TATIANA HEUMAN
Waking up and how to hypnopomp: the when, the why, the how and more.
Many contemporary artistic subcultures are inspired by the transitional state from wakefulness to sleep, aka hypnagogia. There's a whole musical microgenre called hypnagogic pop which “refracts pop music through the memory of a memory” (Keenan, The Wire, 2009). Hypnagogic pop paved the way for vaporwave and its branch genres, which influence modern popular music to this day. Even if that doesn’t ring a bell, the term hypnagogia isn't that unusual; it's likely that you've heard it in some context before. Its counterpart, hypnopompia - the state of consciousness leading out of sleep - is much less present in contemporary culture though. And that is perhaps one of the reasons why it's the subject of Tatiana Heuman's ongoing research.
Hypnopompia and hypnagogia are often conflated, although they are in some ways opposites. During the hypnopompic state, one's dreams return and often mix with one another, whereas things we’re aware of during the hypnagogic state often make their way into our dreams. Hypnopompia is the “moment in which I am not sleeping anymore, but I am also not fully awake.” In her artwork and accompanying writings, Tatiana Heuman explores how and why this state is often overlooked, skipped and rarely experienced by many of us. Her texts and research reach quite far back, to the start of the industrial era, in order to explore why we wake up when we wake up, and continue to explore different elements of “waking up” through a series of musings, open-ended questions, observations and questionnaires.
Tatiana Heuman questions fundamental assumptions and digs deep to explore what getting up “on time” means. She asserts that waking up at a certain designated time is a feature of industrial society motivated by economic growth and the need for effective labor. As technology developed, we’ve devised more subtle and subversive ways of not only waking up, but also sleeping. Nowadays, sleep trackers provide us with information about the quality and depth of our sleep. Are these advancements here for our wellbeing, or for the efficacy of our work?
After asking ourselves these - and many other - questions, we are invited to “stay in bed for a couple more minutes and start slow” with the aid of several exercises prepared by Tatiana Heuman. The four videos and three texts are an introductory guide on “How to Hypnopomp,” and a gentler way of transiting through this particular state. We are encouraged to devote some time to exploring our first movements, to reviewing dream extracts, to listen inwardly and outwardly, to develop a habit of starting to perceive slowly, and to document our daily hypnopompic states, experiences, exercises and rituals. Recalling or imagining a dream you dreamt and creating your own soundtrack for it, or reacting to your favorite scent with your whole body; these exercises aren't just here to exercise our mind and analyze our dreams, but also to help us imagine different, slower, more natural modes of operation at a societal level. It's beautiful, and all it takes is two minutes of your time.
Adam Badí Donoval
HOW TO HYPNOPOMP?
The alarm would go off and I would go back to sleep.
It becomes increasingly pleasant to go on sleeping.
I dream that I am sleeping.
I look forward to the moment of sleeping and dreaming because I know that the unexpected will happen and completely unthinkable relationships and characters from the past will appear. I welcome all of them to surprise me. If some fear becomes recurrent in this state, it helps me to write or draw it and imagine an outcome in which I am freed from that bondage.
I like to stay and dream. All that I can.
I usually accuse myself of being lazy. Is it wrong to be lazy?
Shouldn’t everyone be able to sleep the way and the duration we want without having to respond to any kind of effectiveness measurement? Good and bad are human categories.
I want to understand my own rhythms. Giving them space is not an easy task.
Which is my time?
Can my own times and the times of this world coexist?
At some point when I started documenting my dreams, I realized (and later corroborated) that the last periods of sleep before waking up are the moments we remember the most. The idea of diving into these liminal phases attracts me.
The hypnopompic state is the moment in which I am not sleeping anymore but I am also not fully awake. My body is in other space(s) and returns from unknown terrains.
So-called hypnopompic hallucinations are perceptions that occur in this period, at the end of the sleep-dream cycle. When this occurs, the distinction between the information that the unconscious brings and what is experienced while awake can be very blurry.
For some people these visions can be frightening and for others they can be an interesting experience to discover. I personally enjoy staying in bed for a while before I get up. I like to go through this in-between period, make it last, and I observe.
It is also necessary to mention the hypnagogic state that occurs in the period just before sleep. At this time, it is very likely that all the information that is manifest around us will intrude into our future dreams. It usually happens to me that if I fall asleep reading, watching a movie or listening to a podcast, some elements will appear later in my dreams.
