We have a Q & A with artist and R. Murray Schafer scholar Nicholle Andrews, who will lead, during the soundpedro event, an "ear cleaning" exercise to enhance your experience. Nicholle will host two sessions: for children and families at 6:30pm and for everyone at 7:30pm.

Creative Networking and Exposure: Long Beach area sound artists, please consider joining the artist registry at artslb.org.

The next soundpedro is June 1st, 2019 at 6pm to 10pm. You can RSVP on Facebook.

Ear Cleaning

Ear Cleaning with artist Nicholle Andrews, from the school of Music at the University of Redlands, who will lead the Ear Cleaning session at soundpedro for children and families 6:30pm and for everyone at 7:30pm.

FLOOD: What is Ear Cleaning and does it involve Q Tips?

Nicholle Andrews: Ear Cleaning does not involve Q-Tips, at least, not the ear cleaning that will be presented at soundpedro. Ear Cleaning is a phrase coined by Canadian composer and pedagogue, R. Murray Schafer. The common themes that run through Schafer’s books include music education in and out of the classroom, environmental concerns, and pedagogical exercises. Beyond the Music Room (1986), The Composer in the Classroom (1976), and When Words Sing (1970) discuss experiences with teaching both children and adults in the classroom and in community ensembles. He experiments with something he calls "descriptive music" where he has students imitate various sounds from their environment with their voices or instruments.

Schafer also encourages students to improvise and aurally create the pictures that he provides in his scores. Ear Cleaning (1967), HearSing (2005) and A Sound Education (1992) present a variety of pedagogical exercises. The title Ear Cleaning comes from his belief that before one can begin ear training, they must experience ear cleaning. He wrote, "I have tried always to induce students to notice sounds they have never really listened to before, listen like mad to the sounds of their own environment and the sounds they themselves inject into their environments."

F: How will ear cleaning heighten the soundpedro experience?

NA: Ear Cleaning will heighten the soundpedro experience as it will encourage participants to listen sounds they have never noticed before. It will create a new soundscape in what may be a familiar space to many.

F: How does ear cleaning enhance everyday living (music listening)?

NA: In my personal experience, students who have studied Ear Cleaning share that it changes the way they listen as musicians. What was once simply notes on a page becomes so much more. It can also change the way the general population perceives their world as a new palette of sounds can be found.

F: How might it relate (or not) to palate cleansing, sensory deprivation, 4'33?

NA: If anything palette tuning. I draw; cleansing would be erasure. In ear cleaning, we don’t remove; we sort, we delineate, we arrange, we bring into focus.

F: Mindfulness?

NA: When one becomes more aware of their soundscape, they are living in the moment. It's not about what you have hear, or you think you will heard, but rather, what you are hearing and experiencing in real time.

Ear Cleaning sessions at soundpedro for children and families at 6:30pm and for everyone at 7:30pm.

Arts LB Artist Directory

The Arts Council for Long Beach has one of the best artist registries around. Many Long Beach and even LA arts organizations are using the registry to find artists because it is well organized, user friendly, and looks great. If you are an artist who works in or around the Long Beach area, you should register. It's free. Register here.

as loud as...

When FLOOD asked soundpedro artists to describe volume levels for their proposed projects, we received a series of responses that are just too good not to share.

As loud as…

"As loud as an idle pickup truck."
- Pile of Wires

"As loud as a few people tapping hands on a table firmly."
- Dillon Bastan

"Immersive but not ear-shattering."
- Jeff Jacoby

"As loud as a bursting balloon."
- Michael Arata

"As loud as someone crumpling paper"
- Conchi Sanford

"Two people, speaking across a small table"
- Young-Tseng

"As loud as a cello being plucked inside a tin can."
- Hilary Norcliffe

"Voice level amplified by a bath tub"
- Brian & Ryan

"Loud enough to be heard outside, not ear splitting."
- M. Couronne and Leah Shane Dixon

"As loud as the bleat of fog horns."
- Susan Rawcliffe

"Unsure, but not quiet! ~Alarm clock level?"
- Dillon Bastan

"As loud as necessary."
- Vedran Mehinovic

"As loud as a washer/dryer. (louder if outdoors)"
- Henry Krusoe

"As loud as two big pieces of wood hitting each other."
- Hilary Norcliffe

"As loud as the cacophony of crows"
- Susan Rawcliffe

Follow us on Instagram

Watch for the #visualsound series of still images on our Instagram feed, expanding upon the phenomenon psychologist Chris Fassnidge calls vEAR, or "visually evoked auditory response."