The New York Times then gave us an opportunity to travel the world to explore the sounds present in different environments. So far Sky Class has taken ‘field trips’ to Hawai’i and Madagascar. We travelled to Hawai’i, which is a chain of volcanic islands, to listen to the sound of an active volcanic eruption. The class predicted that they would hear lots of explosions, banging and other loud noises. Students were shocked that the sound resembled breaking glass. Although many people may remember the volcanic eruptions in Hawai’i earlier this year, most people don’t know that the Kilauea volcano on the Big Island has been continuously erupting since 1983 and the volcano is the world’s longest continuously erupting volcano.
Before our trip to Madagascar we learned about lemurs. The indri lemur is the largest lemur and we listened to their mating calls. Indri lemurs mate for life and their mating songs change over time to become more harmonized. The longer the couple has been mating, the more in sync their songs are.
If you’d like to take a sound journey with your child please explore the New York Times Voyages: Sounds from Around the World.