Perhaps the reason why I enjoy hypnopompic and hypnagogic states so much is because rationality and intellect do not play such an important role during them.
During my hypnopompic state, my dreams come back to me mixed up with each other. I try to “organize” them so I can write them down, as I am interested in knowing what they are going to tell me. When I use an alarm for waking up, I don't connect so easily to this kind of information. External artificial sounds interrupt these processes of reception and creativity. However, there are days when I have to respect specific timeframes and cannot program myself to wake up without sound. Starting the day in a friendly and cared way seems problematic.
How to wake up?
sounding?
listening?
moving?
dancing?
What are the first sounds I hear when I wake up?
My own thoughts and inner sounds?
Sounds that come from my dreams?
External sounds?
Human, non-human sounds?
Why do I use alarms to wake up?
Why should I be on alert every day? What is the danger that my alarm clock alerts me of?
Why do I hate all the wake-up calls on my cell phone?
Usually, I will activate an alarm if I know that I have an obligation at a certain early hour. If not, I usually prefer the absence of sound, but it's also fun to program random sounds that will visit me during my sleep.
My enthusiasm with this subject has led to talking with others about their experiences. Some people need extremely loud sounds to wake up, others can ‘program’ themselves to wake up quietly. There are people who would like to listen to something funny when they start the day, others something random, a detuned radio, the news or their favorite song. I was recommended an application where I can program bird songs as an alarm clock. I tried and they sounded at some point in between my sleep, which felt very pleasant.
At the beginning of the industrial era there existed the trade of the knocker. People were employed with the specific function to go around the streets before sunrise, and knock on your doors or windows, to wake you up each morning for work. The evolution of alarm clocks goes hand in hand with the development of technology and the need for effective labor, and therefore economic development.
There are technologies that deal with customizing the way we will hear the first sounds of the day, and about how we behave during our sleep. I wonder if these are technologies of care or not.
Sleep trackers are currently very popular and promise to regulate sleep and provide information about problems that we might have during that period. Bodily movement and behavior are analyzed with light and temperature sensors, and also the ambient sound and the breathing with the device’s microphones.
My phone will know before I do if I'm asleep, awake, snoring, how I'm breathing... dreaming? Do I want to be tracked also during my dreamtime?
%100% The bar of surveillance is going to the top.
There are also artificial sun light alarm clocks (with or without sound), jumping alarms (yes, alarms that jump around), alarms on wheels, carpet alarms that obligate you to get up and interact with them in a rather peaceful way.
In contrast to this, there are products like the bomb or sonic bomb (that is deactivated by cutting a cable), sonic bomb alarm clocks that include bed shakers, the “laser gun” alarm clock, which is a sounding object that needs to be shot in order to stop, or watches that literally shock with a small amount of electricity. These scary objects can be purchased in online shops internationally.
To nourish my inspiration even more, I requested the collaboration of friends, acquaintances and some strangers to share their experiences.
Questions and observations
Do you use an alarm clock?
If yes, do you usually turn your alarm on and off several times?
From 61 people who responded, only two do not use an alarm at all.
Many people suffer in having to wake up using an alarm. They have expressed it in phrases like:
I hate waking up.
It's horrible.
I don’t like alarms.
Alarms are very stressful sounds for me.
I guess every alarm clock is stressful for your body and brain.
I hate whatever sound I set as my alarm, so I never use a song or sound I actually like, just something not unpleasant.
What can I do to wake up in the morning? Please help!
None of the respondents recognizes pleasure at the moment of waking up with the assistance of an alarm.
Most people let the alarm go off several times (snooze).
Very few people continue to use a clock radio or other device other than a cell phone. Some acknowledge the effectiveness of the detuned radio in getting up quickly.
Do you use the default sound of your cell phone (or other device)? Have you chosen it? How is it?
In general, many respondents choose their sounds from the repertoire that their devices offer them. Some use the default sound from their devices, even if they don’t like it.
Some alternative proposals were also named: applications that offer bird sounds, a Spotify algorithm to choose songs. Three people indicated that they use alarm sounds made by themselves.
Do you like to wake up listening to a loud sound or a soft sound?
Most participants (around 75%) would like to start the day quietly, listening to soft sounds. However, they do not seem to be effective.
A short or a long sound?
Most participants (around 60%) would prefer long sounds.
