Abstract:

A very effective way to promote student learning is through experiences outside the classroom, in which they can activate all their senses to focus on a deep educational experience. Through the concept of “sound walks”, for two weeks, a group of Musical Technology students from the Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Querétaro, Mexico; learned essential notions of Sound Design, Sound Ecology, and analysis of sociocultural phenomena through sound.

This research shows the procedure, development, analysis, sound design and evaluation, about how the practice of the “Sound Walk” allows students to learn about their environment through sound. During the activity, various dynamics were used such as active listening, field recording and observation in different parts of the city of Querétaro.

The sound analysis of this learning methodology made it possible to analyze, in a first stage, the sociocultural characteristics of the urban space. In a hybrid in-class/out-of-class exercise, students were able to brainstorm sound design ideas about what the same walking space might have sounded like 100 years ago, and what that same place might sound like 100 years in the future.

Imagination, creativity, and assertiveness in sound creation were accompanied by historical and anthropological research, as well as prognostic exercises based on ethical, urban, and social approaches to the future. This document will share details about the project approach, the specifications of each of the phases, from the implementation of the sound walk, the field recordings, and the sound creation exercises and the socio-cultural analysis of the project.

Keywords:

Methodology, Sound Walk, Sound design, Ecology of sound.