Walk This Way: The Pedagogical Value of Soundwalking to the Study of Film Sound

A soundwalk, according to Hildegard Westerkamp, is "any excursion whose main purpose is listening to the environment." This article describes and assesses a soundwalk exercise that was assigned to a class of upper-level undergraduate students enrolled in a course on film sound. The value of the assignment is discussed in light of scholarship on the theoretical and material distinctions between live/original and recorded/represented sound. The article concludes that the soundwalk effectively enhanced the abilities of student to listen attentively to films, acquire and employ a musical vocabulary, understand theoretical frameworks for discussions of film sound, and perform close analyses of film sound.