What would be long, short, loud or soft for each person is something I will never know, each sensitivity is particular and unique.
What alarm sounds do you think are the best for waking up? How would you describe your ideal alarm clock?
The following are some of the imagined wake-up calls. The diversity of the results shows how different our needs are. Around 10 people said that they like sounds from nature, especially birds.
I think it is better to wake up by light or touch than by a sound. I imagine that the ideal sound would be one that caresses me and, if possible, does not repeat itself much.
Happy music or the one you need every day - Frequency solfeggio 528 hz.
Whispers with my name.
To program me internally and wake up without any sound.
Soft sounds, a soft non-invasive sound.
My ideal alarm clock would sound different every day and would have a groove to dance to.
I consider natural sounds with little melodic movement to be less aggressive than synthetic or overly complex rhythmic sounds.
The less "sharp" the better. Still, you always end up hating the alarm.
Continuous or very long sounds juxtaposing each other, with predominantly smooth timbres, probably with tonal or modal harmonies, or non-dissonant chords.
In general, I would say that sounds that do not scare you on waking up or do not make you wake up in a hurry are best, as well as sounds that make a kind of crossfade between sleep and waking up.
Short, medium, not exasperating or too calm.
Simple sounds… harmonics… ascending.
Joyful music.
A loud sound.
Something tuneless and repetitive, otherwise my dreams absorb them and I sleep through them.
Something cheerful, I use a salsa playlist.
I think a soft melody is nice, but I don't want my phone in the bedroom.
Something more soothing for the soul. I have quite a harsh one.
As I don't need too much noise to wake up, for me they should be either soft, or have no high, sharp frequencies (I wonder what it would be like if I had a subwoofer-clock alarm...).
Nature sounds. Happy, light melodies.
Chill, delicate sounds are better for me.
Something that progressively gets stronger, louder and more intense.
Quiet, gentle sounds.
A sound that grows and is a very immersive fantasy dream.
Sci-fi sounds 100%... strong shaking but in space. The repetition helps the concept of the alarm clock. I think that somehow it is hard for me to separate it. I am interested in the idea of a sci-fi alien ship alert... Certain constant sounds but at the same time a changing scenario or background.
Smooth but with a beat.
Something soothing and spritely, allowing a transition from sleep to waking life that isn't abrasive - a live orchestra would be pretty cool or someone playing a harp.
My ideal alarm clock would be a composition that starts fading in elements along the low frequencies of the spectrum, to then fade in elements on the high end of the spectrum. This composition should evoke the mystery of love and of being alive.
If a voice tells me things my brain wakes up more easily.
Doesn’t matter.
As close to nature as possible. No shrill, technical tones.
I think it should have a soft start, so it doesn't "hit you in the face" when waking up. But it shouldn't stay too smooth... otherwise it's likely I'd fall back to sleep.
I think radio is nice to wake up to or the sound and smell of a coffee machine with a timer - that might not be effective enough. Also, the distant sound of a person in the house is nice - therefore one would need a rather big space (if the sound is not distant enough it's disturbing). I don't like alarm sounds in general and rather wake up to other sounds.
A smooth and positive song that I like helps me connect the hard task to getting up with a positive sound.
I prefer the radio for waking up. When I was younger, I liked the radio that plays songs, and has a guy / girl talking, but currently I like radio with a lot of news, to get my mind started into the real world.
A sound that is as gentle as possible to slowly wake me up rather than suddenly is the best. A sound that would ring in my sleep first, so that I could be prepared in my dreams. Nothing electronic, something from the real world, maybe an animal sound.
Do you respond positively (or not) to listening to a particular texture/pattern/rhythm to start the day? Or to a particular sensation? Which one?
Here the answers were very diverse as well. Briefly, they included:
music,
voices,
silence,
nature and animal sounds,
ringtones that change according to the weather,
a mantra,
calm,
stretching and moving,
definitely not a song,
nothingness.
So,
how to wake up?
How to Hypnopomp?
SCORES
These scores have the intention to guide you through performing very slow and subtle gestures and actions in the process of waking up. These movements can be imaginary, physical availability should not be a limitation for their achievement. Hopefully, you will enjoy transiting through this particular state with greater calm, devoting a considerable time to exploring the first impulses of movement, reviewing extracts of dream memories and developing a progressive sense for listening to internal and external sounds.
