Schedule of Readings and Activities
(*subject to change, with prior notice, and as best suits the needs and pace of the class*)
Unit 1: Voice
Week 1
Monday, Jan. 14: Classes begin. Classes begin. Introductions: syllabus, texts, policies and procedures, writing projects, assign response groups, etc.
Discussion of Writing Project #1.
Reading: Review syllabus. Review prompt for Writing Project #1. Jonathan Sterne, “Introduction” (SSR), Aristotle extracts (handout).
Listening: Alvin Lucier, “I am sitting in a room.” Available here. And commentary here.
Writing: All class-members: Write a response detailing (1) one sound-related experience from your life, and (2) your response to Lucier listening. 250 words, due in Wednesday’s class.
Wednesday, Jan. 16: Discussion of responses (Lucier, personal sound experiences, etc.). Further discussion of Writing Project #1.
Reading: Barthes, “The Grain of the Voice,” Cavarero, “Multiple Voices” (all in SSR)
Listening: Review Lucier as necessary; consider also alternate versions of his composition (some
available at UBU Web).
Writing: Response Group A:
How might we contextualize Lucier’s written text (available in the first paragraph of the liner notes to the recording, here) and performance in the context of Aristotle, Barthes, and/or Cavarero? 250 words, due in Friday’s class.
Friday, Jan. 18: Discussion of Group A responses. Uses of Barthes, Cavarero, etc., to discuss in-class examples and ideas about poetry (handout provided in class): J.S. Mill, Wordsworth, Whitman, Dickinson, Cortez, etc. Preview Jordan Scott’s blert.
Reading: Read blert. Read selections from The Davidson Writer on “The Nature of Argument” (“Five Parts…” and “Topoi…”), and “Citing Sources” (MLA Style, pps. 4 – 14).
Listening: Review Scott performing portions of blert solo here, and with accompaniment here.
Writing: Response Group B:
In class, we discussed a small set of claims about poetry and voice. How do these ideas intersect with your own ideas about and experiences with poetry? In your discussion, be sure to quote from at least two of our extracts. 250 words, due in Wednesday’s class.
**Regular Drop/Add ends**
Week 2
Monday, Jan. 21: MLK Day (no class).
Wednesday, Jan. 23: Discussion of Group B responses; begin discussion of blert and contexts. Listening to additional examples: Hugo Ball, Christian Bok, Steve McCaffery, Cortez, etc. Discussion of Writing Project #1.
Reading: Review blert; read Dworkin (handout).
Listening: Review Flub and Utter, especially the context interviews (see links below the video-frame).
Writing: Response Group C:
In class, we listened to several poets speaking and/or performing their works. How does Scott’s practice fit into and/or challenge this context? In your discussion, be sure to carefully describe the work(s) you discuss. 250 words, due in Friday’s class.
Friday, Jan. 25: Discussion of Group C responses, and blert cont’d. Introduction to Lyrebird.
Reading: Visit lyrebird.ai, and review their Products, Work (especially Project Revoice), FAQs, and Ethics. Create your own vocal avatar here. “The Story of Dr. Rapp” (here). “Helping My Nonverbal Son Find his Voice” here.
Listening: National Geographic documentary on the lyrebird, available here. NPR profile of lyrebird here. NPR on risks of lyrebird here.
Writing: Response Group D:
Respond to text-to-voice technologies as discussed by the Lyrebird team and those who have written about Lyrebird and the text-to-voice or vocal cloning phenomenon. How do these technologies illustrate and/or complicate issues in our discussions? 250 words, due in class Monday.
**All class members: Response Group D will bring original writing to class. However, everyone should bring their responses to-date, and as a class we will do some work identifying or creating topics/claims for extended writing.
**All class members: After creating your vocal avatar, post at least one sentence as a link to the class domain; post before Wednesday’s class, and be sure to categorize your post under “Vocal Avatars.”**
**All class members: Begin developing Writing Project #1.**
Week 3
Monday, Jan. 28: Discussion of Group D responses. Topic/claim activities. Introduce “Bad Lip Reading.”
Listening: Snap Judgment, “What Accent?“; Selected “Bad Lip Reading” clips, including “Christmas is Here,” “Debate Night!,” “Inauguration Day,” “More NFL,” and “Stop it Now!” (available on youtube).
