Close your eyes. Open your ears.   Hear with your soul.

Over the last few years, I have been inspired by a group of innovative soundmakers, listeners and composers.  The works of Hildegard Westerkamp, Murray Schafer, Darren Copeland, Michael Waterman, Claude Schryer, Andra McCartney, and the late Howard Broomfield  continue to shape how I hear the world.   I have been a radio producer for more than a few years, but only now am I hearing a world that reaches deeper than surface scratchings.  I thank them for teaching me to listen deeply and to understand in new ways.

Late in 1999, inspired by the writings and compositions of some of these same artists, I began thinking about my own city of Ottawa.  What are the sounds that differentiate one city from another?  What sounds give this city its "soul"?   What is this place I have chosen to call "home?"

What will the "soul" of the city be fifty years hence?  What will they tell us about our own community and our place in the world?   Will the airplane 20,000 feet overhead be heard as a gentle bass drone, or will engines be built which are louder?  Quieter? Will the sound of human voices still be part of the soundscape or will factors like ozone depletion and risk of skin cancer drive us inside? Will the sounds of the natural world disappear as more species become extinct or are drowned out by the sound of human activity?

No small questions, these.  And so I began my exploration of my own community.

There are two parts to "Capital Resoundings" --

The "Soundings" --  It is important that we listen to the soundscape as it exists now if we want to understand what those sounds are communicating, and how our world and city is changing.    One of the goals of soundscape studies was to document specific elements of the soundscape and preserve these sounds of future generations.  Over the past year, I have collected hundreds of different sounds, many of which are posted on this web site.

The "Resoundings" - The next step is to try to understand what those sounds mean ... to re-interpret these sounds and explore their hidden meanings.  Rather than a strict documentary presentation, the "Resoundings"  are more like a poem, expressing what the location says to me. Because ultimately, we all decide for ourselves what a particular place and time means. (By far the largest part of the project, the four audio "poems" will be composed throughout 2001).

There are many places I could have chosen for this suite.   When it came  time to make the choice, certain locations in Ottawa spoke to me more loudly than others.  Click on each location below to find out why, then listen to the finished compositions as they are posted.

• Hogs Back Falls ~ hear "Folded and Broken" the second composition completed, in Real Audio. Or download in MP3 (6.5 meg)
• The Lourdes Grotto
• The Byward Market
• Parliament Hill ~ hear "Meeting Place " the first composition completed, in Real Audio. Or download in MP3 (11.1 meg)
• Epilogue

Listen here for one of my preliminary soundscapes.  Do you recognize the places that you are hearing?  Do they speak to you? [Listen]

I hope "Capital Resoundings" encourages you to listen in a new way, and deepens your own relationship to your personal soundscape, wherever it may be.

Victoria Fenner
Ottawa
October 2001

This project has been supported with funding from the City of Ottawa.

To find out more about Victoria Fenner's work, visit www.magneticspirits.com

All contents of this site are © 2000, 2001 and 2002 Victoria Fenner