Deep Listening Exercise: The High Line
The High Line, New York City
2:30 p.m. Friday, January 22
Winter Afternoon on the High Line (audio recording, 2:00)
Voices left side and right, traffic horns
A plane is flying overhead—look to see a helicopter
Beep, beep, backing up and some kind of machinery in the distance
This park, above the city, only rises above so much of its sound.
Bell ringing, car wash seemingly inactive
“But there is nothing . . . ” fragment of a conversation
The ringing of machinery—sounds like a jack hammer—a power washer?
Two voices rise and walk in front of me, the conversation trails off and I’m hearing more air.
Waves of transportation and a kind of frequency
It’s like a pulsing sound, fades out . . .
A truck picks it back up
Not as windy here
Brakes squeak/footsteps/the pitch of the carwash resumes
Car horn/voices/and I heard a bird just chirp
Airplane travels by, helicopter travels by, bell rings, horn sounds, pressure wash voices, stream of traffic along the Hudson River
Camera winding, engine revving