Stay in bed for a couple more minutes and start slow.
1. Hello Body
Hello Body
I propose that you move and I will observe,
which part reacts first?
Your shoulders?
The left or right hand? My knee or your toe?[1]
Your mouth, my tongue?
I follow the first impulse of movement,
where does it lead me?
Where does it take me?
I cannot easily define where the "awakening" of the movement begins.
Is it from the periphery or from the center?
I can feel your breath,
fragments of you are starting to wake up.
I allow you to move.
Inhalations and exhalations,
move me.
I recognize a rhythm in that alternation.
I perceive the different sounds in every instance of breath.
[1] This is related to the 'unfolding' that can occur in dreams and in the hypnopompic state. You don't know if your body belongs to you.
2. Fingertips
Ask your fingertips how they feel today.
Do they answer?
Ask your fingertips how they feel today.
Do they move?
If they answered with a sound, which sound would it be? A human or non-human sound?
Can your fingertips dance?
Follow their movement with your hands and wrists, then the arm. Make very gentle movements.
Stop for a moment,
and continue.
Stop for a moment,
and continue.
3. Textures
Try to become aware of how your body rests on your bed, pillow, blanket.
How do these textures feel on contact with your skin?
Take your pillow or blanket with hands or feet and dance slowly with them, listen to the sounds you produce.
Lay down, you're still laying down.
You’re still laying down (with eyes closed or open).
Place your blanket over your entire body and raise your arms and legs (or knees) to the ceiling.
What is this new heaven like?
4. Smell
Your favorite scent appears, draws your attention.
Your nose vibrates.
The movement spreads to your body.
5. Move a dream
Can you remember something of what you have dreamt?
If you don't remember, you can imagine something you would have liked to dream about.
What music or sounds would you create for that dream? How does that dream sound?
How would you move with that music?
6. Slower is always possible
Make the smallest movement possible.
Stop progressively.
Now make the slowest movement possible.
I encourage you to document your daily hypnopompic state, your experiences, exercises, rituals and occurrences (it could be in a verbal or non-verbal way). I recommend having a notebook next to your bed for this specific purpose. Try writing or drawing with your eyes closed or half closed, this practice will surely surprise you. If you'd like to collaborate on this creative research, you can send me your thoughts and impressions to tatiana.heuman.sounds (at) gmail.com.
Videos were made by linfa.
Voice by Nik Forrest.
How to Hypnopomp? was produced with support from the Academy of Media Arts Cologne.
BIO
Tatiana Heuman works on music and sound creation between Argentina and Europe. She began her musical career playing the trumpet and drums with the free improvisation band Ricarda Cometa around 2009. Her unique approach to musical production was founded essentially in a collaborative, free, intuitive and experimental territory where genres and tags are fluid. By 2014, Heuman started her solo electronic music project. After two EPs in 2014 and 2016, her first album QEEI was released on the label Astro Nautico. Heuman has studied Dance, Corporal Expression (UNA), and Expanded Music (UNSAM), completed the first module of the training in Deep Listening and is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Media Arts in KHM, Cologne, Germany. Understanding sounding and listening as a means of manifestation and empowerment, she develops music production laboratories and workshops. She is part of the communities #VIVAS (female* collective sounds platform), Trrueno and female:pressure.
SECONDARY SOURCES
Hayman, R., 1993. Listening to Dreams: A Project for Middle Ear Muscle Activity Audio Level Telemetry. MedArts International. Cappella books.
IONE, 2005. Listening in Dreams: A Compendium of Sound Dreams, Meditations and Rituals for Deep Dreamers. iUniverse.
Oliveros, P., 2005. Deep Listening: A Composer’s Sound Practice. iUniverse.
Spellberg, M., On Dream Sharing and Its Purpose: The social contract of sensuous imagining. Cabinet (no. 67, 2019–2020). Accessed 24 December 2020.
Paz Reverol, C. L., 2017. Make Dreams: A Wayuu Perspective. Accessed 30 December 2020.
Densmore, F., 2005. Smithsonian Institution. Accessed 24 December 2020.
TATIANA HEUMAN
Waking up and how to hypnopomp: the when, the why, the how and more.
