Soundwalk

New Rochelle isn't like Manhattan. For one thing, it's "upstate" and that means less people. And for that reason, its sound is much quieter and smoother. The downtown area where I live, even at it's busiest times, can't even compete with The Big Apple. I decided to do my soundwalk on a main road in this area one early morning.

It’s 9 am and only a few people are walking outside. Everyone else is at work already. All the kids are in school but the rumbling of school busses is ever present. The sound signals are the cars passing by every few seconds. I hear the refreshing whoosh of the sound of tires on the asphalt. There are no horns since traffic is moving so smoothly but as I sit, I hear a few keynotes: the scuffling of an older man’s feet as he contineus his morning walk, the sound of plastic bags rustling as a woman hurries to her destination, and the sound of the doors of the check cashing place opening and closing behind me.

The soundmarks of downtown New Rochelle are hard to distinguish from all of the other sounds that can be heard at any given time of the day. But, if you pay attention, not listening to music, not talking to a friend, you can hear them. Since it’s much quieter here, you are able to hear everything even if there isn’t much going on. No matter where I did this soundwalk, I know for a fact that the soundmarks of downtown New Rochelle would be the same: pigeons cooing. It’s such a small sound sound but I have reason to believe all pigeons live in New Rochelle. Every second of this exercise was accompanied by these pigeons, minding their own business, walking around the same areas just cooing as if that’s what they did when they got bored. I;m sure that even if they wanted to, they wouldn’t be able to do soundwalks since they wouldn’t be able to hear over themselves.