When I think of Perfect sounds, naturally (a slightly unintended wordplay), I think of rain and wind. Those are sounds that are beautiful and powerful.  Out in a tent or cabin, maybe because they are both immediate and possibly disastrous, they even become personal.  Being Canadian, the sound of loons speaks to me of camping trips and watching movies outside on those same camping trips. For artificial sounds, I love the sound of trains, the clack of a puck on a hockey stick, and the sound of my bike chain spinning on a fast descent.

I am not a huge fan of cell phone noises, but maybe that is a generational thing. From time to time, as a conversation warmer, I ask my students what sounds they use for their ringtones.  These days, most of them keep their phones on vibrate.  Not to be deterred, I ask them what sound they wake up to–since I know that most of them use their phones as an alarm clock.

As for me, except when traveling, I use a standard clock radio to wake up. I used to have it set for the radio, but being woken up by terrible static or interference a few times, I set it to alarm and haven’t gone back.  For every day of work that sound is the bane of my existence.  That alarm, which is a horrible, incessant beeping sound, is not what I mean by a perfect sound.

The click as I shut it off because the weekend has arrived and I do not need to be a slave to it is.