Many contemporary artistic subcultures are inspired by the transitional state from wakefulness to sleep, aka hypnagogia. There's a whole musical microgenre called hypnagogic pop which “refracts pop music through the memory of a memory” (Keenan, The Wire, 2009). Hypnagogic pop paved the way for vaporwave and its branch genres, which influence modern popular music to this day. Even if that doesn’t ring a bell, the term hypnagogia isn't that unusual; it's likely that you've heard it in some context before. Its counterpart, hypnopompia - the state of consciousness leading out of sleep - is much less present in contemporary culture though. And that is perhaps one of the reasons why it's the subject of Tatiana Heuman's ongoing research.
Hypnopompia and hypnagogia are often conflated, although they are in some ways opposites. During the hypnopompic state, one's dreams return and often mix with one another, whereas things we’re aware of during the hypnagogic state often make their way into our dreams. Hypnopompia is the “moment in which I am not sleeping anymore, but I am also not fully awake.” In her artwork and accompanying writings, Tatiana Heuman explores how and why this state is often overlooked, skipped and rarely experienced by many of us. Her texts and research reach quite far back, to the start of the industrial era, in order to explore why we wake up when we wake up, and continue to explore different elements of “waking up” through a series of musings, open-ended questions, observations and questionnaires.
Tatiana Heuman questions fundamental assumptions and digs deep to explore what getting up “on time” means. She asserts that waking up at a certain designated time is a feature of industrial society motivated by economic growth and the need for effective labor. As technology developed, we’ve devised more subtle and subversive ways of not only waking up, but also sleeping. Nowadays, sleep trackers provide us with information about the quality and depth of our sleep. Are these advancements here for our wellbeing, or for the efficacy of our work?
After asking ourselves these - and many other - questions, we are invited to “stay in bed for a couple more minutes and start slow” with the aid of several exercises prepared by Tatiana Heuman. The four videos and three texts are an introductory guide on “How to Hypnopomp,” and a gentler way of transiting through this particular state. We are encouraged to devote some time to exploring our first movements, to reviewing dream extracts, to listen inwardly and outwardly, to develop a habit of starting to perceive slowly, and to document our daily hypnopompic states, experiences, exercises and rituals. Recalling or imagining a dream you dreamt and creating your own soundtrack for it, or reacting to your favorite scent with your whole body; these exercises aren't just here to exercise our mind and analyze our dreams, but also to help us imagine different, slower, more natural modes of operation at a societal level. It's beautiful, and all it takes is two minutes of your time.
Adam Badí Donoval
HOW TO HYPNOPOMP?
The alarm would go off and I would go back to sleep.
It becomes increasingly pleasant to go on sleeping.
I dream that I am sleeping.
I look forward to the moment of sleeping and dreaming because I know that the unexpected will happen and completely unthinkable relationships and characters from the past will appear. I welcome all of them to surprise me. If some fear becomes recurrent in this state, it helps me to write or draw it and imagine an outcome in which I am freed from that bondage.
I like to stay and dream. All that I can.
I usually accuse myself of being lazy. Is it wrong to be lazy?
Shouldn’t everyone be able to sleep the way and the duration we want without having to respond to any kind of effectiveness measurement? Good and bad are human categories.
I want to understand my own rhythms. Giving them space is not an easy task.
Which is my time?
Can my own times and the times of this world coexist?
At some point when I started documenting my dreams, I realized (and later corroborated) that the last periods of sleep before waking up are the moments we remember the most. The idea of diving into these liminal phases attracts me.
The hypnopompic state is the moment in which I am not sleeping anymore but I am also not fully awake. My body is in other space(s) and returns from unknown terrains.
So-called hypnopompic hallucinations are perceptions that occur in this period, at the end of the sleep-dream cycle. When this occurs, the distinction between the information that the unconscious brings and what is experienced while awake can be very blurry.
For some people these visions can be frightening and for others they can be an interesting experience to discover. I personally enjoy staying in bed for a while before I get up. I like to go through this in-between period, make it last, and I observe.
It is also necessary to mention the hypnagogic state that occurs in the period just before sleep. At this time, it is very likely that all the information that is manifest around us will intrude into our future dreams. It usually happens to me that if I fall asleep reading, watching a movie or listening to a podcast, some elements will appear later in my dreams.
Perhaps the reason why I enjoy hypnopompic and hypnagogic states so much is because rationality and intellect do not play such an important role during them.
