Project Description
Students will work in groups of 3-4. Each group will be given a NYC location and create a soundscape that imagines a future utopia for that area. The soundscape will need to include a minimum of three sound elements; one representing the region’s past, one representing the present, and a third of your choice. As a group you will research your location, capture/create sounds, and mix/produce your soundscape.
Group Task and Time management Proposal
Week 1: Research
Past- Megan Uribe
Present- Esme Ying Loke O’Conner
Future- Sakura Smith
Week 2: Go to Harlem and Record
Recording- Mostly Esme, but all caught bits of noises separately
Notes- Sakura
Week 3: Mix
We all mix it collaboratively
List of collected sounds
- (Past) Saxophone in Marcus Garvey Park
- Lobsters getting chopped at the fish market.
- (Past)Voice from the marketplace. While walking in the Marketplace, we could hear Nigerian languages. The people of Harlem have held onto their pasts and their cultures and brought them into Harlem.
- Steam from the street
- Instruments from the Malcolm Shabazz Market
- Washing dishes
- (Present) Sounds from Sylvia’s Restaurant – Queen of Soul Food since 1962. While we were there there was such a mixture of tourists and locals. The clips we used you can hear the music/ambience along with the different people.
Research
Past-Megan Uribe
- Contributes greatly to civil rights activism
- – welcomes immigrants with open arms
- – “black mecca of the world” fighting for its identity
- – black people/POC in general moved to Harlem to work in factories
- – low rent
- – jewish/italian families during civil war…low rent as well
-125th St. > Musical Theatre
-By 1920 majority is black (“Black America Capitol”)
-Explosion in arts, jazz, politics.
Present – Esme Loke O’Conner
What to see in Harlem on a daily basis.
http://www.nycgo.com/articles/must-see-harlem
Gentrification of Harlem.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/opinion/sunday/the-end-of-black-harlem.html?_r=0
Recent festival that took place in Harlem.
https://harlemlocal.com/harlem-week/
Future- Sakura Smith
- A pull between old and new.
- Gentrification but hopefully in a perfect world there would be connections with the past and not fully letting go of the history.
- By 2025 NYC wants Harlem to progress to the be equal with the rest of the city. They want it to include a Whole Foods, Music Halls, and has said that they want it to become the new “silicon valley”
- It would raise prices and essentially kick out residents who have lived there for years.
- I think that a future utopia for Harlem was if the city worked closely with long time residents to create a place that is progressive in a way that isn’t kicking anyone out and that everyone can be happy.
Description of final soundscape
The final soundscape depicts the exploration of travellers through a future utopian Harlem. The soundscape is however not a literal representation of their journey through Harlem but a one minute creation of their collective experience. In this utopian Harlem, Harlem has been completely gentrified. However due to it being a utopian future, the gentrification has occurred in such a way that the culture and charisma of the area hasn’t altered. Due to restraints on construction and caps on rent. Put in place by the local government. Harlem’s roots in jazz music still vibrantly sprout about the community.
