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Nature had never been close to me since I came to Australia. When I lived in my hometown, there were only double stories houses and buildings surrounding my place with extremely terrible traffic from early morning till late night. Starting a life in Melbourne, nature places became more meaningful and familiar with me. I have been surprised and excited to realise that I found myself having a strong connection with nature.

At the entrance to the nature reserve, a sound of walking on the inclined concrete pathway and stepping on scattered little rocks has made me feel like I am getting into a different world where there is no loud noises or dangers surrounding me but a peaceful and friendly living environment.

I have seen another community to become lively in front of my eyes.

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Hey, good morning my friends, how are you?

Tall thin but beautiful trees have moved their hands and their bodies to welcome me to their living place. It was not a R&B dance or hip-hop dance, but a gentle movement has been performed by these lovely new friends in an autumn morning. Leaf-by-leaf rustled in the breeze that has generated a pleasant sound as a welcome song. Some trees have lowered their branches close to the ground that looks like they are asking me to join their singing. Some old leaves have fallen to give opportunities to new generation leaves growing and starting a new chapter. Sometimes it feels like the old leaves are talking to me when I stepped on them to say to me that: “You are welcomed to our land”. And from that moment, it is not only excited feeling but rather than that, I have shown my respect and grateful to the nature that those old generations have protected and nurtured.

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Hello, hello, how are you? What are you doing over there?

They are singing a nice song with their lilting voice which raises and falls in a pleasant way and this has made me a peaceful and relax feeling. Sometimes they stop singing and start talking together by making cheeping sound and it sounds like a group of people discussing a hot topic.

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According to reduced listening theory of Schaefer (2004), not only I listen to the water babbling sound but try to listen to the inside of that pure nature sound. What does it try to tell me about this place and things happening surrounding? It is nature, but deeply thinking, it is not just nature which is a free gift given to human beings. It is a living thing that has different language and mindset. Why nature make people feel relax? A beautiful and friendly community is living next to us but we just pretend it is not and use it as a tool to achieve our goals.

It is said that ‘sound can be heard as meaningful, but also as more than that— floating free of its moorings in specific words and worlds, becoming a spark for the imagination, a carrier wave for all kinds of affects and associations, and a way of reconfiguring relations through the play of vibration‘ (Gallagher, Hackett, Procter & Scott 2018, p.468)

By leaving open questions of what a sound indicates, signifies, or represents, reduced listening makes space for the play of the imagination and the production of new associations. (Kim 2009 cited in Gallagher, Hackett, Procter & Scott 2018, p.467).

Letting children to be exposed to objects sound and nature sound and leave them an open question of ‘what a sound indicates, signifies, or represents’ and from that children are encouraged to imagine and link the sound to any things that relates to their daily lives or experiences because ‘reduced listening makes space for the play of the imagination and the production of new associations’. (Kim 2009 cited in Gallagher, Hackett, Procter & Scott 2018, p.467)

Another listening theory from Chion (1994), ‘causal listening’ is a way in which it focused on gathering knowledge or experiences about listener’s immediate environment while they are listening to any source of sounds. By that, children are not limited to a default sound representing a specific object but their imagination skill can be developed and they are able to generate their unique own worlds through different sources of sound.

References
Gallagher, M, Hackett, A, Procter, L & Scott, F 2018, ‘Vibrations in Place: Sound and Language in Early Childhood Literacy Practices’, Educational Studies: Journal of the American Educational Studies Association, vol. 54, no. 4, pp. 465–482, viewed 14 May 2020, <https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=eric&AN=EJ1192110&site=eds-live>

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Reaching the small stream, the water sound has immediately given me a feeling of clear-headed calm and made me feel that: “Wow, all pressure on my shoulder has just gone. A different world has become lively and I felt like I was as Alice who has lost in the wonderful land”.

Closing my eyes and listening to the sound of water babbling down a stream, I wanted to hear what the water would like to tell me. “The ear hears, the brain listens and the body senses vibrations. Listening is a lifetime practice that depends on accumulated experience” – said by Pauline Oliveros.
MacMilan (2017) stated that the reaction times to psychological stress of a person who listens to artificial sound is slower than the one listening to nature sound. The scientist also mentioned that ‘nature sounds were associated with a decrease in the body's sympathetic response and an increase in parasympathetic response--the one that helps the body relax and function in normal circumstances’

A boundary between slow stream and fast stream has brought me attention to think that this is a reflection between the world out there where people are rushing and busy for their human’s lives, while the world where I am now has slowed down and very quiet that I can stop all living activities and just let my head flowing along with the babbling sound, enjoying the fresh air and listening to birds singing, trees dancing and rocks playing.

References
MacMillan, A 2017, ‘Why Nature Sounds Help You Relax’, Time.com, p. 1, viewed 14 May 2020, <https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=bth&AN=122519123&site=eds-live>