During my hypnopompic state, my dreams come back to me mixed up with each other. I try to “organize” them so I can write them down, as I am interested in knowing what they are going to tell me. When I use an alarm for waking up, I don't connect so easily to this kind of information. External artificial sounds interrupt these processes of reception and creativity. However, there are days when I have to respect specific timeframes and cannot program myself to wake up without sound. Starting the day in a friendly and cared way seems problematic.
How to wake up?
sounding?
listening?
moving?
dancing?
What are the first sounds I hear when I wake up?
My own thoughts and inner sounds?
Sounds that come from my dreams?
External sounds?
Human, non-human sounds?
Why do I use alarms to wake up?
Why should I be on alert every day? What is the danger that my alarm clock alerts me of?
Why do I hate all the wake-up calls on my cell phone?
Usually, I will activate an alarm if I know that I have an obligation at a certain early hour. If not, I usually prefer the absence of sound, but it's also fun to program random sounds that will visit me during my sleep.
My enthusiasm with this subject has led to talking with others about their experiences. Some people need extremely loud sounds to wake up, others can ‘program’ themselves to wake up quietly. There are people who would like to listen to something funny when they start the day, others something random, a detuned radio, the news or their favorite song. I was recommended an application where I can program bird songs as an alarm clock. I tried and they sounded at some point in between my sleep, which felt very pleasant.
At the beginning of the industrial era there existed the trade of the knocker. People were employed with the specific function to go around the streets before sunrise, and knock on your doors or windows, to wake you up each morning for work. The evolution of alarm clocks goes hand in hand with the development of technology and the need for effective labor, and therefore economic development.
There are technologies that deal with customizing the way we will hear the first sounds of the day, and about how we behave during our sleep. I wonder if these are technologies of care or not.
Sleep trackers are currently very popular and promise to regulate sleep and provide information about problems that we might have during that period. Bodily movement and behavior are analyzed with light and temperature sensors, and also the ambient sound and the breathing with the device’s microphones.
My phone will know before I do if I'm asleep, awake, snoring, how I'm breathing... dreaming? Do I want to be tracked also during my dreamtime?
%100% The bar of surveillance is going to the top.
There are also artificial sun light alarm clocks (with or without sound), jumping alarms (yes, alarms that jump around), alarms on wheels, carpet alarms that obligate you to get up and interact with them in a rather peaceful way.
In contrast to this, there are products like the bomb or sonic bomb (that is deactivated by cutting a cable), sonic bomb alarm clocks that include bed shakers, the “laser gun” alarm clock, which is a sounding object that needs to be shot in order to stop, or watches that literally shock with a small amount of electricity. These scary objects can be purchased in online shops internationally.
To nourish my inspiration even more, I requested the collaboration of friends, acquaintances and some strangers to share their experiences.
Questions and observations
Do you use an alarm clock?
If yes, do you usually turn your alarm on and off several times?
From 61 people who responded, only two do not use an alarm at all.
Many people suffer in having to wake up using an alarm. They have expressed it in phrases like:
I hate waking up.
It's horrible.
I don’t like alarms.
Alarms are very stressful sounds for me.
I guess every alarm clock is stressful for your body and brain.
I hate whatever sound I set as my alarm, so I never use a song or sound I actually like, just something not unpleasant.
What can I do to wake up in the morning? Please help!
None of the respondents recognizes pleasure at the moment of waking up with the assistance of an alarm.
Most people let the alarm go off several times (snooze).
Very few people continue to use a clock radio or other device other than a cell phone. Some acknowledge the effectiveness of the detuned radio in getting up quickly.
Do you use the default sound of your cell phone (or other device)? Have you chosen it? How is it?
In general, many respondents choose their sounds from the repertoire that their devices offer them. Some use the default sound from their devices, even if they don’t like it.
Some alternative proposals were also named: applications that offer bird sounds, a Spotify algorithm to choose songs. Three people indicated that they use alarm sounds made by themselves.
Do you like to wake up listening to a loud sound or a soft sound?
Most participants (around 75%) would like to start the day quietly, listening to soft sounds. However, they do not seem to be effective.
A short or a long sound?
Most participants (around 60%) would prefer long sounds.
What would be long, short, loud or soft for each person is something I will never know, each sensitivity is particular and unique.
What alarm sounds do you think are the best for waking up? How would you describe your ideal alarm clock?
