TEEN SOUND ART
JULY 2025, DONKEY MILL ART CENTERStudents were invited to explore pewa at the scale of the World and the Universe. Grounded in ‘ike around mele oli, kilo, and deep listening, our students used both analog and digital tools to engage in exercises like sonic life maps, sound poems, image sonification, visual scores, native birdcall identification (from UH Hilo LOHE Lab), collaborative mo’olelo writing, field recordings, and reflections on conflict - the precursor to repair, healing, and unity.
Their resulting sound art pieces range from immersive soundscapes to cinematic storytelling. Some are made for extraterrestrial or early human ears, illustrating a sonic "day in the life", or acting as a "sonic time capsule", capturing the story of human history. Others consider what it is that unites humankind, across a diversity of cultures and languages.
Student artworks featured in Pewa: Young Artist Exhibition on view July 11 – August 9.
Adon Kawabata - "Sounds of the Universe"
My piece consists of many different sounds from each planet out of our universe, starting from earth. My piece starts off with sounds from earth and then the takeoff of the ship into space. As it traveled farther out of our solar system, it collected sounds from each planet and making it into one piece. It starts off with Earth, then a rocky planet, a water planet, forest planet, ice planet, a planet of nothingness and last but not least, a metal planet. I hope you enjoy!
Anela Monell - "Dissonance"
The first half of my piece explores Pewa at the scale of the world through the gradual fade in of birdsong and wind blowing through trees, evocative of nature and tranquility. Additional sounds fade into the soundscape, adding layers and dimension to the peaceful birdsong, symbolizing the growing complexity of the world we inhabit. The piece builds slowly, crescendoing in a cacophony of textured glass sounds, synthesized drum beats, haunting vocals, and field recordings before descending back into birdsong. Soon after, the piece builds again, the dissonant chords, sporadic beats, and dynamic vocals representing the constant flux of conflict and healing integral to the human experience.
Aubry Tousignant - "Regrowth"
This piece explores pewa at the scale of the world. It was created using different samples and audio. The piano in the background is from Memory Lane by Haley Joelle, which I feel matches the mood of the piece. The beginning illustrates how forests are being cut down to make space for towns and cities, but the end of the piece shows nature coming back, with a riser representing the regrowth of plants.
Aubry Tousignant - "A Day in the Life"
This week was about pewa at the scale of the universe, so I made a piece about what someone’s day could be like. It includes samples, field recordings, and vocals. This piece goes from morning to night with whispering scattered throughout. The whispering represents possible thoughts that someone could have during the day.
Chloe Pelham - "overwhelmed bubbles"
I'm exploring this theme by showing that it's good to have people help you heal but sometimes it can get very overwhelming so being alone for a bit can help too. towards the start i used loud talking in many different languages to seem overwhelming and getting loud then suddenly it gets really quiet and slowly sounds bubbly and happy/calming. The mood I want the listener to have is overwhelmed to calm/happy.
Eva Moore - "A Record's Journey Through Time"
Let's take a trip back in time, imagine civilization today bringing a record back into early human evolution. I imagine cave sounds, the humming of voices, and the distant grunting of early communication. In this piece of sound art, I will express my thoughts about early human civilization, with a fun twist of beats and an artistic standpoint. Nethandrials will discover the meaning of pewa through this record, they are intrigued, interested. All of those sounds are caught by the record, and sent back to today's human civilization. Where we listen and learn by our ancestors and the never ending heartbeat of the universe. I hope this piece takes you on a journey, through time.
Kenzo Morinoue - "SLAYED THE WORLD DOWN"
This piece explores pewa at the scale of the world by using sounds of birds from around the globe. Using water sounds and echo, my piece (hopefully) gives the feeling of being in a cave surrounded by the sounds of nature where you can stop and reflect or something. Thank you for listening to my piece!
Kenzo Morinoue - "UNIVERSAL SLAY"
This piece explores pewa at the scale of the universe. My piece represents healing withpewa. At the beginning there is a loud distortion sound (disclaimer) that represents something breaking. Physically or emotionally. Then the rest of my piece represents the healing process and eventually coming together and being ok again.
Mica DeMarco - "THE ESCAPE TO, FROM, AND OUT"
Hi my name is mica and my project is split up into 2 parts. The first part is about going from a place of stress and chaos to a place of peace and healing. The second part is about aliens finding weapons from our world in a wormhole and figuring out what they are and evaluating, ending up using what they found to promote unity and harmony on earth connecting humans with aliens.