Writing for discussion (not collected):
Some of the Bad Lip Reading clips are amusing (I enjoy the Star Wars songs, and the “poetry slam” between Trump and Clinton has some good parts). But how do these clips get at questions we’ve been addressing thus far? Is there a difference between the live footage and the cinematic footage? If so, what is it? Have these notes, observations, and remarks in class on Wednesday.
*All class members: begin/continue drafting Writing Project #1.
Wednesday, Jan. 30: Discussion of text-to-voice technologies and BLR//dubbing. Visit from the WC (confirmed).
On Writing: Link to Extract, Translplant, Recontextualize. Continue drafting Paper 1, and bring work to class on Friday.
Reading: Crawford, “Following You: Disciplines of Listening In Social Media,” Dolar, “The Linguistics of the Voice” (both in SSR). Review responses to-date.
Writing for discussion (not collected): Respond to Crawford and Dolar, and the relevant prompt:
Crawford: in your experience as both a social-media user and (now) a budding sound-studies student, how does Crawford use ideas of sound, listening, speaking, etc. in her discussion of social media? This piece was published in 2009. How do these claims hold up in 2018?
Dolar: Dolar identifies several aspects of “voice” that exceed formal linguistic structure. How might his terminology help us re-assess some of the examples we’ve examined so far? Choose at least one of Dolar’s terms, and one of our class examples, and discuss, citing both texts. Have these notes, observations, and remarks in class on Friday.
Friday, Feb. 1: Discussion of Crawford and Dolar. Cont’d in-class paper-work. Sign up for conferences, Feb. 4 – Feb 7. Discussion of Peer-Review procedures.
Writing: Writing Project #1: Continue complete Rough Draft. Submit copy to Rippeon by email by or before 5 PM on Friday, for discussion with Rippeon in 1-on-1 conferences next week.
Week 4
Monday, Feb. 4 – Wednesday, Feb. 6: Writing Conferences with Professor Rippeon (times and locations TBD).
Writing: Review comments from Rippeon and continue revising. Prepare draft for Peer Review on Friday, Feb. 8. Distribute copies to Peer Groups before class on Friday, and bring hard-copy comments to class on Friday for round-robin peer review.
Peer-review: Response Groups (A, B, C, D) arrange distribution schedule of group-papers, making sure that the group has enough time to read them before class on Friday. Groups may want to balance the work-load, so that each person is only reading two papers. Bring hard-copy comments to class on Friday, for return to the author.
Friday, Feb, 8: In-class Peer Review. Bring hard-copies to class for peer-review, and be sure to have digital access to your own file as well.
Reading: Review Peer comments
Writing: Complete final revisions of Writing Project #1. Due in class, on Monday, Feb, 11. Papers must be properly formatted and stapled, or they will not be accepted.
Unit 2: Voice, pt. 2
Week 5
Monday, Feb. 11: **Paper 1 due in class. In-class listening activities (Earth Wind and Fire’s “September” here, and Taylor Swift’s cover here; Elton John, “Rocket Man” here, and William Shatner, “Rocket Man” here; , RTJ’s “Crown” and “Creown,” etc.). Introduction to Writing Project #2.
Reading: Huffington Post pieces on Taylor Swift’s cover of “September” here and here, and Spin on Swift here. Review of Meow the Jewels here.
Listening: Studio 1A: “Take Me On: The Art Of The Cover Song,” listen here.
Writing: Response Group A:
Consider the points put forward in the Studio 1A program as well as the Huffington Post and Spin pieces. Extend or re-contextualize our class discussion by referring to specific points from those pieces. 250 words, due in class on Wednesday, Feb. 13.
**All class members: Locate a cover song and its original, or a sample and its source (youtube is a good source, and there are others). Offer observations and commentary on the relationship between them (cover/original, or sample/source). Support your comments with ideas and quotations from our readings, and include links to your chosen songs. Post your response to the class domain; be sure to categorize your post under “Covers and Samples.” Post to the domain by or before 5 PM, Sunday, Feb. 17.
Wednesday, Feb. 13: Discussion of Group A responses. Introduction to sampling and Weheliye.
Reading: Weheliye, “Desiring Machines in Black Popular Music” (in SSR). The New Yorker on “Roomful of Teeth” here (optional, but recommended).
Listening: Kraftwerk, Zapp, and other examples as mentioned in Weheliye (available on youtube).
