Sounds

Sounds are powerful. They shape our moods and influence our sense of wellbeing.

Think, for example, of how an infant’s face lights up at the sound of a parent’s voice; how our spirits are revived by tranquil sounds, or how the daily sounds of traffic and construction can set our teeth on edge and wear us down. 

Sounds are windows into our complex and diverse external worlds, and we organise and use sounds to disclose our inner worlds to construct and carry meaning for those who might stop to hear. 

In his book, Noise: A Human History of Sound & Listening, (2014, London: Profile Books) David Hendy writes, “To trace the story of sound is to tell the story of how we learned to overcome our fears about the natural world, perhaps even control it; how we learned to communicate with, understand and live alongside of our fellow beings; how we have fought with each other for dominance; how we have sought to find privacy in an increasingly busy world; how we have struggled with our emotions and sanity.”

Human sounds, both spoken and musical, carry deep human stories. They are occasions for profound connection. Our sounds, with their embedded stories, remind us that we are not alone or at least that we need not be alone.

Sounds, natural and arranged, are performances of life whereby we are invited to participate and “listen in”, receive, encounter, understand and appreciate the messenger(s) who dare to utter. 

Southbank hosts, as a special trust, large parts of Melbourne’s performing and visual arts sector. Profoundly deep human and divine stories are performed and witnessed here.

Even well before European settlement this was and is always the case among the Wurundjeri people. Those divine performances not only probe and contest with the expansive universe for human meaning and purpose, they also “hush” to prayerfully hear what is uttered and given. For people of faith, those utterances are from God.

J S Bach (1685-1750) carefully listened for those divine sounds and then sought to faithfully represent them in his vast repertoire of outstanding sacred music. Parts of that repertoire are regularly performed for all to hear in St Johns at 20 City Road, as cantatas (songs). The next performance, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140, will be held at 9am on Sunday, November 24, 2024.

You are welcome to come and hear, receive, encounter, understand and wonder. •