Response: The difference between hearing and listening
In high school, I was introduced to the concept of active listening, which discussed ways to stay engaged with whatever you were listening to. This practice was one of the earliest times listening and hearing were distinguished for me. While hearing is something that can be done passively, listening was a process that needed practice and intention to do effectively. While active listening was largely presented to me as a tool for students to pay better attention in classes, deep listening seems like its more holistic cousin. Deep listening has a much stronger consideration for all types of sound. It’s interesting how once you become aware of sound you hear so many more. I was walking out of the subway this weekend and I heard a non-subway sound. Initially, focused on getting to my destination, I walked right past it, but then stopped dead in my tracks when I remembered that I’m supposed to be paying attention to sounds. I stopped to record a cricket hidden somewhere behind the subway steps. To be honest, once I paid attention to it I noticed how loud and grating this cricket’s chirps actually were for a small little bug I couldn’t even see hidden in the chaos of a big city. Now every day on my way to Jay St. I’ve noticed this insanely loud cricket who must never take a break. After that initial recording as I walked down the street, I noticed so many more interesting sounds that were part of this larger landscape. The different tinkling tones of people’s keys, the various pitches of the motor on electric scooters; so many different players in the cacophony of New York.
