The Culture of Naps

Before I made the audio essay, it was essential to practice. We had an Audacity assignment where we had to use at least five sounds and play with volume, layering, and fading to either capture a mood or focus on any topic. I chose to create the effect of a Japanese garden. My sounds included cicadas, running water, water drops, wind and rustling trees, chirping birds, and Japanese music.

For the audio essay, we had to pick a poem and comment on a cultural phenomenon or personal experience. I decided on "The Nap Taker" by Shel Silverstein, because I love his whimsical poetry, and I love to take naps even more. I had a friend perform the reading of the poem before I analyzed it so that listeners wouldn't get tired of hearing just my voice. For background music, I tried to find uplifting and lighthearted songs to match the theme of the piece. However, I had more trouble finding sound effects, because I could only think of so many sounds associated with naps. To create variety, I also conducted an interview with my friend Ana from Paraguay about siestas. Finally, to put it together, I composed the essay with a logical progression of themes, played with volume levels, and layered sounds.

Here's a transcript of the audio essay.

Here's the feedback I got: one  two  three

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Final Version