There's a lot to take in when one starts paying attention to their city: sights, smells, tastes...but when you're walking through downtown, through Reid Park, or through the University, do you ever just...listen?

The Sonorous Desert City Project, funded by a grant from the Tucson Pima Arts Council, wants you to do just that, creating a series of ambient recordings from across the city for Tucsonans to take a break and just listen to their city.

The Sonorous Desert City Project: Suite I-III seeks to reacquaint Tucson (and newly acquaint the rest of the world) with our shared aural landscape through a series of listening performances and a limited edition recording.
In this age of rapid information distribution, virtual everything and earbuds, The Sonorous Desert City Project will promote taking time to simply unplug and listen to the world around us, to reconnect and explore our roles in this radiant soundscape, hearing the sacred in the mundane and the profound in the prosaic, all of which is not only healthy for our minds and spirits but also fosters a sense of place and connection.

The project, which is set to record from July 1 to December 31, plans to create a limited-edition audio-work, turning ambient sounds into a "three part suite sonic narrative."

After the recordings have been completed and produced, the plan is to create "soundwalks," relating to "sonically interesting" locations in the city:

A little more listening can never hurt, and perhaps when The Sonorous Desert City Project is completed people will find a bit more beauty in Tucson than they knew was there before and perhaps they will discover how important their part is in this orchestra of sound.

For more, including recent recordings and where recordings are taking place in the city, head to the Sonorous Desert Project.