List of Sounds

Birds chirping – N, C

Classical music recording being played – T, C

High heeled footsteps – H, R

Jingle of dog collar – N, U

Fountain – T, C

Car engines idling – T, R

Man dragging his feet – H, U

Truck accelerating – T, R

Two people having a conversation – H, C

Leather shoes squeaking – T, R

Man cracking knuckles – H, U

Bird wings flapping against leaves – N, R

Utensils hitting a table and each other – T, R

Plane propellers – T, U

Lake water hitting the shore – N, C

Analysis of Sounds

On Friday, September 20 at about 2:45 until 3:30, I sat down on a park bench on the corner of George Street and Lakeshore Road, the city square in Downtown Oakville. Since I chose a time of day that is quiet because most people are still in work, most of the sounds that I experienced were either technological or natural, though the natural sounds were the ones that were the most constant and pervasive. I sat on a park bench that was situated in the centre of the square facing west, one ear towards the street intersection and an adjacent shrub and the other facing the lake and the various stores within the square.

The initial sound that I noticed was the sound of the birds that were in the shrub; both their chirping and the flapping of their wings of their wings against the leaves. Both these sounds were very loud because of how close they were to where I was sitting and continued throughout my entire time sitting. The chirping was high pitched and sounded as though it was coming from a small bird like a sparrow and the flapping of the wings were crisp and staccato as they seemed to be cut off as they hit the leaves.

Along with the birds, there was a continued sound of the waves from the lake as they crashed against the shore. The lake and therefore the waves were in the distance and were a deep throaty rumble until they were punctuated with a splash as they hit the shore rocks.

Within the square, there are three buildings: an Italian restaurant, a coffee shop and classical music store; each with their own individual sounds. The Italian restaurant and the coffee shop had a lot of chatter going on as there were a number of people seated on the patio and they contributed a continuous dull roar to the atmosphere. It was difficult to discern any specific word or conversation as the voices all managed to blend together and there were no tonal or pitch shifts as there normally would be in an individual conversation. There was also the high pitched clanking of metal on metal as the restaurant utensils interacted with each other and the metal tables which happened sporadically in the half an hour that I listened. Based on how loud the sound was, I assumed the sound was coming from the coffee shop which was closest to me. The classical music store was playing very loud classical music throughout the time that I was seated. The songs played were lighthearted, quick in tempo and were comprised mainly of string instruments: violins, cellos, etc. Finally, there was also a fountain outside of the Italian restaurant and the main sound of it was the water falling and splashing into the pool of water in the basin of the fountain.

On the street side, at the intersection, the sounds were mostly vehicle based: there were many idling car engines at the stoplight, most were low pitched growl which transformed into a crescendo as the light turned green and they sped off. There were a number of trucks and they were differentiated by the lower octave that their engine sound remained in and at one point, there was an electric car which hummed in a higher pitch as it accelerated away.

Finally, there were a number of unique sounds that I experienced: there was the clopping sound of a woman’s high heeled boots on the stone as she walked her dog, whose collar jingled metallically as the tag hit against the chain repeatedly. A propeller plane flew by overhead, the propeller making a deep choppy sound that got softer as the plane flew away. Lastly, a man walked towards my bench and his leather shoes let out a high pitched squeak with every step. He then sat beside me and cracked his knuckles. Some cracks were deeper in tone and some were louder depending on which finger he cracked.

The keynote of the location would definitely be the sound of the waves off of the lake because it is specific to the location, is still rooted in the commercial surroundings and therefore not completely devoid of human interaction or intervention and the sound would be difficult to hear the farther east or west that you go because the sound would obstructed by the buildings.  

The soundmark of this location would be the classical music store’s music that was filling the square as there are not many other stores that specialize in classical music in the nearby areas.