I spent an hour walking around the Bryant Park/ Public Library block. I went at 3pm before work, figuring it would be busy. Tourists. Tourists everywhere. There was so much going on, I had difficulty at first focusing long enough to isolate one sound from another.
The background noises alone were in competition. A constant bass-y hum of food trucks from every corner filled the space, spiking when a bus revved its engine. That atmosphere was more daunting and heavy than I anticipated. Louder sounds of higher pitches ripped through into the foreground. Children’s voices laughing, scream-crying, or whining seemed more piercing and drew attention. Voices in general seemed to fade in and out of my focus based on different timbres and the variety of languages circulating. The textbook mentioned the term “walla-walla” and that’s exactly how I would describe it.
As I listened longer, I was able to imagine sounds as if they were on different tracks. I could hear pigeons cooing and flapping away when someone got too close, and different birds chirping. The way different items interacted with the concrete beneath them also became more apparent. Rubber stroller wheels made a low rustle and dress shoes, versus heels, versus sneakers all gave a different loudness and pitch.
I caught excerpts of phone conversations in passing, and these easily became the most interesting part of my soundwalk. A woman said, “What’s her name…Megan. She’s suspicious.” And a man complained, “Yo, this is a lot of walking. I need a drink to walk this much.” I was expecting to see the regular homeless man on the corner, yelling about whatever, but I realized I only see him in the middle of the night when I’m walking home. I was also surprised by the lack of police sirens I heard. Usually I hear them a few times an hour but only heard them once during my walk.
Overall I could hear the difference between the open air space of the park versus the condensed sound down narrow avenues where I was trapped between concrete walls. The neighborhood clearly lends itself to tourists and local business people desperately passing through. At this time of day the area was bustling with people and surrounded by a traffic symphony of car horns and screeching breaks. Also, somewhere in the distance, a well matched ping-pong tournament.
