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CS92PROD
Sound Systems: The How of Hearing
CHUM 347
Fall 2019 not offered
Crosslisting: MUSC 461

Since the late 19th century artists, corporations and composers have all proposed, developed, presented, and occasionally commercialized physical systems that reconfigure how sound can be experienced. The early impact of the entertainment industry ranged from the introduction of stereo to movie theaters in Walt Disney's Fantasia to the development of close miking for the crooning of Bing Crosby to McCune sound service's introduction of stage monitors for the benefit of Judy Garland. Artists and composers used related methods to propose entirely new understandings of how music can be. Futurist Luigi Russolo's Intonarumori of 1913 proposed an Art of Noise, while Pauline Oliveros' concept of deep listening developed listening as a foundational form of music making. R. Murray Schafer's concepts of soundscape and acoustic ecology project a music of environmental relations mediated through sound, while Maryanne Amacher's sound characters create individual sounds understood as capable development and change beyond the expanse of any one performance or composition.

This class will be a performing ensemble focused on "sound systems" as musical instruments and musical practices performing live and fixed media sound pieces through sound systems we will configure for different sites on campus. Together with developing the technical skills required to mount these pieces, we will also investigate and discuss the varied musical, social, acoustical, and psycho-acoustical understandings of music and sound that influenced their shaping.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA MUSC
Course Format: PerformanceGrading Mode: Student Option
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: MUSC109
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (MUSC)

Last Updated on MAR-29-2024
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