out of a tap.
Let’s think about the landscape we explored. Here are some examples of sound effects from the landscape.
|
Type of sound |
Possible sounds |
Possible sound effects |
|---|---|---|
|
natural sounds |
|
|
|
natural sounds |
|
|
|
natural sounds |
|
|
|
humanmade sounds |
|
|
Let’s explore the following sound effects to find out more examples.
A teacher with a speech bubble. They are saying “These are recorded sounds, but you can create (and record) your own sound effects using found sounds, your voice, or instruments.”
The first sound effect clip has some sounds from a swamp. There is water falling and birds in this clip. Does this remind you of the landscape image?
Swamp Sound Effects
Or what about this sound effects clip? This clip has sounds of water splashing and birds chirping.
Birds Sound Effects
Here is a final sound effects clip. It includes water, birds, and even some people talking. Does it remind you of the landscape image?
Park Sound Effects
From landscape to soundscape
We are going to return to the landscape collage again.
An image of an outdoor setting. There is a person observing a body of water. Their arms are up as if they are possibly holding binoculars. They are looking at a body of water. The top of the image has small hills in the background. In the middle ground, is the water and in the centre of the image are ten birds flying together. On the left and right are spikes depicting grass. In the foreground on the left and in the centre are spikes depicting grass.
The landscape collage is frozen in time. However, in a real-life situation, the sounds in this landscape would move.
We can use our imagination along with the information the collage gives us to translate the landscape into a soundscape.
A soundscape is a piece of music that, through sound, depicts a picture or an event or creates a mood or sense of place. Everyone’s sense of place or experience of a place is very personal and may be very different compared to someone else’s experience.
For example, a soundscape can include a sequence of sounds created by nature and/or humans that recreate the experience of being in a particular environment.
The collage gives us information about timbre, dynamics, and duration (rhythm). Let’s spend some time exploring each of these terms.
Timbre
Timbre is the quality of a sound. For example, the sound of a doorbell versus a laugh, a trumpet versus a clarinet, or two people speaking.
As we explored while collecting sounds, what the artist has included in the collage can give us information about the sounds someone might experience in the landscape. These are the sounds we will include in our soundscape.
For example, there is a flock of birds flying away in the collage. This might translate to the sounds of bird calls and wings flapping in a soundscape.
Dynamics
Dynamics is the element of music that relates to volume. For example:
- crescendo
- decrescendo
- forte (f – loud)
- fortissimo (ff – very loud)
- mezzo forte (mf – moderately loud)
- piano (p – soft)
- pianissimo (pp – very soft)
- mezzo piano (mp – moderately soft)
In our landscape example, the artist has created a foreground, middle ground, and background in the collage. Where the sounds appear in the landscape could influence how soft/loud the sound is.
For example, sounds that appear in the foreground might be louder than sounds that appear in the middle ground or background.
Press the tabs to learn more about foreground, middle ground, and background.
A picture of people standing with some trees behind them and some mountains in the distance. The front where the people are standing is labelled “foreground.” There is a volume scale to the side. The volume scale is high and reads “loud.”
The part of an artwork that appears to be closest to the audience. The area in front of the other objects. It is often at the bottom of the picture plane.
A picture of people standing with some trees behind them and some mountains in the distance. The area with the trees is labelled “middle ground.” There is a volume scale to the side. The volume scale is half full and reads “medium.”
The area that appears to be in the middle of the art. It can have objects appear to be in front and behind it. The middle ground appears to be between the foreground (in the front) and the background (in the back).
A picture of people standing with some trees behind them and some mountains in the distance. The area with the mountains is labelled “background.” There is a volume scale to the side. The volume scale is very low and reads “soft.”
The part of an artwork that appears to be the farthest from the audience. A background is often behind the other objects in an artwork.
Did You Know?
Moving sounds
What about sounds that move?
Some sounds stay in one place and some sounds move! This will affect how soft or loud each sound is in your soundscape.
For example, in our landscape example, the flock of birds appears in the foreground of the collage. But they are flying in the direction of the background.
This means the volume of the birds in the soundscape will decrease over time.
What is the term for a sound that decreases over time? A decrescendo.
Review your own list of sounds and sort them according to how loud or soft they might be.
Duration (rhythm)
Rhythm is the pattern of long and short sounds or silences. Patterns can be created by sounds or words.
Let’s explore our landscape collage example again. We can also use the visuals in the collage to give us information about the rhythm of each sound.
An image of an outdoor setting. There is a person observing a body of water. Their arms are up as if they are possibly holding binoculars. They are looking at a body of water. The top of the image has small hills in the background. In the middle ground, is the water and in the centre of the image are ten birds flying together. On the left and right are spikes depicting grass. In the foreground on the left and in the centre are spikes depicting grass.
