According to Hildegard Westercamp, ‘A soundwalk is any excursion whose main purpose is listening to the environment. It is exposing our ears to every sound around us no matter where we are. We may be at home, we may be walking across a downtown street, through a park, along the beach; we may be sitting in a doctor’s office’ (Soundwalking”, Sound Heritage 3(4), 1974: 18). It is to heighten one’s awareness of the auditory environment. The activity of wild camping put the participant in the different acoustic environment for the period of time and for my personal experience, it could easily to heighten the awareness of the surrounding sonic environment. While one is immerse in the relative quiet environment for a while, the small sounds, that being cover by the overwhelming urban sounds, are become more audible. This effects can accompany with the instruction of sound walking.
Sound Camping – phase one: Soundwalking: Guiding the participants from the nearest town to the campsite. While we are walking, firstly listen the acoustic changes from the rural urban environment (the nearest town) to the walking path (the forest). Listen from the inter to the outer sounds. The footsteps that we made while walking, or the heavy breathing sound that we make while walking in the very steep uphill. While we already increase the awareness to the surrounding soundscapes the we arrived to the campsite.
Sound Camping – phase two: Soundcamping: Listen the sounds that we made while doing camping. The rustling of the tents which we are setting up. Sawing and cutting the firewood. The burning wood hissing sound. The boiling water. The sizzling sounds which we are cooking. Then, how do those sound related to the nature sounds. The rustling leaf and bushes cause by wind and animal. The birdsongs. The snapping sticks. This phase questions the relationship of human and nature.