Writing: Response Group B:
Weheliye makes specific claims about the vocoder (what we now know as “Auto-tune”). Locate another song that makes heavy use of auto-tune, and consider Weheliye’s claims in relation to that song. 250 words; due in class Friday.
Friday, Feb, 15: Discussion of Group B responses, Weheliye, and further sampling work.
Reading: Doggett, Interview with Big Freedia here. Clover Hope, “The Making and Unmaking of Iggy Azalea” here.
Listening: Iggy Azalea tracks (as linked and discussed in “Making and Unmaking”); Big Freedia, as sampled in “Formation” and “Nice for What” as linked here.
Writing: Response Group C:
Discuss “voice” in relation to either Big Freedia or Iggy Azalea, and how “voice” plays a role in the work of either artist and/or their reception. 250 words, due in class Monday.
Week 6
Monday, Feb. 18: Discussion of Group C responses; introduction to Douglass.
Reading: Frederick Douglass, Chapter 2 from Narrative of the Life (link here).
Listening:
Writing: Response Group D:
Consider the role of sound and voice in the Douglass selections. 250 words; due in class Friday.
Wednesday, Feb. 20: Library Session. Meeting location TBD. Brief introduction to Du Bois and Stoever.
Reading: W.E.B. Du Bois, extracts from The Souls of Black Folk (“The Forethought” and Chapter 1, “Of Our Spiritual Strivings,” link to Project Gutenberg eBook here); Jennifer Lynn Stoever, Introduction to The Sonic Color Line (link to PDF here), New York Times essay here.
Listening:
Writing for discussion (not collected):
Consider how Stoever is adapting and updating Du Bois; consider also how Stoever’s concepts of “the sonic color line” and “the listening ear” may be applicable to a variety of our texts to-date. Have these notes, observations, and remarks in class on Friday.
Friday, Feb. 22: Discussion of Group D responses. Discussion of Du Bois and Stoever. Introduction to performance poetry and “poet’s voice.” Introduction to Domains (bring laptop). Class activity: Reading a poem in groups: how and why would you perform a poem? (handouts supplied).
Reading: Petronzio, Smith, Basile, and Giaimo on “Poet’s Voice.” Branum, “My Gay Voice” here. “Words as Feelings” here. Kearney, “That Loud-Assed Colored Silence” (handout on Moodle); Brathwaite, “History of the Voice” (handout on Moodle).
Listening: Tracie Morris, “The Mrs. Gets Her Ass Kicked,” Kearney, “That Loud-Assed Colored
Silence: Protest,” McCaffery, “Carnival,” The Four Horsemen, “Emotional Poetry,” Danez Smith here, here, and here.
Writing: Develop your topic for Project #2 (if you haven’t already). Write at least one paragraph (100 – 200 words) outlining your topic, approach, and any sources you have found. Bring to class on Monday, Feb. 25. As you develop this paragraph, continue writing and preparing a rough draft.
Week 7
Monday, Feb. 25: Discussion of reading/listening. Preparation for VAC Gallery visit (Wednesday).
Reading: Our visit to the Van Every/Smith Gallery exhibition is a “preview” for some of our Unit 3//Soundscape engagements. To prepare for that session, please read the following short article on “historical soundscapes, by Marinna Guzy, “The Sound of Life: What is a Soundscape,” parts 1 and 2.
Listening: Listen to any//all links that strike your interest in Guzy’s piece.
Writing: Make notes on the Guzy. Guzy both describes “soundscapes,” and also discusses the particular challenges of her specific work. Our visit to the Hiwa K exhibit will introduce us to other sounds and soundscapes–not the historical soundscapes of Guzy’s work. Take notes on Guzy, and keep these in mind on Wednesday. We will discuss both Guzy and Hiwa K in class on Friday.
*Note: “the soundscape” will be the focus of our third unit, after Spring Break and after your second paper. We are taking advantage of the Hiwa K visit while it’s here on campus. Please take notes and otherwise record your experience as necessary; the Hiwa K exhibit will close on March 1.
Wednesday, Feb. 27: VAC Gallery Visit: Hiwa K exhibition. Meet in the Van Every/Smith Galleries for a tour and discussion of the Hiwa K exhibit.
Reading:
Listening:
Writing: Practice posting to the class domain by posting your own short response to the Hiwa K exhibit. Be sure to properly categorize your post (“Hiwa K”).
