Sound Games for a Group

Making things with a group of people feels good when it works. This is joy: when a band or crew reaches a flow state together, present in the wonder of play, getting into it, really into it, investing in the outcome, solving complex problems and somehow coming out the other side, together, celebrating.

My adult life is spotted with these rare, joyful moments. I can think of countless close misses or slogs to get the work done, where maybe it doesn’t feel good along the way, or perhaps is not as inventive as it could be, despite all the potential. Is it because the conditions aren’t right? In art cultures that reward individuality over collective experience and productivity over play, conditions are hardly ever right. I fear that I will forget how to play, how to play together, how to play together nicely. I want to remember and to practice, so I must create the conditions myself, or even better, get some friends to do it with me.

Sound Games for a Group is a set of cards that invites people to collaboratively interpret prompts for making and recording sound.

Each card contains a short, playful set of instructions that the group interprets together. The group then creates 2-minute recordings for each card in order. At the end of the process, the group can upload their tracks to the Sound Games for a Group Archive, where a collection of diverse players, sounds, and recorded interpretations can be studied and enjoyed.

The Sound Games’ flexible structure ensures groups of all sizes can participate. Each activity is scalable to different levels of experience with sound technology and sound art. Through open-ended prompts, everyone shares equal authorship of the process and recordings. Groups can let their imaginations run wild, breaking open the prompts if possible.

Sound artists might experiment with interesting microphone placement, polar patterns, or points of audition in their interpretation of a prompt. Improvising musicians may use this progression to guide a recording session. Theatre ensembles or movement artists can employ these exercises to play with sound embodied in a room. Some groups may push the limits of interpretation, while others use the games as a low-stakes entry into experimental sound practices. These exercises can also be used as pedagogical tools for students of any age and background, helping to develop skills in teamwork, negotiation, deep listening, audio engineering, and creative practice methods.

As the collection of audio files in the archive grows, so too will the source material for group creativity research in the context of soundmaking. These collections will ultimately serve as commemorative audio archives, documenting gatherings of groups of people in place and time, and celebrating a unifying sound practice that stretches across the world.

At its core, this project is simply an excuse to make things with friends. It is about creating and recording sound, while also building the scaffolding to support and ease our relationships with collective making, and by association, our relationships to each other.

Acknowledgements: This work is deeply influenced by Tiny Circus, a group of people using non-hierarchical collaboration to make stop-motion animations, zines, audio documentaries, and other media (tinycircus.org). Thank you to the Chicago free jazz and improvised music players, the devised theatre makers, and my hobby synth group for inspiration. Thank you to Sally, Carlos, Johanna, Sam, and Tia for process testing, Ian Kelly for design and Leah Yacknin-Dawson for editorial support.

Download cards to play : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hTBOoBhCX4XD5X4pumLMufvDiQrE6CSS/view

created by Kate In
and hopefully many others