Music for millions
Text: Heikki Uimonen There is an antique shop on the north side of the railway line through the village of Skruv. The shop covers an area of five hundred square metres. It sells second-hand furniture and household items: tools, bolts, crockery, textiles, and so on. In the far corner is a section filled with books […]
Someco interviewed in Sveriges Radio
Click to listen to our chat with journalist Tova Klinthäll (report & photo). https://www.sverigesradio.se/artikel/sa-later-skruv-finska-forskare-dokumenterar
Scholars on the beat: qualitative and quantitative sensory perception
Text: Heikki Uimonen The 24-hour field recording combined with the traffic count started on Friday at 6 am on Storgatan and Gamla vägen. Samples of 10 minutes were recorded every full hour. The method differed from the listening walk presented here on 5 February in that it was stationary and headphone-based. The first three rounds were […]
Workshop on roosters and sound preferences
Text: Heikki Uimonen On Wednesday 5th we visited Björkskolan to conduct the sound preference test. The pupils were asked about their favourite and least favourite sounds and later interviewed in groups about their use of smartphones and music. After introducing ourselves, we prepared our audience with a story about the roosters that kept us awake on […]
Awakening of a village
Text: Heikki Uimonen Tuesday was well spent walking and listening. The SOMECO team divided the village into three areas, following the documentation of the listening walks in 2000 (see picture). We visited the areas five times a day, starting at 07:00, following the same route repeatedly. Each walk took about 30 minutes. Pencil and paper […]
Bus no. 219 Lessebo–Skruv on 3rd Monday 15:00
Text: Heikki Uimonen A connecting bus from Lessebo station to Skruv allures to participatory observation. Chattering schoolchildren had found their seats in the back of the bus, as usual. A young classmate was listening to music on his smartphone speaker. The announcement “Nästä Linnerydsvägen” (Next stop Linnerydsvägen) was drowned out by the humming of the […]
Someco website is now up and running!
If you are interested in soundscapes, don’t miss this opportunity to follow us! In the spring of 2025, the Someco research team will be documenting European villages and sharing their thoughts, images and soundscapes on this website. We are following in the footsteps of previous projects Five Village Soundscape (1975) and Acoustic Environments in Change […]
Heading to the Field
Heikki Uimonen — Dear all This is to let you all know that the Someco research team is packing their fieldwork bags and preparations are well underway. Collecting recording equipment and related documentation tools, filling in the necessary research forms, contacting villagers, etc. is slowly but surely being done. We’re familiarising ourselves with the existing […]