The following are some of the imagined wake-up calls. The diversity of the results shows how different our needs are. Around 10 people said that they like sounds from nature, especially birds.
I think it is better to wake up by light or touch than by a sound. I imagine that the ideal sound would be one that caresses me and, if possible, does not repeat itself much.
Happy music or the one you need every day - Frequency solfeggio 528 hz.
Whispers with my name.
To program me internally and wake up without any sound.
Soft sounds, a soft non-invasive sound.
My ideal alarm clock would sound different every day and would have a groove to dance to.
I consider natural sounds with little melodic movement to be less aggressive than synthetic or overly complex rhythmic sounds.
The less "sharp" the better. Still, you always end up hating the alarm.
Continuous or very long sounds juxtaposing each other, with predominantly smooth timbres, probably with tonal or modal harmonies, or non-dissonant chords.
In general, I would say that sounds that do not scare you on waking up or do not make you wake up in a hurry are best, as well as sounds that make a kind of crossfade between sleep and waking up.
Short, medium, not exasperating or too calm.
Simple sounds… harmonics… ascending.
Joyful music.
A loud sound.
Something tuneless and repetitive, otherwise my dreams absorb them and I sleep through them.
Something cheerful, I use a salsa playlist.
I think a soft melody is nice, but I don't want my phone in the bedroom.
Something more soothing for the soul. I have quite a harsh one.
As I don't need too much noise to wake up, for me they should be either soft, or have no high, sharp frequencies (I wonder what it would be like if I had a subwoofer-clock alarm...).
Nature sounds. Happy, light melodies.
Chill, delicate sounds are better for me.
Something that progressively gets stronger, louder and more intense.
Quiet, gentle sounds.
A sound that grows and is a very immersive fantasy dream.
Sci-fi sounds 100%... strong shaking but in space. The repetition helps the concept of the alarm clock. I think that somehow it is hard for me to separate it. I am interested in the idea of a sci-fi alien ship alert... Certain constant sounds but at the same time a changing scenario or background.
Smooth but with a beat.
Something soothing and spritely, allowing a transition from sleep to waking life that isn't abrasive - a live orchestra would be pretty cool or someone playing a harp.
My ideal alarm clock would be a composition that starts fading in elements along the low frequencies of the spectrum, to then fade in elements on the high end of the spectrum. This composition should evoke the mystery of love and of being alive.
If a voice tells me things my brain wakes up more easily.
Doesn’t matter.
As close to nature as possible. No shrill, technical tones.
I think it should have a soft start, so it doesn't "hit you in the face" when waking up. But it shouldn't stay too smooth... otherwise it's likely I'd fall back to sleep.
I think radio is nice to wake up to or the sound and smell of a coffee machine with a timer - that might not be effective enough. Also, the distant sound of a person in the house is nice - therefore one would need a rather big space (if the sound is not distant enough it's disturbing). I don't like alarm sounds in general and rather wake up to other sounds.
A smooth and positive song that I like helps me connect the hard task to getting up with a positive sound.
I prefer the radio for waking up. When I was younger, I liked the radio that plays songs, and has a guy / girl talking, but currently I like radio with a lot of news, to get my mind started into the real world.
A sound that is as gentle as possible to slowly wake me up rather than suddenly is the best. A sound that would ring in my sleep first, so that I could be prepared in my dreams. Nothing electronic, something from the real world, maybe an animal sound.
Do you respond positively (or not) to listening to a particular texture/pattern/rhythm to start the day? Or to a particular sensation? Which one?
Here the answers were very diverse as well. Briefly, they included:
music,
voices,
silence,
nature and animal sounds,
ringtones that change according to the weather,
a mantra,
calm,
stretching and moving,
definitely not a song,
nothingness.
So,
how to wake up?
How to Hypnopomp?
SCORES
These scores have the intention to guide you through performing very slow and subtle gestures and actions in the process of waking up. These movements can be imaginary, physical availability should not be a limitation for their achievement. Hopefully, you will enjoy transiting through this particular state with greater calm, devoting a considerable time to exploring the first impulses of movement, reviewing extracts of dream memories and developing a progressive sense for listening to internal and external sounds.
Stay in bed for a couple more minutes and start slow.
1. Hello Body
Hello Body
I propose that you move and I will observe,
which part reacts first?
Your shoulders?
The left or right hand? My knee or your toe?[1]
Your mouth, my tongue?
