Writing about Sound: What the audible can teach us about our world
MUSC 122F
Spring 2024
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01
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Sound speaks volumes, even if what it tells us can be tricky to put into words. If we listen critically, sound can teach us important lessons--like how technology is evolving, society changing, and what it means to be human. That is why sound has recently preoccupied the academic study of music, visual arts, media, ecology, race, disability, architecture, economics, and the history of science. Touching on each of these areas, this course blends core texts and case studies in the interdisciplinary field of sound studies to offer something interesting to all students, regardless of their chosen major. As part of Wesleyan's first-year seminar program, the course has two aims: to explore how philosophers, ethnographers, practitioners, and journalists have written about sound; and to help students cultivate good habits for putting their own arguments into writing. There are no prerequisites to join the class, and assignments will focus on developing weekly reading responses into longer-form essays. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA MUSC |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (MUSC) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 90% or above |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Excerpts from:
Schafer, The Tuning of the World, 1977
Smith, Listening to Nineteenth-Century America, 2002
Thompson, The Soundscape of Modernity, 2002
Sterne, The Audible Past, 2003
Blesser and Salter, Spaces Speak, Are You Listening?, 2007
Pinch and Bijsterveld, The Oxford Handbook of Sound Studies, 2011
Sterne, The Sound Studies Reader, 2012
Daughtry, Listening to War, 2015
Novak and Skakeeny, Keywords in Sound, 2015
Kane, Sound Unseen, 2016
The Craft of Research, 2016
Kramer, The Hum of the World, 2018
Steingo and Sykes, Remapping Sound Studies, 2019
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Examinations and Assignments:
Weekly reading responses 40%
In-class reading presentation 5%
Two five-page position papers 2 x 15%
Peer feedback 15%
Final Paper 10%
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Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
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| Instructor(s): Principi,Dylan Times: ..T.R.. 08:50AM-10:10AM; Location: OLIN327B; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: X | JR major: X | | |
| Seats Available: 13 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: X | JR non-major: X | SO: X | FR: 15 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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