Friday, March 1: Discussion of Guzy and Hiwa K; soundscapes.
Reading: Review sample Writing Project #2 here. Note especially the use of links and other media to support and contextualize the claims in this piece.
Listening:
Writing: Prepare Rough Draft for Peer Review on Monday, March 11.
**Week 8: March 4 – March 8: Spring Break**
Week 9
Monday, March 11: Peer Review and sign-up for conferences.
Tuesday, March 12 – Friday, March 15: Writing Conferences with Professor Rippeon (times and locations TBD).
Reading: Schafer, “The Soundscape” (in SSR). On “silence” as a commodity here. Thoreau, extracts from Walden on “Sounds” (click through this site to Chapter IV, “Sounds,” here).
Writing: Review comments from Rippeon and continue revising. Prepare final copy. Due on the class domain by Friday, March 22.
Unit 3: Soundscapes and Acoustic Ecology
Week 10
**On Tuesday, March 19, and Thursday March 21, T&I will host two introductory sessions for Davidson Domains (during Common Hour). You will need to attend one of these, for an introduction to Domains.
The Domain project is incredibly valuable, and the sooner you begin using your domain, the better (some departments even require a domain as part of the major). Your second Writing Project is hosted on the class domain, but Projects #3 and #4 will be hosted on your domain.**
Monday, March 18: Mid-semester evaluations (tentative). Discussion of Schafer, Thoreau. Discussion of Writing Project #3. Soundscape activities as time allows.
Reading: Thompson, “Sound, Modernity, and History,” Bull, “The Audio-Visual iPod” (both in SSR). THINK about SOUND: “About” and “Maps” here.
Listening: Early iPod commercials here and here.
Writing: Continue revising Writing Project #2.
Wednesday, March 20: Discuss Monday’s listening activities. View iPod commercials. Discuss Thompson, Bull, and iPod commercials.
Reading: Chion, “The Three Listening Modes,” Hosakawa, “The Walkman Effect” (both in SSR), Richardson, “Listening for Silence with the Headphones Off.”Review Guzy, parts 1 and 2. and related links. Review THINK about SOUND.
Listening: Microsoft’s “Soundscape” Project here and here; John Cage, “Water Walk,” 4’33” here and here. Interview with Cage on “silence” here (longer version here, with Spanish subtitles).
Writing: Continue revising Writing Project #2; final version due Friday, 3/22.
Friday, March 22: **Writing Project #2 due.** Discussion of readings and listening.
**UPDATES FOR THE WEEKEND**
As discussed in class, here are updates for the weekend:
Writing Project #2 is due, to the class domain, by 5 PM Sunday. Be sure to “categorize” your post properly.
Please read or review the Chion, Hosakawa, Richardson, and Cage materials (as assigned Wednesday, 3/20). Please also review the Picker and Rath (as assigned Friday, 3/22).
Please complete the soundscape listening and writing activity described here (the previous reading and links should prepare you conceptually and theoretically for this sort of listening activity) :
Writing: **All class-members: Find an acoustic space (on campus or off; indoors or out). This may be the beginning of your third project, so you might want to plan and actually record your visit to this location. Describe the space using terminology from our readings. Consider the acoustic ecology, history, and/or culture of the space. Practice thick-description and close-listening as we have done before, both presenting your space as well as your listening in a critical context. *500 words, due in class on Monday for sharing and discussion.
Reading: Rath, “No Corner for the Devil to Hide,” Blesser and Salter, “Ancient Acoustic Spaces,” Picker, “The Soundproof Study” (all in SSR)
; “A Whole City Must Keep Quiet” here. Listening: David Byrne, TEDtalk and “Playing the Building” here and here. Hildergard Westerkamp, “Kitts Beach Soundwalk” here.Writing: **All class-members: Find an acoustic space (on campus or off; indoors or out). This may be the beginning of your third project, so you might want to plan and actually record your visit to this location. Describe the space using terminology from our readings. Consider the acoustic ecology, history, and/or culture of the space. Practice thick-description and close-listening as we have done before, both presenting your space as well as your listening in a critical context. *500 words, due in class on Monday for sharing and discussion.
Week 11
Monday, March 25: Group-discussion of reading/listening, and acoustic spaces collected by class members.
Reading: Please read or review the Blesser and Salter, as well as the following links:
David Byrne, TEDtalk and “Playing the Building” here and here; Hildergard Westerkamp, “Kitts Beach Soundwalk” here; “A Whole City Must Keep Quiet” here.
