Handbook

This course sets out to acquaint you with the diverse and burgeoning field of Sound Studies. The field of Sound will be situated in relation to current issues and polemics, as well as to historical, aesthetic, and cultural contexts. We will assess the evolution of electronic media, and its influence on culture at large. We will evaluate key moments in the practices of sound recording technology, electronic music, and sonic art. Through readings, discussion, listening and ethnographic studies, you will engage with Sound Studies in the Western tradition and beyond, thereby positing your own musical practice within a wider cultural context. Themes addressed in a given term may include: Sound recording technology and the impact of media technologies on listening, performing and composing; The codification of listening; Sound, place-making and soundwalks; Sound and memory; Noise; New media installations; The Mp3, compression and the music economy; Radiophonics; Synaesthesia.