= Reflection 感想 =

As a classically trained musician, I spent the majority of my life working on how to produce desirable sound. As I enrolled in a sound art workshop, I was getting very excited to try some new attempts to make sound. It turned out the workshops offered more than the means to create sound; it was an inspiring journey from Hong Kong to Manila.

Viv’s listening exercises deeply inspired me because they are without judgment or presumptions as to how to define sounds. I found the landscape of the city sounding much more interesting and dynamic.

We carried on listening exercises further during our Research Field Trip in Manila. We were guided to focus on listening to ourselves – our own footsteps, our breath, even a tiny flip of hair. It was surprising to me how listening to ourselves enabled me to be sensitive to the atmospheric sound deeply and freely.

Each one of us was introduced to a walking companion from Manila, to do a sound walk in pairs. I was introduced to Lesley Anne Cao, an artist living near University of Philippines Diliman (UP). UP is a tranquil piece of land compared to Manila town centre. Throughout the walk Lesley and I discussed the political situation in both of our cities. We were amazed yet distressed by how situations are similar in our hometowns, while also being different on other levels.

I decided to make a piece for the public presentation with feelings I have towards the future of Manila and my hometown, using field recordings of Manila and improvisation on a Filipino folk song I found on the internet and it is still a very popular folk. After the workshops with Viv, I started to connect more with atmospheric sounds; it was very helpful to my first attempt in field recording in the creation of a performance piece. The approach of using existing sound materials instead of “making” sound or music was fascinating and exciting to me.

作為一個受過傳統訓練的音樂人製作理想的聲音這件事佔據了我生活的大部分時間。我很興奮可以成為聲音藝術工作坊其中一名參加者因為我可以嘗試一些創作聲音的新方法。最終這個工作坊給予我的不僅僅是創作聲音的方法而是一段從香港到馬尼拉的鼓舞人心的旅程。

Viv的聆聽練習給了我很大啟發他們對於聲音的定義的毫無偏見。這讓我看到了城市環境更加有趣和多元的風景。

我們在馬尼拉的實地考察之旅中進一步進行聆聽練習它帶領我們專注於自我聆聽 – 聆聽自己的腳步自己的呼吸甚至頭髮細微的顫動。讓人意想不到的是自我聆聽開啟了我對環境聲音的觸覺使其更加深入和自由。

在馬尼拉我們每個人都有一個同行者一起進行聲音漫步。我因此認識了Lesley Anne Cao一個住在菲律賓迪里曼大學UP附近的藝術家。相比起馬尼拉的市中心UP是一個寧靜的小地方。在散步途中我和Lesley討論了我們身處的兩個城市的政治環境。我們驚訝而又痛苦地發現我們家鄉的處境是如此的相似但亦有所不同。

我決定立足於我對馬尼拉和我家鄉的未來的所思所想用在馬尼拉的實地錄音和我在網上找到的一首深受歡迎的菲律賓民歌進行即興創作在公眾分享會做一個作品。參加了Viv的工作坊以後我開始與環境聲音連結它對於我在演出作品中運用實地錄音的第一次嘗試非常有幫助。這種方式利用現有的聲音材料而不是「製作」出來的聲音或者音樂演出令我非常興奮也非常著迷。