Listening: Sample acoustic ecology projects here, here, here, and here (for the last link, scroll down to “The Soundscape of Coffee Culture”).
Writing: Consider the space you “collected” over the weekend. Are there similar spaces/sounds in the area? How might these be compared? What do those comparisons show us, about our environment, history, and/or social interactions? Visit at least two more locations that overlap with your first location in some way. What comparisons and connections might be made between these spaces? Continue developing and be prepared to share further acoustic spaces as collected. **If you have not already, begin developing your domain, and practice embedding media (images and sounds) into your drafts of this work.
Wednesday, March 27: In-class writing workshop. Bring materials to write and be familiar with your domain. Be prepared to discuss your soundscape(s) and the readings as necessary.
Writing: Continue drafting as necessary.
Friday, March 29: In-class writing workshop. Bring materials to write and be familiar with your domain.
Writing: Continue drafting as necessary. Prepare for small group peer-review on Monday, April 1.
Week 12
Monday, April 1: Informal peer review//workshop on Writing Project #3.
Tuesday, April 2 – Thursday, April 4: Conferences; times TBD.
Friday, April 5: No class. Rippeon is unavoidably off campus.
Reading: Review peer comments and conference notes as needed.
Listening:
Writing: Complete Project 3, post to your domain, and send Rippeon the link by 5 PM Monday.
Week 13
Monday, April 8: Introduction to The Revenge of Analog. Introduction to Unit 4 and Paul Miller aka DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid. Discussion of Writing Project #4 (due-date: May 10).
In-class listening: “Pendulum Music”.
**Writing project #3 due; send Rippeon a link to the project on your domain by/before 5 PM.
Reading: Begin Paul Miller, read up through p. 36 (at least to “Districts”).
Listening: The Revenge of Analog, parts 1 – 4 (link to the whole program here).
Writing: Write 100 words (informally) considering the topic of Writing Project #4 and what you will do. Bring to class for discussion on Wednesday.
Wednesday, April 10: Discussion of Miller and Revenge. Group discussion of WP4 notes.
Reading: Continue Paul Miller (pps. 36 – 77).
Listening:
Writing: Continue developing WP#4. Also, consider how the formal appearance of Miller’s work intersects with (complements, complicates, contradicts, etc.) the ideas in the book itself; bring 150 words on this to class on Friday.
Friday, April 12: Discussion of Miller, your responses, and examples.
Reading: Complete Paul Miller, including the back-matter of the book.
Listening: DJ SPooky’s “Arctic Rhythms”.
Writing: Continue developing WP#4. Draft 250 words (notes, outlines, or draft-prose); bring to class on Monday for discussion.
Week 14
Monday, April 15: Discussion of Miller. Break-out work with your writing.
Reading: Dolar, Crawford (both in SSR)
Listening:
Writing: Continue work on WP#4. Consider how Dolar and Crawford provide models for re-assessment of our work in this course; complete 75 – 150 words on either Dolar or Crawford and bring to class for discussion.
Wednesday, April 17: Discussion of Dolar and Crawford. Review sample projects here, here, and here.
Reading and Listening: “Africa,” by Toto: here, here, here, here, and here.
Writing: Continue work on WP#4. Begin preparing draft for peer review (May 1).
Friday, April 19: Discussion of “Africa.”
Reading: Album as Harvard dissertation here.
Listening: Listen to the album.
Writing: Continue work on WP#4. Complete at least half of your draft, for a half-draft peer-review on Wednesday, 4/24.
Week 15
**April 22 – 23: Easter Break**
Wednesday, April 24: Half-draft peer review.
Friday, April 26: No Class: Drop-in conferences with Rippeon (held at the Campus Outpost, from 10 until 4).
Week 16
Monday, April 29: In-class writing workshop//domain trouble-shooting.
Wednesday, May 1: In-class peer review of full draft.
**May 2 – May 7: Classes at instructor’s discretion**
Drop-in conferences for Writing Project #4 will be offered; location and times TBD.
Writing Project #4 is due by 5 PM on May 10. Post the project to your domain, and send Rippeon the correct link.
May 8: Verna Miller Case Symposium (formerly known as “Alenda Lux”).
May 9: Reading Day
May 10 – May 15: Examination Period.
