Listening to Awe

I've looked a bit at how music inspires awe earlier in the semester and created an awe playlist on ?Youtube of just songs. I'd like to look at sound in more than just songs though. What is it about the auditory that inspires awe? What happens when we combine listening with other senses? Let's see.

Welcome to Night Vale Official Logo
by Rob Wilson

1. Reading vs Hearing From 2:04-3:07, the following quote is spoken in this Welcome to Night Vale episode: "In response to our town's steadily-declining tourism industry, the Night Vale Tourism Board addressed our town's complete lack of appealing destinations - like uncensored art museums, hotels with door locks, and snake-free restaurants. NVTB Executive Director Madeline LeFleur said some travelers think they need to 'see things, like monuments, or the majesty of nature, or spectacular musicals, or eat regional/cultural foods in order to have a good time on vacation. But they don't!' 'You don't need attractions to have a good time!' she added. 'Just use your imagination! In fact, come to Night Vale, where 'we will show you fun in a handful of dust,' as the new NVTB slogan says."

Reading the quote alone can inspire awe. The words itself could be a definition of awe ("you don't need attractions to have [an awe-inspiring experience]"). What happens, though, when you listen to the soft voice of Cecil? Welcome to Night Vale often has dangerous things happen to the city, but the soft voice of the radio host seems undisturbed by what we may find disturbing. It's almost ironic. Or perhaps it's a juxtaposition emphasizing the dangerous/serious with calm. What does the soft hearing do to the serious reading? Does it add to the awe? Can you have irony in awe?


2. Only Hearing Words The podcast Cabin Pressure (below) follows the story of the four member flight crew of MJN Air. The stories themselves don't really inspire awe. They are funny, heartfelt, entertaining half hour episodes. What inspires awe for me is the fact that I became so attached to these characters just by listening to them. I had nothing to read so I was forced to focus entirely on who was speaking and what was happening. There are no visuals. There is nothing to help me see or read what is happening. Just with my ears alone I was able to fill in the details in my head to imagine these characters. I connect with them now after I've traveled with them like I would have reading about characters in a book or watching characters in a film.

3. Only Hearing Music Music is definitely a way to feel awe. Whether it is by the instruments themselves, the talent of the musician, the emotions stirred by the song, or any combination of these things, music alone can inspire awe without anything else. Paul Thompson's song Chasing Cotards is beautiful. The fact that we can even use technology to create digital music is another feat.

4. Music with Words Lyrics themselves can inspire awe, and the talent behind the voice alone can inspire awe. This song (below) by Peter and Evynne Hollens is sung acapella, but I think the imagery of the lyrics are just as beautiful and transcendent as the music itself.

Screencap of the Rain Noise option on mynoise.net

5. Hearing Digital vs Physical The website mynoise.net is a noise generator with 43 different "noises" from synthetic or industrial noises to natural or atmospheric. Each noise has bars or sliders along the top called the frequency-shaped tonal noise generator. You can mix the sounds you hear by pitch and volume to create your own. This site has been used for medical conditions as well as meditation techniques. There is a page called "Usage" explaining the many uses of these noises online. Does it take away from sitting out in the rain physically, or driving around in a car? I don't think so. It gives us the opportunity to hear the rain when it isn't raining, or listen to sounds we may not make time to listen to during the day. Plus I don't know about you, but I haven't had the chance to listen to atmospheric sounds like Hal 9000 might have.

6. Seeing and Hearing When we combine senses, our awe can be heightened because the experience is accessing more parts of our brain, different parts of our brain. What is the difference between just listening to a waterfall, then actually seeing one? Can seeing a video of waterfalls still inspire awe without actually being there? Again, the digital world is providing experiences that perhaps we couldn't afford or don't have time to experience on our own. The power of the digital media brings us opportunities to experience awe where we couldn't before. Adding sight and sound can make us feel like we are there more than just seeing a picture or only hearing the sound.

Screencap of the virtual keyboard!

7. Touch and Hearing This virtual keyboard lets you play a very small scale piano with the keys on your keyboard. It is definitely not perfect. As a pianist, I sometimes cringe because the notes won't play together nicely all the time even when you hit the keys simultaneously. But this doesn't mean there aren't better websites, or even apps like Magic Piano that provide an opportunity for our hands to interact directly with technology.

8. Combining All Senses So we have combined a few of these senses already, but what happens when these digital senses are combined to create awe themselves? It isn't just the tools we use to recreate sounds or revisit sites that can inspire awe. Sure, the technology itself is amazing. Just focusing on one sense can inspire awe. But Slam Poetry like this video combines what we read (poetry) with art, typography, sound, and music. How does watching this chance what we would have felt just reading the poem? Listening to the inflections, the pauses and power behind the voice combined with the striking visual and simple music creates an awe-inspiring video (sorry to those who have seen this before, but it's still a fantastic example).

9. Sounds in Film There can be powerful moments in film without the use of music. The movie Cast  Away had no music until the ending credits. The sounds of just the ocean and Chuck talking to Wilson without any response back emphasizes how alone he is out in the middle of nowhere. Other films such as Life in a Day and The Haunting take advantage of sounds in the natural world, the absence of sounds, or the sounds of things you can't see for effect. These moments can create awe and emotion without the influence of music to manipulate or coerce your feelings.

10. Music in Film Check out the behind the scenes from the production blogs for The Hobbit as they create music 1:49:19-1:50:53. Even though these moments of awe in film with music are created because of a combination of the visual and the auditory, the amount of work that goes behind creating something digital is still fascinating. You have the dozens or hundreds or thousands of people working behind the scenes to create a film. You have the production teams, the musicians, the composers, directors, actors. The list goes on. Yet we still use the digital to put it all together to create something great. The collaboration efforts and the technology combine create an artwork that inspires awe all on its own.