Stella Rose Lambert - Untitled
How I am exploring pewa in my piece is through friendship, how friendship can help you heal. in the first section of my piece i have sounds of a typical generic morning, cooking some eggs, having a shower, etc. this represents having a simple kinda boring life and how nothing really seems that exciting and just being in a low mood, next i put a audio clip of a car opening then you hear voices and laughter i used some audio from me and my friend and also a audio sound effect of laughter. I used a sampler to create a light beat that comes next and which slowly progress into a upbeat tempo because you are with your friend or friends and you are having so much fun and just can't stop laughing and chatting and you feel upbeat! and you don't worry about anything your just having fun. at the end of my piece it goes back into more of simpler and less exciting sounds like the beginning.
TEEN SOUND ART
JULY 2024, DONKEY MILL ART CENTEROver the course of two weeks, Sound Art teen students engaged the theme of Kīpuka at the scale of the world and universe. Inspired by techniques like Deep Listening which ask us to intentionally kilo (observe) and record our sonic environment, as well as histories of Hawaiian mele and experimental electronic music. From capturing and manipulating field recordings, wielding virtual instruments, making “sonic life maps”, and converting photos and poems into sound files, our students have demonstrated an openness to crafting emotional acoustic landscapes, soundtracking science fiction, and turning noise into meaning.
Student artworks featured in the Imagining Kīpuka: Young Artist Exhibition, on view July 12 - August 3, 2024.
Students used music software to create sound art projects that use a variety of methods to meet self-directed goals. Inspired by the theme of Kīpuka at the scale of the world and universe, projects cover a broad spectrum – from storytelling to soundscapes to emotional abstraction.
Anela - Kipuka Sound Art
The first portion of my sound piece introduces an array of seemingly unconnected sounds that gradually crescendo into harmony as haunting vocals arise as a connector and equalizer. This is inspired by the idea of Kipuka from a world-view, showcasing a universal peace that can be found in the quiet, breath-taking beauty of nature.
As the music progresses, the mystic vocals slowly fade from view as a fast-paced beat emerges, transitioning the listener from images of serene mountains to evoking the image of city-life, reenvisioning Kipuka from a community/societal view.
In the third portion of the soundscape, the music deteriorates into stormy notes of piano, before gradually transitioning back into the haunting vocals that arose in the initial section of the piece, drawing the listener back to the start, where everything began.
Kenzo - Black Space Duet
00:00-1:11 represents the emptiness and stillness of space.
1:11-1:59 is the stability of a star imploding suddenly as its core falls out of balance.
1:59-2:08 is the black hole that came from the star forming.
2:08-3:55 is the black hole consuming the space around it for millennia.
3:55-4:31 is the black hole’s last moments as it finally gets erased by Hawking radiation.
Koa - WOE Abyss Be Upon Ye
My song explores the theme of Kipuka at a cosmic scale, with it being nearly silent by the end, the chaos in the middle, and the unease at the beginning. In order to create this piece, I had to use a program called 'Typatone' as well as digital drums. Our group went into a different room and screamed for the screams heard in my piece, and I took the sounds of a blackhole from a youtube video with the website 'YTMP4'. This song is supposed to make the listener feel unease and maybe even chills by the end.
Mahea - Calm
My piece explores Kipuka in Hawaii with a calm field recording of birds and roosters here at the Donkey Mill. I used a sampled audio file to make it feel like you're at the ocean with only nature surrounding you, then I added in a soft piano I recorded, accompanied by short samples of violin. I also put in a sample of a conch shell, though it kind of sounds like a ship's horn which I also quite like.
About 2⁄3's of the way in all sounds seem too quiet to make way for the immense noise of time warping and falling into itself only to end abruptly and go back on a peaceful course. It sounds almost as if you’ve been violently awoken from an afternoon nap. I wanted my piece to make my listeners feel soothed and sleepy, but I felt it was a little repetitive so I added in a black hole sample layered and filtered over itself to get that warping sound effect.
Oland - Cycle
The first 30 seconds begins with sounds of birds which were taken here on campus. Leading into that comes a subtle guitar written and recorded by me. Followed by a simple bass I composed and a drum machine. Further into the song there are sounds of fire and water. I added these for our major theme of Kipuka. A Kipuka is a piece of land that has been surrounded by lava. Due to the height of the land all the plants and animals are preserved making its advanced ecosystem which has evolved for millions of years. At the end we hear fire yet again showing the cycle begin again.
Stella - Cosmo
In my piece I am exploring kipuka through the sounds of birds which I recorded here at the Donkey Mill as a “world” point of view of kipuka. I also used the sounds of a black hole which represent Kipuka as a universe. I started off my project with some piano because I wanted to make the listener feel calm, but I also wanted a variety of different rhythms - sometimes upbeat, calm, mysterious, sad, hopeful. I also used virtual drums because I wanted the listener to feel more happy and upbeat.
I also included screams that we recorded ourselves as a group. My piece is supposed to make the listener feel sad but also hope.
