Sounds R’ Us
“Words are empty without the energy we put behind them”
SOUND is one of the many ways we transmit information. Sound can be the words that we speak, songs that we sing or even noises that we make.
Sound is a form of energy that is audible to our sense of HEARING as well as being felt as a vibration through our sense of TOUCH on our bare skins.
Sound travels in wavelengths and it behaves differently in water than it does on land.
Communication is primarily vibrational than it is verbal.
The intricate language of whales and dolphins for example depends on high frequency sounds travelling through water over vast distances, rather than words.
Marine animals use sound to obtain detailed information about their surroundings. They rely on sound to communicate, navigate, and feed.
In pools, as aquatic professionals, we would be more familiar with the early sounds infants and babies make in water.
Gargles, shrieks and laughter, babbles as well as bubbles and sometimes cries are part of the class repertoire.
By imitating the sound babies and children are making, even if they make no ‘sense’, we are effectively saying, “I hear you” thereby gaining their attention and trust.
By turning learning inside out, we become the sound instruments ourselves.
Using natural and familiar sounds, rather than words, we can effectively communicate with a much wider audience, while at the same time developing early learning language skills while in the water.
Repetitive sounds that are innate to the person producing them can slowly become recognizable learning queues, especially when used methodologically and with intent.
By encouraging infants, babies and children to express sounds that our familiar to them, even more so than learned songs and nursery rhymes, they are effectively being encouraged to express their uniqueness and to externalize their own energy.
Sound and breath are so profoundly intertwined that it becomes an additional tool to gauge how comfortable both adults and children actually are in the water.
Opening our mouths wide underwater to create various sound vibrations requires very comfortable levels of being in water.
The #Waterhappy workshop on 13th April 2019 at Swim Works in Leamington Spa, will be the last of an introductory series of workshops in the UK about how we work with water while experientially raising our awareness of what we, as aquatic professionals, are bringing to it.
This will be followed by our first open Aqua Sensory Sharing Circle. Our theme for this circle will be: How do the SOUNDS we make affect the learning experience?
Our voice, our songs, the sounds of the pool, the natural sounds our babies make and how we interact with them, our children’s sounds… how can we empower our children by allowing them their voice? Could be just a few reflections on the day.
Our sharing circles are provoking and mindful, to bring a new awareness to our teaching. You are more than welcome to join us!