Episode 1 — Welcome, and Why Listening

Welcome to Sound Arts Intro Course. This first episode is the doorway into everything else.

We start where I like to start most things, with a sound I love, and then we get to the question underneath the whole course: what does it actually mean to listen?

You'll hear the difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is what your ears do all day whether you want them to or not. You can't blink an ear. Listening is the work your mind does to make meaning out of all that sound, and it's something you can practice and get better at for the rest of your life.

Along the way:

• Why almost any sound in the world can be enjoyed, once you decide to enjoy it. The fluorescent buzz, the refrigerator hum, the traffic, all of it.
• Three different ways of listening, from the write ...