Some sounds might continue throughout your soundscape (for example, the water lapping).
Others may repeat or sound more than once (for example, the bird calls).
And some may only occur once (for example, a person ‘oohing and aahing’).
Go!
Creating a graphic score
We will now explore sound ideas by using a graphic score. A graphic score shows music through visual symbols. It uses different images and symbols to demonstrate how music should be played. It can be used along with traditional music notation or on its own.
Here is an example. Don’t worry about all the details, we will explore how to use a graphic score next!
An image of a graphic score. It is a chart with 4 columns. The first column is titled “graphic symbol.” The second column is titled 0 to 5 seconds. The third column is titled 6 to 10 seconds. The fourth column is titled 11 to 15 seconds. In the first row, the graphic symbol is a bird chirping. The bird appears in the 0 to 5 seconds box and a bigger bird is in the 11 to 15 seconds box. In the second row, the graphic symbol is water flowing. The water appears in the 0 to 5 seconds box, the 6 to 10 seconds box, and the 11 to 15 seconds box. In the third row, the graphic symbol is people talking. The people appear in the 11 to 15 seconds box only. In the fourth row, the graphic symbol is a breeze. The breeze appears in the 6 to 10 seconds box only.
Student Tips
Using a graphic score
Before we get started, let’s explore how to use a graphic score.
What do each of the symbols on the score mean?
There are symbols to represent each sound in a soundscape. When you make your graphic score, you will create symbols to represent each sound. For example, a bird symbol could represent a bird chirping or a lake could represent water sounds.
How are dynamics represented?
The size of the symbol will determine the volume for each sound effect.
The bigger the symbol, the louder the volume. The smaller the symbol, the softer the sound.
For example, the following waves represent water sounds. The size of the waves represents the volume of the sounds.
How is duration represented?
The soundscape will be 15 seconds in length. There are numbers, in seconds, for columns two, three, and four of the graphic score (0 to 5 seconds, 6 to 10 seconds, and 11 to 15 seconds).
For example, if you want the bird calls to sound from 0 to 5 seconds in your graphic score, you would create a marking for bird calls in the “0 to 5 seconds” box.
An image of a graphic score. It is a chart with 4 columns. The first column is titled “graphic symbol.” The second column is titled 0 to 5 seconds. The third column is titled 6 to 10 seconds. The fourth column is titled 11 to 15 seconds. There is an image of a bird in the 0 to 5 seconds column.
The length of the lines in the graphic score represents the length of each sound.
A long line is a long sound, and a short line is a short sound.
Let’s try it!
Using your sound ideas and ideas from this learning activity, let’s make our own graphic score.
Notate the sound ideas we have explored in your own graphic score.
Your graphic score will be 15 seconds long and you will decide on your own symbols for each sound. You can create your graphic score using the following fillable and printable My Graphic Score document. You can also complete your score using another method of your choice.
Portfolio
Portfolio
Consider adding your graphic score to your portfolio.
Consolidation
Putting it all together
Let’s reflect
In this learning activity, you made your very own graphic score. Use the following questions to reflect on your graphic score.
- Describe what happens in your soundscape. What does each symbol mean? What happens from one measure (box) to the next?
- How did this piece make you feel and why?
- What would you do differently if you were composing or creating a musical piece to this painting?
- Think about your soundscape. What part of your work are you proud of? What would you like to continue to practice?
- If you were to create another draft of your soundscape, what would you like to try next time?
Reflection
As you read through these descriptions, which sentence best describes how you are feeling about your understanding of this learning activity? Press the button that is beside this sentence.
I feel…
Now, record your ideas using a voice recorder, speech-to-text, or writing tool.
Press ‘Discover More’ to extend your skills.
Discover MoreMore graphic scores!
Compose a soundscape for the following collage by Clover Robin.
Artwork of a bird perched on a cactus. It is in the foreground. There is sand in the middle ground and cliffs in the background.
What sounds might someone experience in this landscape? How might it be similar to the soundscape you created for the other landscape collage?
Consider possible natural sounds as well as humanmade sounds.
How might these sounds be created?
You could use found sounds, recorded sounds, or instruments.
Notate the sounds in the following fillable and printable My Graphic Score document. You can also create your graphic score using another method of your choice.
My Graphic Score
Make a 15 second graphic score. You can create your own symbols and draw or write them in the ‘Legend’ box. Then, place those symbols in the “0 to 5 seconds,” “6 to 10 seconds,” and “11 to 15 seconds” boxes.
For example, you could use a symbol of a bird to represent the sound of a bird chirping.
|
Legend: |
|||
|
Graphic symbol |
0-5s |
6-10s |
11-15s |
Press the ‘Activity’ button to access My Graphic Score. Activity(Open PDF in a new window)