Sound Effects Handout: Students, In-Class

Today in class you will be learning about sound effects and sound waves.  Before there was television, people would listen to shows on the radio.  These shows were just like TV shows, but they were just sound.  Actors would read from a script to tell you what was happening in the show.  To make these radio shows seem more real, the actors would also make the sounds of what was happening in the show, like a horse walking or rain falling or a gunshot.  The actors often could not actually do things like ride a real horse or fire a real gun at the radio station, so they would use something else that sounded like a horse or a gun or whatever.  These things were called sound effects.  Your teacher has some examples of sound effects to show you.

The class will also use these sound effects to make a short radio show.  Each group will be able to act out one of the shows and see how sound effects make it seem more real.

At the end of class your teacher will talk to you about why one sound can sound like something else.