Throughout this paper, David Dunn discusses the importance of our auditory sense and how it plays a big role in mapping the reality around us. He dives into his argument by discussing the immense power music holds in understanding our past, future, and present. He does a great job in emphasizing how prominent music is and that it must play a key role in the story of our lives since music is in every culture and has been around for so many years. He expresses how the sounds we hear including music can be a distraction for the most part and we must be attentive to the noises around us as it gives context and provides us the ability to stay present.
Going deeper into his work, he categorizes his progress into environmental performance works and hybrid soundscape compositions. Rather than creating something out of the sounds he hears, he comprehends them as complex-minded living systems and appreciates them for what they are rather than what he can make those noises into. For example, he experimented with mockingbirds and was able to get them to mimic back the noise. This represented to him the relationship between them and how they learn off of each other rather than the noise the mockingbird was actually creating.
Hybrid soundscape compositions to Dunn were a way to hear how all of the environmental components interact with one another. He discussed the struggle of dealing with different human components such as hearing the noises of a highway or a kerosene pump but he realized how important these structures are since they ultimately play a role in the symphony that the environment creates.
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