Sound Series – The Exercises

/ daphnemoran

For the final episode of the Sound Series I’m hoping to put together a showcase of work created in response to the exercises I’ve been offering throughout the series.

I’d love to receive your work by Thursday 24 September

You can send your responses to me at:

betterreadnz@gmail.com

Or if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email me here.

If none of the exercises appeal, you could also send a recording of you reading a piece of your own work that you think is interesting in relation to sound.

Please see all the exercises below:

Sound Series 1 – James Woods and Nick Ascroft Exercise:

We talk quite a lot about rhyme in this discussion.

So, the exercise is simply this – turn on your recorder, say the line:

‘I listened to a band called Flipper’

And see how long you can go rhyming words with ‘Flipper’. Don’t forget about half-rhymes and don’t be afraid to change the end sound completely if it feels right. The idea is to try and keep composing for 2 minutes.

Sound Series 2 – Ruby Solly and Chris Tse Exercise:

This is an exercise where you compose in situ.

Take your recorder – it can be your phone – to a noisy place.

Turn your recorder on and respond to the sounds around you in spoken words.

It might take the form of a conversation with the noises in the environment you are in. Or the noises may form a backing track to your words.

Sound Series 3 – Cooki Aimee M and Eamonn Marra Exercise:

We talked a bit in this episode about sound that are ‘difficult’ or ‘uncomfortable’.

So, this exercise is about discomforting sounds and is pretty straight forward.

Find a sound that is hard to listen to.

Play it over headphones while you speak for 45 seconds into a recorder. It might work quite well if you have it loud enough so you can’t hear your voice.

The title of this work is the sound you listened to.

Sound Series 4 – Sinead Overbye and Charlotte Forrester Exercise:

What’s the most beautiful word in the world?

Maybe you’d like to take a minute or two to write down words, word combinations or sentences that you think are beautiful.

Then you might like to record these.

You may like to miss out the step of writing down and try composing beautiful sounds out loud and on the fly.

Sound Series 5 – Brannavan Gnanalingam and Tokerau Wilson Exercise:

This is a free styling exercise.

Play either Tokerau or Brannavan’s sound in headphones and record yourself composing along to it.

That simple. What happens when you have rain or ripping paper as a back beat?

Sound Series 6 – Carl Shuker and Simon Sweetman Exercise:

We talk a bit about writing about music in this episode.

So, take a song you like.

Now writer or speak for 3 minutes without using any words from the song – so, no lyrics and not the title.

Sound Series 7 – Kerry Ann Lee and Jackson Nieuwland Exercise:

I love the idea of using something wrong.

How about trying to make a poem out of noises that are not words.

Maybe you could get together several objects that make noise – placing a cup, tapping something, unscrewing a lid.

Write your poem in sound.

Ep 167: essa may ranapiri and pip adam talk about Puke by talking about obsidian. – Better off Read

i'm really grateful to essa may ranapiri for making time in what is a really busy year to chat with me about their amazing book Puke. i have been a long-time fan of essa's work. One of the most exciting things for me about receiving a copy of Puke is putting it next to ransack (2019) and ECHIDNA (2022) because together they form this incredible body of work. There's a line in essa's author bio which i have written on a PostIt note and stuck next to my desk where i can read it often. That line is: 'They will write until they’re dead.' i think sometimes the things around writing can get distracting and there is something about this simple statement that essa makes which helps me shut out all that noise and pare everything down to what is important. Puke is one of the most thrilling reading experiences i've had this year. This is an incredibly exciting reimagining of the novel in verse which is quickly becoming my favourite form. i loved it from the first page to the last. It is this amazingly astute and beautiful knife-edge balance of a number of forms which uses the tension between them to such amazing affect. Puke imagines – through the sense of 'all time' essa creates – the moments before, during and after the violence of colonisation and colonialism. Puke creates a complicated and accurate relationship with hope and despair that mirrors our present moment and offers an opportunity to challenge what i've been shown and what i see. There are some awesome events coming up a good place to keep up with these is by following essa's publisher Te Herenga Waka University Press on Instagram or subscribing to the Te Herenga Waka UP newsletter essa also has a website This podcast was recorded at Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui on 21 September 2026 and originally podcast on 5 November 2026. SPOTLIGHT: MANA TIPUA Mana Tipua website From Mana Tipua KAUPAPA: Mana Tipua is a kaupapa Māori organisation led by takatāpui, and is the only rangatahi takatāpui focussed organisation in Waitaha. Our purpose is to tautoko (support) the hauora (health & wellbeing) and mana of rangatahi takatāpui and their whānau, including all Māori with diverse genders, sexualities, and sex characteristics to enable them to flourish in the fullness of their identity. We seek to improve mental health and wellbeing outcomes by providing opportunities for rangatahi to engage in mātauranga and tikanga Māori and taonga tuku iho practices. We provide social connection opportunities, informal education, and assist with health and wellbeing pathways. We also work to advocate, educate, develop takatāpui focussed resources, and foster collaborative opportunities. We know kanohi ki te kanohi wānanga is important for the exchange of hā and mātauranga and have designed our programme to reflect this. Our Te Kōurunui sessions on Sundays connect rangatahi with Tohunga, Ringatoi, Ringapuoro, and other cultural experts, many of whom are takatāpui themselves. We also have a community of takatāpui pakeke and kaumātua who support the rōpū. The ingoa Mana Tipua honours Dr. Elizabeth Kerekere’s academic and activist mahi that strengthens our whānau takatāpui community. Mana is not translatable into English but is a foundational aspect of Te Ao Māori. It is key to every aspect of life, including people, places, and things. Tipua refers to the shape shifting nature of our takatāpui whānau who move through the world in ways that are outside the Western norm – whether that’s trans or intersex people living their truth, or fluid sexualities that we have inherited from our tīpuna. Mana Tipua was established in 2023 following a Takatāpui Taiohi Ora Hui run at Rehua Marae in by InsideOUT Koaro. Community engagement at this hui identified a need for a Te Waipounamu (South Island) based kaupapa Māori service to support – Māori aged 12-25 who are also LGBTQIA+. You can support Better off Read financially at Buy Better off Read a Coffee Music in Better off Read was made by Brent McIntyre.
  1. Ep 167: essa may ranapiri and pip adam talk about Puke by talking about obsidian.
  2. Ep 166: Jon Toogood and pip adam talk about Home Again
  3. Ep 165: Helen Lehndorf and pip adam talk about The Bruise Palette
  4. Ep 164: Terri Te Tau and pip adam talk about The Valley of Unlikely Acquaintances
  5. Ep 163: Molly Crighton and pip adam talk about The Body and the Blood

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