Get curious about… Listening and the Sounds Around Us!
How often do we tell children to “listen” or “quiet down”? With this guide, we have an opportunity to flip the script a bit, with prompts for paying attention to sound, and for encouraging both listening and a little noise making.
Quotable
“When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.” —Dalai Lama
Interesting things to read, watch, or listen to.
Untitled (PPG 300), 2013, Ed of 8, Diptych by Martin Klimas
➵ What does sound look like? Photographer Martin Klimas explores visual representations of sound with jumping paint and exploding pigments and it’s pretty fantastic.
➵ Related: Cymatics, Science vs. Music. You’ll find this short video in the guide, but I wanted to make sure you didn’t miss it. It’s a musical look at how sound creates movement and patterns in matter, and it’s way cooler than that description might make it sound. Definitely share it with the kids.
➵ My husband uses hearing aids, so I know that he hears differently from me, but aside from how it effects our day-to-day interactions, I never really thought about what it means to “hear differently.” Check out Your Brain On Sound from the Only Human podcast (WNYC Studios) and then do this little exercise to see (hear!) how we’re all hearing differently. (Speaking of which… have you heard of synesthesia?)
Sonic Bloom by Yuri Suzuki is “a sonic playground” in London
➵ How do we listen when we’re unable to hear? One of the best-known solo percussionists in the world is deaf musician, Evelyn Glennie, and on an interview with TED Radio Hour, she points out that “sound is vibration, and that can feed through the entire body, so in a way I see the body as a big ear.” (There’s also a picture book about Evelyn if you want to share her story with your kids.)
➵ From the same TED Radio Hour episode: What Does Space Sound Like? Well, Jupiter sounds like pebbles falling on a tin roof and the sun sounds like the ocean. “It’s through listening that we’ve come to uncover some of the universe’s most important secrets…sometimes ears can be incredibly effective detectors of patterns in a way that perhaps our eyes are not.”
➵ We’ve used white noise machines since becoming parents ten years ago, but these historic recordings of nature seem like a lovely alternative. “When contemplating the past, we tend to privilege sight over sound. In part, this is because there’s a greater archive of what our forebears saw than what they heard. But, as the historian Emily Thompson has shown, the sonic past can tell us things that images, materials, and descriptions can’t.” (from “The Magic of Environments” by Hua Hsu, The New Yorker)
➵ What shape are certain sounds? Apparently there’s a human tendency to match certain sounds with certain shapes, called the kiki/bouba effect. “Most people — regardless of language or cultural background — agree the spiky, jagged shape is ‘kiki,’ while the blobby, curvy one is ‘bouba.’” (from “Kiki or Bouba?” by Laurel Schwulst, New York Times)
➵ Related, do you agree that, apart from meaning, these 30 English-language words sound beautiful? I think diaphanous might be my favorite from the list.
Wondering what’s up with the Discovery & Play Guides? Check out two free guides to learn more!
A poem.
Kristen Uroda for NPR, from “Is It Time For Hearing Aids To Be Sold Over The Counter?”
Ode to My Hearing Aids by Camisha L. Jones Then God said let there be sound and divided the silence wide enough for music to be let in and it was a good groove And God said let there be overflow sent sound in all directions pin drops & children's laughter phones ringing & plates clattering and it was kind of good but too much at times So God said let there be volume control let there be choice how loud life should be and there came the power to fade the voices, the annoyances, the noise and that was mighty good for all the unnecessary drama Then God said let there be surprise, startle even at the bird's chirp, the ice maker, the cabinet slammed shut let there be delight at the first calls in months to father & best friend and these were such good reasons for choking back tears that God saw the dark & the light dangling brilliantly from each ear and God whispered amen then smiled when it was heard. From Flare (Finishing Line Press, 2017). Copyright © 2017 by Camisha L. Jones.
11 books about listening and the sounds around us to read with your kids.
There are some good repetitive stories here for you preschool teachers out there, plus lots of fun ways to play with sounds, to think about listening to the world around us, to consider silence, noise, and even a game of telephone.
I try to make these book lists long enough that there’s some variety and everyone can find one they like, but not so long that they’re overwhelming, generally from 8 to 12 books. What do you think? Is it too many? Too few? Let me know!
Telephone by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jen Corace
And the cars go… by William Bee
Harold Finds A Voice by Courtney Dicmas
The Sound of Silence by Katrina Goldsaito, illustrated by Julia Kuo
Sounds All Around: The Science of How Sound Works by Susan Hughes and Ellen Rooney
Too Loud Lily by Sofie Laguna, illustrated by Kerry Argent
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr., illustrated by Eric Carle
Too Much Noise by Ann McGovern, illustrated by Simms Taback
Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss
Listen by Gabi Snyder, illustrated by Stephanie Graegin
The Quiet Noisy Book by Margaret Wise Brown
I’ve linked to Amazon for the sake of convenience, but I love AbeBooks, ThriftBooks, and eBay for finding used copies of books. And of course nothing beats your local public library.
Quotable
“The earth has music for those who will listen.” —Reginald Vincent Holmes, from Fireside Fancies (1955)
Listening & Sounds Guide
This Discovery & Play Guide includes a snack idea, poems, videos, songs, games, and simple activities to do with your children, all centered around the theme of Listening and the Sounds Around Us. It’s a PDF, so you can print it out if you prefer to go analog, but the formatting is intended to make it easy to use on your mobile device.
Discovery & Play Guides are for paid subscribers. Upgrade, then CLICK HERE for access to your downloadable Listening guide.
Remember: no one's grading this. It's all about building curiosity and connection, both for your child and for you. Pick one thing that looks fun or interesting, start there, and have fun! Let me know if you have any questions or feedback - I can't wait to hear how it goes.
See you later, alligator!
Love, Kathryn