A soundscape is a series of sound effects and musical loops that try to convey a certain emotion to the audience. Listen to the music clip and try to guess the emotion we were given to convey. The emotion is revealed at the end!
I would recommend listening to the awesome soundscapes of Joey Buccini, Becca Amato, and Morgan Messenheimer as well. Click on their names to get routed to their blogs!
I absolutely adored this soundscape. There is a sense of mystery and longing throughout the piece that is particularly admirable. One Gestalt Principle that is portrayed is dissimilarity. In the beginning of the piece the use of woodwinds adds an underlying effect of wonder and awe which contrasts with the happy-go-lucky usage of jazzy horns and an upbeat drum kit. Another principle included is similarity, which is shown through the mystical starting music and the curious cries of the baby since each ultimately show an innocence of the world. The sounds produced by the newborn child not only continue throughout the entire composition but also become familiar to the listener, providing a sense of habituation as well as continuation since the sound becomes regular. I really enjoyed how the composers added variations in the timbre and volume of the child’s voice. The illusion of the child in a natural setting such as a beach is created through the use of soothing seagull screeches, chirps from small birds and the mesmerizing flow sound created by the sound of the rushing water. The overlap of sounds is a contributing factor to the depth of this piece as it samples various naturalistic sounds and concocts them into one unified composition. Lastly, the ultimate closure occurs through the abrupt stop of the swingy tune and baby crying. It seems overwhelming towards the end as the horns and baby’s yelps become louder, yet it closes on a positive note. Overall fantastic piece that conveys a great sense of optimism.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the story behind the soundscape. It definitely went well with the pictures you chose. The first picture with the woman in the sea was perfect for the sound of waves you added. I think the picture used the Gestalt Principle of similarity because it related the woman and the sea to each other. The causal sound of the waves and the sad flute that started playing represent ground and foreground, with the flute kind of playing a melody over the waves, which lie in the background. You used intensity with the sounds of the baby's crying growing louder, and contrast, as the baby's cries turned into laughter. I thought those sounds went with the picture of the man and woman kissing because you could infer what was going to happen. I liked how when the picture shifted into people with balloon heads, the music changed into an upbeat lounge song. It conveyed the fact that the story was supposed to end on a cheerful note. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI LOVED your soundscape fro the get-go. I thought you and your partner both did an exceptionally good job capturing the "emotion" that you were given. Right at the beginning there is a sense of mystery, as Capri said, but I felt it was something haunting. From there you carry the baby cry to the picture of the couple kissing and it gets a lot more happier, or "optimistic" (hint hint). You guys did a great job with this, as you did as well with your song that we listened to today in class.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed listening to this soundscape. When I first listened to it I wasn’t sure of the emotion that you were trying to convey but after I listened to it a couple of times I realized it was optimistic. During your song I noticed you used the Gestalt Principles and the one principle you used was dissimilarity. You use this by using soft instruments in the beginning of the song to convey a sense of a dark emotion, almost sadness, which is your use of habituation. But then you transitioned into a cheery emotion by having a baby going from crying to laughing; also by incorporating upbeat trumpets. You used the similarity principle (figure and ground) by you used a picture of a woman in the water and I heard the sound of waves. The use of space was also used in this soundscape. It was used by at the beginning of the song by the baby’s cries had an echoing feel to it but as the song went on the baby’s cries were drowned out by its laughter. The tempo of your song changed throughout the whole thing; at first it was slow and then it gradually picked up towards the end. When I was listening to this song I felt like you were trying to tell a story and that I could picture it in my head. At the beginning I imagined that the sadness was coming from the woman in the water thinking about a baby she had lost; which came to mind when the sound of a baby crying came it. But during the second half, the cheery part, I felt like I couldn’t put a story there like I did the first half. Overall, I felt this was a great soundscape and you definitely conveyed your emotion. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI LOVED your soundscape! I felt very optimistic and happy when I heard the poppy, upbeat music. At the beginning of the song when there was the flute-esque music, your soundscape almost sounded like a soundtrack to a movie, especially when the baby sounds came in. It almost sounded like we came upon a baby abandoned in an Indian camp that had been attacked and destroyed and being found to be loved once again overjoyed the baby. Time is shown in your soundscape through the use of speed of the instruments/beats. The wind instruments make it sound slow moving and give us a sense that a lot of time is going by. Once into the soundscape, the baby takes over, it cries and coos making us feel as though he (or she) is just hopefully waiting to be found. The jazzy music towards the end reminds me of like Baloo from The Jungle Book has found the baby and is doing a little dance for him. The birds and breaking of waves give me the sense that wherever we are located has depth of maybe an ocean or lake with a vast forest near by. Your song makes me want to go watch Ice Age or The Jungle Book again just because both your song and those movies have very optimistic outlooks.
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