Hear! Hear! to Preserving the Sounds of Childhood

The holidays are a natural time for picture-taking, and my wife and I will be doing our share--especially with two grandchildren around. But this time I will be doing something else as well: recording Max and Eliot as they unwrap their presents, getting on tape the once-in-a-lifetime sound of a child’s Christmas. Granted, one can achieve a version of the same thing with a video camera, but I like my way better. For one thing, it’s easier. For another, we are professional still photographers, not professional videographers. I’m much more comfortable with a camera than with a camcorder--and much happier with the results.

I love the ease with which I can play back my grandsons’ words as they sing, talk and tell stories. With my tiny microcassette recorder, I can get them on tape with the push of a button and, more important, play back their words whenever I want, without having to insert a tape into a VCR.

It’s one thing to read a 3-year-old’s description of his trip to the zoo or her animated discussion of why she colored the elephant green. It’s quite another thing--especially when that former 3-year-old is entering college--to hear those wonderful stories again live, in their own young voices.

The beauty of capturing audio is that it does not have to be limited to voices. The sounds of one’s everyday life are important--and ever-changing--as well. Thinking back to our family trips to Rockefeller Center when I was a child, I’m reminded of the sound that the D train made as it pulled into the subway station in the Bronx and brought us down to Manhattan. The everyday sounds of life can be as important to record as photographs.