Web of Life

Objectives

Sound is always around and within us. Mindfully listening to our environment and our inner world can bring greater understanding, connection, acceptance, and appreciation for our sonic worlds. This can also connect us with others in our ecosystem and help us fit in—both to the social web of life, and the actual web of life. Here, the life skills of listening and improvisation will allow us to travel inward, express ourselves to the world, and bridge the gap between our inner and external soundscapes.

Materials

• Paper

• Writing utensils

• Coloring utensils (i.e., crayons, coloring pencils)

• Voices

• Simple instruments

Example sequence

1. Sitting in a circle, ground into the experience with some deep breaths, letting each one out with a vocalized sound. These sounds do not have to be “pretty,” and you do not have to sing.

2. Check-in with your body to make sure it is as comfortable as it can be. Start with the toes, through the feet, and up to the crown.

3. After the initial body scan, bring your attention back down to your toes. As you notice, feel, and potentially move them, what sound does your voice want to vocalize? It is loud or soft? Short or long? What is the emotional quality of the sound? How can the sound help your toes become even more comfortable? Allow the sound to change over time, as your toes move, and hopefully become more comfortable. Repeat this vocalization for your feet, lower legs, knees, and so on, up to the crown.

4. After warming up our voices and settling into the circle, take a moment to listen to the reverberations of your vocalizing during the warm-up. Allow the sound to repeat and develop as it wants to.

5. At the cue of a group leader, start to vocalize this sound together. Listen to how your sound interacts with other individuals’ sounds and the ensemble sound. Come to silence when everyone feels the group has reached its saturation point.

6. With your paper and writing/drawing utensils, make a collaborative doodle as a group to show how your individual sounds created the group soundscape. When you finish, title this picture to capture the essence of the group soundscape, while also naming your group (as if you were a band/musical ensemble).

7. Now take a moment to silently witness and hear the environment. You may do this by sitting, standing, quietly walking around, or lying down. Notice and accept all the layers of sound; biophony (the sounds of living creatures), geophony (natural sounds from Earth’s systems, not necessarily “living” things in the traditional biological sense), and anthrophony (sounds made by humans, including machinery). Notice and accept how sounds change or remain constant.

8. Now listen to your inner world again, scanning and listening from your toes to your crown again. Try not to ignore the environmental sounds and allow the two worlds to sound together.

9. After listening to the environment and your body, find a place to work where you can vocalize and use the instruments to externalize your inner soundscape and hear how it interacts with the external soundscape. You will likely hear your groupmates in the distance. While this time is meant for you, do not ignore the sounds you hear them contributing to the environment.

10. At the call of a group leader, keep sounding, but drift back into the group circle space. As you are sounding, keep listening, and allow your sound to develop over time. Feel free to move or remain still as your body desires. Allow the sound to come to a silence when the group has reached its saturation point.

11. On another paper, start by writing the words “web of life” either at the top, in the center, or where the group thinks the title should go. Once the title is there, collaboratively doodle again, with any intention you would like to personally bring to the experience. Allow words or phrases to come through onto the paper as well.

12. Voluntary group discussion.

13. Close by showing your group/band/ensemble a gesture of appreciation. Then do the same for the instruments and environment.

National Core Arts Standards

MU:Cr1.1.5a: Improvise rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic ideas, and explain the connection to specific purpose and context (such as social, cultural, and historical).

MU:Cr1.1.5b Generate musical ideas (such as rhythms, melodies, and accompaniment patterns) within specifically related tonalities, meters, and simple chord changes.

MU:Cr2.1.5a: Demonstrate selected and developed musical ideas for improvisations, arrangements, or compositions to express intent, and explain the connection to purpose and context.

MU:Cn10.0.5a: Demonstrate how interests, knowledge, and skills relate to personal choices and intent when creating, performing, and responding.

MU:Cn11.0.5a: Demonstrate understanding of relationships between music and the other arts, other disciplines, varied contexts, and daily life.

CASEL Core Competencies

Self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, social awareness