Author Archives: phoebe telfar

Lead students on a sound walk—ideally along a route that moves through contrasting sonic environments (such as from the classroom to a nearby garden, park, or forest). This exercise encourages students to notice how much we usually tune out, revealing the busy abundance of noise that makes up our everyday soundscape. It helps them think about sound more acutely, both as a sensory experience and as a potential storytelling element.

This activity is most effective with access to a few Zoom recorders or similar portable devices. Students can take turns listening through headphones during the walk, discovering an entirely new dimension of sound that is usually overlooked.

Regardless of access to equipment, the walk itself is a valuable way to sharpen students’ awareness of their sonic environment. Encourage them to focus on the small details: the sound of doors opening, the differences in footsteps on linoleum, gravel, or pavement, the rustling of leaves, the hum of traffic and construction, and the fleeting sounds of people in the distance.

By the end of the walk, students should begin to understand how these seemingly ordinary sounds can become building blocks for engaging audio stories – tuning into the world with new focus.

Ask students to develop a 1–2 minute soundscape that captures the everyday sounds of their environment. This exercise will help develop:

• Critical listening skills, recognizing the narrative or emotional potential of everyday sounds
• Basic audio editing and arrangement skills
• Environmental awareness – understanding how sound shapes and reflects the places they inhabit
• Creative thinking – discovering how to layer and juxtapose sounds to create a rich sonic experience
• Analytical insight – noticing how some sounds gain new meaning or texture when isolated in a recording (e.g., they might discover that a drawer opening sounds surprisingly like another household object, or that the hiss of running water creates a sound that is hard to identify without visual cues)

Students could choose to:

• Walk around their neighborhood to capture street sounds, passing pedestrians, or bustling businesses.
• Record sounds from their home during daily routines—like the hum of outside traffic, a wobbly window pane, opening drawers, watering plants, etc.
• Document the sonic textures of their commute, whether by bus, bike, or foot.

Ultimately, this project is about training their ears to the sound environment, becoming familiar with isolated ambient sounds, and developing editing and software skills.

This project invites students to develop a portrait of a place without using any spoken word. Students will choose a specific location and collect snippets of ambient sound to craft an abstract audio collage that captures its essence.

While the previous soundscape activity focused on recording and editing skills, this assignment pushes students to use only environmental sound to create a narrative. It encourages them to consider how layers of noise can shape atmosphere, evoke emotion, and convey the energy of a space.

Students should focus on layering and arranging sounds to reflect the feeling and rhythm of their chosen location. They will work with everyday noises and experiment with how these sounds transform when combined.

This exercise helps students to see sound as more than background noise—it becomes the central storytelling element, expressing the textures and energy of a place and bringing it to life.

Students will develop:

• Creative editing skills—sequencing and balancing sounds to build a complete sonic experience
• Narrative thinking—telling a story or mood purely through environmental sound
• Critical listening—noticing how subtle shifts in texture and tone affect perception
• Sound design awareness—understanding how small, everyday sounds can powerfully evoke place or mood

This exercise is designed to help students develop confidence in interviewing, understand what it’s like to be interviewed, and become familiar with the technical challenges of capturing a conversation to produce clean recordings.

Activity flow:

• Have students partner up and write 4-5 questions on a specific interview topic (alternatively, start by having the class write a variety of fun topics on slips of paper, then have each student draw two topics from a hat. Their partner gets to pick which of the two topics they’re more comfortable talking about).
• Send them off to find a quiet place to record their interviews.
• Keep the time limit slightly tight to encourage them to manage time effectively when guiding the flow of conversation. Remind them to switch roles halfway through so they experience both sides of the interview process.

Audio Processing and Editing Workshop:

• Ask students to upload a 30–45 second segment of their recording into their editing software (the content itself doesn’t matter).
• Teach them the basics of audio processing: how to apply noise reduction, use compression, and edit out silences or sections of conversation. Show them how to use fades to make edits smooth and natural.

Hand in:

• The original clip and their edited version
• A short written reflection on what they learned about recording an interview (such as microphone placement, challenges with background noise, and how to avoid issues like rustling clothing or overlapping speech).

In this exercise, students pick a site and create a short audio piece that describes the space through all five senses—sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. They will layer narration and ambient sounds to bring these details to life.

This piece can be self-narrated, or you could instruct students to include at least two other voices—a good opportunity to practice editing together multiple voices.

Learning Outcomes:

• Experiment with translating visual and tactile experiences into sound.
• Practice leveling audio and balancing overlapping sounds.
• Learn how to arrange the timing of layered complementary sounds

This project encourages students to explore how to use audio to bring different sensory experiences to life while developing their technical editing skills.

This assignment guides students through the complete process of planning, conducting, and editing a real, one-on-one interview. Students will select a single interviewee—someone they know, like a classmate, roommate, family member, or friend—and choose a topic to explore. They should be instructed to create an audio piece that includes an introduction and conclusion. Possible topics could be:

• A favorite hobby or interest
• A memorable place
• A daily ritual or routine
• A personal passion or small joy

Key Steps:

• Plan: Write 3-4 focused questions to guide the conversation.
• Organize: Arrange a time and location for the interview, making sure it’s quiet enough for a clear recording.
• Record: Conduct and record the interview, practicing both asking questions and listening attentively.
• Transcribe: Create a complete transcript of the recording.
• Script: Identify which parts of the interview to keep and what to leave out, shaping a short and engaging story. Write any narrative additions and record these.
• Edit: Use editing software to create a polished audio piece, focusing on smooth transitions and clarity.

Optional Addition:
For students who want to go further, they can add subtle ambient sounds or soundscapes that enhance the voice recordings—learning to balance voice and atmosphere thoughtfully.

Hand-in:

• Final edited audio story
• Script and full transcript
• A short reflection on what they learned for next time

This project teaches students how to transcribe and select parts of the interview to include or exclude in the script. It teaches them how to navigate and prepare for the unexpected challenges that can emerge when it comes to conducting real interviews. It builds practice in the technical aspects of audio processing and teaches them how to convey a narrative arc through an audio piece.