“Nobody has to be good at this today,” I told them.

“You’re here to learn what your ideas sound like when you let them out.”

We spent the first session learning how microphones worked.

Pete demonstrated by recording a spoon tapping against a glass, then moving the microphone a few inches to show how much the sound changed.

The students began experimenting.

By noon, they were recording footsteps, handclaps, and a squeaking chair, then building tiny rhythms out of everyday noise.