sprite writes
broodings from the burrow

July 28, 2009


favorite sounds
posted by soe 11:03 pm

A number of blogs I read regularly post their responses to the weekly meme, Ten on Tuesday. I’m not always excited by them, but I thought this week’s topic was an interesting one. Of course, I couldn’t stick with just ten, so I expanded it to a round dozen (it’s still alliterative, so I think it’s fine):

Twelve Favorite Sounds:

  1. Rudi’s whistle (It’s more polite than shouting, I think, although you do get weird looks when whistling to someone in public…)
  2. Waves lapping at the beach
  3. Echoing cracks of thunder late at night (I was scared of nighttime thunderstorms when I was little, but I remember coming out to Mum in the living room one night and her explaining that she found it a comforting sound. And I was never frightened of thunder again.) (I also like to be close enough to fireworks to feel them explode. I think it’s a similar feeling/sound.)
  4. The silence of a snowstorm
  5. The crackle of a fire (particularly the pop of pine cones, which remind me of camping as a kid)
  6. A cappella harmonies (particularly of women singers)
  7. The purring of a content cat — or three (Posey is sprawled on my lap as I type this…)
  8. Little kids’ unfettered fits of giggling
  9. The sound of a loved one’s voice — over the phone line or in person
  10. A favorite song coming through my speakers/headphones — whether at my request or by happenstance, it matters not!
  11. Rain tapping on the window or roof first thing in the morning or last thing at night
  12. The crack of wood and leather when a batter connects well with a pitched ball

Do you have favorite sounds?

Category: life -- uncategorized. There is/are 5 Comments.



“What do you hear in these sounds?”

1. The gentle whirr of a well-tuned bicycle drivetrain.

2. Ocean surf.

3. The sustain on an acoustic guitar – especially if it has harmonic tones involved.

4. The sound of skiing through dry powder snow (extra points if also in an aspen or pine glade).

5. The sound of snow falling off of pine boughs.

6. The clap of slalom gates as a ski racer slices and dices the race course.

7. The opening chord of “A Hard Day’s Night.”

8. The opening chords of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” – especially the underlying harmony played on wine glasses.

9. The wind blowing through an aspen grove (the “quake” of the quaking aspen).

10. The transitional bit between “Old Friends” and “Bookends” on S&G’s Bookends.

11. The final chords of “A Day In The Life” and “The End.”

12. The whirr of a movie projector (doesn’t matter if it’s 16mm, 35mm or 70mm).

13. Echoes in canyons.

14. The sound of shuffling cards.

15. The opening clarinet run in “Rhapsody In Blue.”

16. Turbofan jet engines of all types.

17. The swirl of wind vortexes behind landing jets at DCA, as heard at Gravelly Point.

18. The sound of soe’s breathing when she’s peacefully asleep.

Comment by rudi 07.29.09 @ 11:04 pm

@rudi: I love your list. I knew you’d have lots of favorite audio bits!

Comment by soe 07.30.09 @ 2:18 am

[…] on Tuesday Published August 4, 2009 sarah Leave a Comment So, I found out via sprite’s blog that there is an “official” Ten on Tuesday blog, wherein many get their weekly list […]

Pingback by Two 10s on Tuesday « Sweetpea’s Garden 08.04.09 @ 10:13 am

You might want to check out this book, which I discovered at the DC public library a couple weeks ago: Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening. The writer’s descriptions of listening are so beautifully written that he’s inspired me to pay more attention to the sounds that surround me.

Comment by caroline 08.06.09 @ 2:50 pm

@Caroline: Thanks! I’ll check it out at the library the next time I’m there. (I admit that I totally hide behind my ear buds these days and often miss a lot of what’s happening around me because of that.)

Comment by soe 08.24.09 @ 1:03 am