Churchbells
A few moments after I arrived in Kitchener, churchbells began to sound all over the city, marking the first moments of the Open Ears Festival. I couldn't remember ever hearing so many church bells so clearly on a downtown street corner (Queen and King streets in Kitchener). Composer Murray Schafer remarked later in the festival that the density of churchbells in Kitchener's downtown core could be considered a soundmark, the sonic equivalent of a landmark, for Kitchener. The steeple in this watercolour by P. S. Moore is from a Lutheran church near that corner. I recorded the bells from that church on a soundwalk Sunday morning, May 17. I experienced a beautiful moment, when I stood in a gully among trees by the traintracks at the far end of Victoria Park. I could hear bells in the distance, mingling with the nearby birds and breeze. A few minutes later, behind City Hall, I heard yet another church ring its bells.
distant churchbells * under tree * emerging * Lutheran * rushing * clock
downtown * railway * water concourse * listening * acoustic ecology * andra *
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