The Music of Nature

by Carly Hanifin

This recording is a compilation of different sounds that I found at Holy Cross by the tennis courts, creating a musical arrangement. I decided to make this because I had always thought that tennis balls bouncing against rackets always sounded very satisfying to me, and I noticed a lot of different opportunities for sounds with the woods surrounding the tennis courts. I went by while the tennis team was playing so I could hear and record them, and then explored. I first recorded the sound of the tennis ball and decided to use that as a constant beat in the background. I recorded a rock thrown against another rock (transcribed in two different pitches), a stick dropped on the pavement, crunching leaves, and a ball hit against a stop sign. I made sure to chop these recordings into the exact length I desired, then put them all together adding one different beat at a time. I lastly decided to create a fade out effect by dropping one sound at a time until only the tennis ball was left.