I follow the first impulse of movement,
where does it lead me?
Where does it take me?
I cannot easily define where the "awakening" of the movement begins.
Is it from the periphery or from the center?
I can feel your breath,
fragments of you are starting to wake up.
I allow you to move.
Inhalations and exhalations,
move me.
I recognize a rhythm in that alternation.
I perceive the different sounds in every instance of breath.
[1] This is related to the 'unfolding' that can occur in dreams and in the hypnopompic state. You don't know if your body belongs to you.
2. Fingertips
Ask your fingertips how they feel today.
Do they answer?
Ask your fingertips how they feel today.
Do they move?
If they answered with a sound, which sound would it be? A human or non-human sound?
Can your fingertips dance?
Follow their movement with your hands and wrists, then the arm. Make very gentle movements.
Stop for a moment,
and continue.
Stop for a moment,
and continue.
3. Textures
Try to become aware of how your body rests on your bed, pillow, blanket.
How do these textures feel on contact with your skin?
Take your pillow or blanket with hands or feet and dance slowly with them, listen to the sounds you produce.
Lay down, you're still laying down.
You’re still laying down (with eyes closed or open).
Place your blanket over your entire body and raise your arms and legs (or knees) to the ceiling.
What is this new heaven like?
4. Smell
Your favorite scent appears, draws your attention.
Your nose vibrates.
The movement spreads to your body.
5. Move a dream
Can you remember something of what you have dreamt?
If you don't remember, you can imagine something you would have liked to dream about.
What music or sounds would you create for that dream? How does that dream sound?
How would you move with that music?
6. Slower is always possible
Make the smallest movement possible.
Stop progressively.
Now make the slowest movement possible.
I encourage you to document your daily hypnopompic state, your experiences, exercises, rituals and occurrences (it could be in a verbal or non-verbal way). I recommend having a notebook next to your bed for this specific purpose. Try writing or drawing with your eyes closed or half closed, this practice will surely surprise you. If you'd like to collaborate on this creative research, you can send me your thoughts and impressions to tatiana.heuman.sounds (at) gmail.com.
Videos were made by linfa.
Voice by Nik Forrest.
How to Hypnopomp? was produced with support from the Academy of Media Arts Cologne.
BIO
Tatiana Heuman works on music and sound creation between Argentina and Europe. She began her musical career playing the trumpet and drums with the free improvisation band Ricarda Cometa around 2009. Her unique approach to musical production was founded essentially in a collaborative, free, intuitive and experimental territory where genres and tags are fluid. By 2014, Heuman started her solo electronic music project. After two EPs in 2014 and 2016, her first album QEEI was released on the label Astro Nautico. Heuman has studied Dance, Corporal Expression (UNA), and Expanded Music (UNSAM), completed the first module of the training in Deep Listening and is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Media Arts in KHM, Cologne, Germany. Understanding sounding and listening as a means of manifestation and empowerment, she develops music production laboratories and workshops. She is part of the communities #VIVAS (female* collective sounds platform), Trrueno and female:pressure.
SECONDARY SOURCES
Hayman, R., 1993. Listening to Dreams: A Project for Middle Ear Muscle Activity Audio Level Telemetry. MedArts International. Cappella books.
IONE, 2005. Listening in Dreams: A Compendium of Sound Dreams, Meditations and Rituals for Deep Dreamers. iUniverse.
Oliveros, P., 2005. Deep Listening: A Composer’s Sound Practice. iUniverse.
Spellberg, M., On Dream Sharing and Its Purpose: The social contract of sensuous imagining. Cabinet (no. 67, 2019–2020). Accessed 24 December 2020.
Paz Reverol, C. L., 2017. Make Dreams: A Wayuu Perspective. Accessed 30 December 2020.
Densmore, F., 2005. Smithsonian Institution. Accessed 24 December 2020.
Unseen is an online platform and web archive that presents different approaches to listening and cultivating the relationship between our bodies, space and sound. Through a series of exercises, methods and video guides, we are invited to focus on sound as a tool for relieving feelings of separation and isolation, as a tool for imagining better futures.
Unseen is an online platform and web archive that presents different approaches to listening and cultivating the relationship between our bodies, space and sound. Through a series of exercises, methods and video guides, we are invited to focus on sound as a tool for relieving feelings of separation and isolation, as a tool for imagining better futures.