Join me as I explore recyclable materials to create an instrument and record its sounds on Audacity!
PROMPT:
"Create your own instrument from recycled material and record its 10 different sounds using Audacity. Compile a 1-2 minute soundscape, imagined environment, or re-mix using Audacity. If you appropriate a sound from the class sound library, make sure it is altered from its original."
What is Sound Art?
Sound art is a contemporary artistic medium utilizing sound as its primary mode of expression. It evolves from established disciplines like spoken word, experimental music, and even Surrealist work. Any sound-producing element can be used as a component in this type of artwork. This includes natural sounds like rainfall, spoken word poetry, moments of silence, and modern sounds like ASMR. All of these comprise sound art!
Instrument Assemblage
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MATERIALS
Various recycled materials like...
Box (mine was from a flat iron)
Rubber bands
Popsicle sticks
Assorted beads and plastic gemstones
Toilet paper rolls
Coaster
Metal pins
String
Plastic Utensils
Scissors
Hot glue
Tape
Process
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I wanted my instrument to have string components, therefore I began by cutting out part of the plastic center of my box so I could attach rubber bands across. It's important for their tightness to vary in order to get different pitches. I also taped part of the plastic to the side of the box because it made a nice scratching noise.
Next, I wanted to make a little maraca so I placed a beaded necklace inside a toilet paper roll and taped it shut with cardboard. For the maraca handle, I hot glued two plastic forks to the roll and then attached them loosely on top of the box so the maraca would still shake if I moved it. I wanted to add more strings, so I hot glued popsicle sticks to the other side of my box and spaced them out unevenly. This disbalance allowed for varying string tensions and therefore diverse pitches.
For the spin drum, I hot glued a coaster to a popicle stick. Then, I attached strings to the side and glued metal pins so they'd make noise as they hit the hard coaster. Lastly, I filled the box with plastic gemstones so they'd mimic rainfall as I moved the box from side to side!
Final Looks
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If you'd like to hear my 10 individual instrument sounds, download them here:
Audacity Remix
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For this portion of the assignment, I had to download Audacity. It is a free and open-source digital audio editor and recording application software available for Windows, macOS, Linux, and other Unix-like operating systems. Anyone who wants to make a podcast, produce music, or simply get creative with sound can use it!
Process
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After creating our instrument, we were tasked to upload 10 recordings of sounds it made and upload them to our classroom's One Drive. I was then able to download my classmates' audio files and add 10 mono-tracks to my Audacity project file. I included some of my own audio clips as well and layered everything to make a 1-minute soundscape. The effects I played around with for each clip included reverb and echo, amplification, paulstretch (slowing down), pitch, and bass/treble adjustments. I noticed that the reverb and paulstretch effects made these incredible, slow wind-like noises while the bass and lower pitch created an eerie atmosphere. That was my inspiration for how I envisioned the theme of my soundscape.
Final Audio
Play the video and turn up the volume!
For my final soundscape, I embraced the theme of a lost traveler. It commences with an ominous tone of the flute and chimes as they echo across the deserted scenery. A brief pause follows while the weary traveler's bag is heard dragging behind his feet. Suddenly, the winds surge, heralding the approach of an impending tempest. Undeterred, the wanderer presses on. Each step he takes is a fervent prayer for sanctuary amid the looming storm.
Artists for Inspo
Check out these videos:
The Recycled Orchestra of Cateura (The Landfill Harmonic) is a Paraguayan musical group that plays instruments made entirely out of garbage from the landfill in which their community is located.
Favio Chávez is an environmental engineer with a musical background. During an eight-year waste recycling project at the Cateura landfill, he connected with the community's children, many of whom dropped out of school due to work obligations. His goal was to teach these kids music to keep them away from the landfill. When demand for lessons surpassed instrument availability, Chávez and Nicolas “Colá” began crafting instruments from recycled materials like oil tin cans and bottle caps. Together they've improved their designs over time for better sound quality.
"The world sends us garbage, we send back music." —Favio Chávez
Check out these videos:
Zimoun is a Swiss artist renowned for his sound sculptures, sound architectures, and installation art that merge raw industrial materials like cardboard boxes, plastic bags, and old furniture with mechanical components such as DC motors, wires, microphones, speakers, and ventilators.
These architectural sound platforms are made with simple yet functional components and incorporate common industrial objects. This is Zimoun's way of exploring the mechanical rhythm and flow within systems. He also abstains from directing the mechanical systems in his compositions and instead allows the components to move uncontrolled. His minimalist creations produce an acoustic hum of natural phenomena that evoke emotional responses.
Lesson Idea:
(Middle School - 8th grade)
My lesson idea is to have students go out in nature and record at least 15 nature sounds that they hear. This could be rainfall, leaves rustling, rocks scattering, wind blowing, etc. Then, they would use Audacity to remix their sounds and turn them into a short nature soundscape like I did. I want them to think of a story they want to portray through these noises and purposefully edit the clips to illustrate that. Then, they could create a sculpture from recycled material that features a part of their story for the visual aspect. This would also be a great time to merge poetry and art, for they can write a poem that matches their recording and sculpture as an interdisciplinary project. The idea is to get students outside and connect with nature as well as strengthen their lyrical writing abilities in their English class.
Personal Thoughts
Creating the instrument from recycled material made me reminisce about my elementary school days when we did similar projects. Because I played the violin, I would always add a string component no matter what since plucking was my favorite thing to do on the violin. Investigating artists and learning about the Landfill Harmonic Orchestra also blew my mind because of their ingenuity, humility, and resilience. I would show them to my future students as an example of overcoming adversities through music and art. Beautiful creations may emerge if you have a positive mindset. Like the dysfunctional wearable object project, this is a great opportunity to teach students about resourcefulness and sustainability.
As for Audacity, I found it to be a relatively simple application to use, although I still need to research how to properly adjust the effects. I don't know what all the numbers mean and those were the confusing parts I had to explore through trial and error. However, I was very pleased and excited about my final soundscape audio! I think Audacity is a great way to get musically inclined students excited about sound art by pairing it with the sculptural aspect of the instrument.
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