SIGHT AND SOUND: CREATING WITH DOWNTOWN HILO
2024, EAST HAWAI’I CULTURAL CENTERHosted by the Youth Arts Series at East Hawai’i Cultural Center, co-created with Andrzej Kramarz. Over 2 weeks, we worked with East Hawai’i ‘ōpio to explore psychogeography, place-based art, and observation in downtown Hilo as methods for students to explore creativity in a community-rooted way, linking past, present, and future. Students worked between digital photography and sound art, each medium informing the other to produce each studentʻs own narrative of place. What did downtown Hilo sound and look like before human settlers, during the 1946 tsunami, in alternate personal timelines, in post-apocalyptic futures?
EVAN - "The Past and Present of Hilo"
I recorded and composed several sounds that I have taken throughout Downtown Hilo into this audio piece, using looping ukulele, a custom drum beat, bird chirps and calls (especially from the invasive Common Myna,) a part of a song called “Heat Wave”, and clips of news reports on tsunamis, all put together with the use of reverb and effects. I was exploring the theme of the past and present, representing the before and after of some of the tsunamis that had hit Hilo before, and a bit of climate change. My goal was for the listener to take away information from this piece about what the moods were for the two time periods.
MICAH - Untitled Project (128)
In this piece, I wanted to create 3 distinct feels of Downtown Hilo, being that of the past, the present and the future. To do this, I sampled various noises, both from Youtube and Downtown itself. I used the Joe Hisaishi piece "A Town With An Ocean View" as a leitmotif, or a repeated musical theme throughout the larger project to show Hilo's overall stability, even through change. The first minute showcases my idea of what the soundscape of Downtown Hilo could have been like throughout the past, while the second's ambience is actually captured from the area surrounding the Singing Bridge, which had acted as a focal point for the entire project. The third minute shows my idea of the soundscape of a brighter future for Hilo, with a strong portion of that being a reduced reliance on cars, and a focus on biking, which I showed through the ambience being mostly made up of bike noises, and ocean waves. I used the uneasy feeling spectrograms, pictures adapted into sound, can create to represent the general malaise of both the past and our time, but I omitted it in the third part to show that, in this future, we may not have these sorts of problems anymore. The title of the piece is in reference to how I still feel the piece has some ways to go, and how I tend to make a lot of projects in that vein, half-finished and abandoned.
BERGAMOT - nostalgia for a alternate reality
My project was about my nostalgia for the past and what my life would be like in an alternate timeline in which I had never moved away from Hilo. My project is in three effective parts: the past when I lived in Hilo categorized by the sounds of coqui frogs and an instrumental of a song that represents how I felt at that time. The second part is how I imagine life would be like in the alternate reality in which I had never moved to Volcano, which I tried to create the feeling of the fact that it's an alternate reality through a constantly slightly shifting volume level. The main sound effects that I used to try to form the reality that I imagine were the chattering of voices, the sounds of cars and the calls of various different birds common to downtown Hilo and an instrumental of a song that I chose because when I was looking up the video of it, the top comment was “this reminds me of friends that I never had” which was sort of the entire concept that I was going for for this section. The third part which represents the present of this reality was created by various sounds that remind me of Volcano (trees rustling, kalij birdcalls etc.) and a instrumental of a song that although it is a happy song, as I am happy with the reality I am currently in, to me it also feels wistful for the past and all the things that have never happened.
KAHUA
I've split up my sound art project into three separate pieces, each connected to different groups of pictures I took of Downtown Hilo.
to sleep, then, I must go, for the music to start.
The first track features rhythmic sounds of leaking pipes, footsteps on concrete, and metal pipes falling, with layered field recordings from Mālama Market of birds and people talking in different languages. I tried to incorporate the sounds of Hilo at night; a busy, yet peaceful, yet slightly eerie space, for those who don't like walking through town at night.
1. Downtown Hilo: Present Day
2. Objective: peace, underlying chaos, slightly disconcerting
3. Sound art techniques: sampling, field recordings, voice recording
St. Joseph's Church
The second track evokes images of the St. Joseph Church. I've always looked at that building and thought about how many people must have sat in there-- how many weddings it's held, how many funerals, and whatever else people do at churches. I wonder if they have a choir, and a big organ behind the podium, but I've never gone inside. I know there are families of stray cats who nest below the main hall, and under the stairs, but I don't know whether or not they pay attention to the sermons. The piece I wrote is kind of what I imagine it sounds like.
1. Exploring Downtown Hilo: present day, but looking on the past with curiosity and wonder. 2. Objective: to convey the feeling of wanting to look in people's windows.
3. Sound art techniques: virtual instruments, AI text-to-speech, field recordings
Chicken Pigeon Remix
The third track is probably the silliest and most whimsical-- it's made up of sampled field recordings of chickens and pigeons I found on the street. That's it.
1. Hilo: present day, but only for birds
2. Objective: funny birds
3. Sound art techniques: sampled recordings of birds