161 BPM- A MAP OF BEATS, INSIDE AND OUT (Journal 3)

Before I got started on my journey to the York University campus, I gave myself some prompts and rules. The original idea was to do a sound based map, using a close listening exercise I created. The task was to listen to and interpret my heartbeats, as they connected to the beats and pulses of the city, which I would then record. My goal was to try to create a kind of abstract soundtrack of my commute, based on internal and external rhythms.

These were my original prompts:

1. Everytime you feel compelled by a sound or sight on your commute, listen to your heartbeat via a stethoscope and take some notes and sketches.

2. Take a reading of your heart rate using the Heart Rate Monitor App

3. Make recordings of sounds in the city, using the bpm of your heartrate as the metronome.

4. Take photos and videos of the place where you are recording the sounds.

It wasn't long before my plan got derailed. As I was taking videos, while wearing a stethoscope around my neck, my nosey neighbour Suzanne approached me with an inquisitive tone:

What are you doing with that stethoscope on you?

Who are you taking photos of?

Have you seen Danny's (neighbour's) cat, Rosie anywhere?

Have you seen Danny at all?

Between you and me, he doesn't take proper care of that cat.

He's a bachelor, so that's part of his lifestyle, you know, going out every night.

He should at least keep Rosie inside when he goes out.

You know, I trained my cat Moochie to come home every night at exactly 10:30pm.

She was a good cat.

Did you know the man that lived a few doors down died 3 weeks ago?

He was a menace to this neighbourhood.

He kept his apartment clean, but not his body.

Let me tell you.

He was a chain smoker and a drinker. He used to throw his cigarette butts off his balcony and right into my hair.

Uh-Oh, here comes Larry.

It's okay, he's my ex- husband.

He travels alot, Thank God.

As I was walking, I realized that if I weren't wearing my stethoscope and being that creepy film student that sneakily films people and things without permission, I would probably never have caught the attention of Suzanne and might have missed out on all that juicy neighbourhood gossip.

I decided to abandon the soundscape idea, but keep the stethoscope on me and continue to pay attention to beats. Only now I started to become more interested in story beats. What were some of the dramas that I might be able to observe with my curious, film student eye and attentive yet still concussed ears?