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, 8/20: Classes begin. Introductions: syllabus, texts, policies and procedures, writing projects,
response groups, etc. Discussion of Writing Project #1.
Reading: Review syllabus. Review prompt for Writing Project #1. Jonathan Sterne, “Introduction” (SSR), Plato and Aristotle extracts (handout).
Listening: Alvin Lucier, “I am sitting in a room.” Available here. And commentary here.
Writing: All class-members post a response to the class blog, posting (1) one sound-related
experience from their lives, and (2) response to Lucier listening.
175 words, due Wednesday morning by 9 AM.
Wednesday, 8/22: Discussion of blog posts (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: Blog Group A:
How might we contextualize Lucier’s written text and performance in the context of
Plato, Aristotle, Barthes, and/or Cavarero?
175 words, due Friday morning by 9 AM.
Friday, 8/24: Discussion of Barthes, Cavarero, etc., and Blog Group A. Preview 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: Blog Group B:
Compare either Scott’s solo and accompanied performances, or instances of Scott’s
written and performed texts. How does “voice”—in the theories of our thinkers—play
into either context?
200 words, due Sunday by 5 PM.
**Drop/Add ends**
Week 2
Monday, 8/27: Discussion of blert and performances of the text. Return to discussion of Writing Project
#1. Break-out sessions #1: responses to Writing Project #1. Introduction to Lyrebird.
Reading: Visit lyrebird.ai, and review their Products, Work (especially Project Revoice), FAQs,
and Ethics. Create your own vocal avatar 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: Blog Group C:
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.
200 words, due Friday morning by 9 AM.
*All class members: After creating your vocal avatar, send at least one sentence
as a link to the class blog.
*All class members: Begin developing response to Writing Project #1.
Wednesday, 8/29: *Visit from the Writing Center (tentative).
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: Blog Group D:
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 what is it about these clips that’s also unsettling? How do they 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?
175 words, due Friday morning by 9 AM.
*All class members: begin/continue drafting Writing Project #1.
Friday, 8/31: Discussion of Blog Groups C & D; text-to-voice technologies, and BLR. Discussion of
Peer-Review practice (for Friday, 9/7) and expectations during conferences. Break-out
sessions 2: responses to Project #1.
Reading: Crawford, “Following You: Disciplines of Listening In Social Media,” Dolar, “The
Linguistics of the Voice” (both in SSR). Review blog-posts to-date.
Writing: Writing Project #1: Continue drafting. Prepare a document of your work-in-progress for discussion with Rippeon in 1-on-1 conference:
*Also: All-class blog: Respond to Crawford and Dolar: choose one writer, and respond to
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.
250 words, due by Sunday, 9/9, at 5 PM.
Week 3
Monday, 9/3 – Thursday, 9/6: Writing Conferences with Professor Rippeon (times and locations TBD).
Reading: Review Blog posts (yours and others). Review rough-drafts from your peer-group.
Writing: Complete Rough Draft of Writing Project #1, for Peer Review on Friday, 9/7. Bring
hard-copy comments to class on Friday, 9/7, for round-robin peer review.
Thursday, 9/6: Submit to Rippeon a full draft of your Writing Project. Drafts must be submitted by email, by 5 PM, as Word documents or PDFs.
Friday, 9/7: *Peer Review of Writing Project #1.
Reading: Review Peer Comments. Review Blog-posts to prepare for class on Monday.
Listening:
Writing: Revise Writing Project #1.
Week 4
Monday, 9/10: Discussion of all-class blog on Crawford and Dolar.
Reading: W.E.B. du Bois, extracts from The Souls of Black Folk (“The Forethought” and Chapter 1, “Of Our Spiritual Strivings;” handout); Frederick Douglass, Chapter 2 from Narrative of the Life (handout).
Listening:
Writing: Revise and Post Writing Project #1 to the class-domain by 5 PM Friday, 9/14.
In addition, please take notes (not to be posted) on your reading this week; we will speak from those notes in class on Friday.
*Peer-Review Drafts returned, by or before Tuesday, 9/11.*
Wednesday, 9/12:
Class activity: Break-out groups generating header-text to domain-hosting of these projects.
Reading: Weheliye, “Desiring Machines in Black Popular Music” (in SSR), Stoever, “Introduction
to The Sonic Color Line” (handout).
Listening: Kraftwerk, Zapp, and other examples from Weheliye.
Writing: Finalize Writing Project #1.
Friday, 9/14: *Writing Project #1 due by or before 5 PM today. Introduction to Unit 2 and Writing Project #2.
Listening to and discussion of examples. Discussion of Weheliye and Stoever.
Reading: Doggett, Interview with Big Freedia here. Studio 1A link here. Huffington Post pieces on Taylor Swift’s cover of “September” here and here, and Spin on Swift here.
Listening: Studio 1A: “Take Me On: The Art Of The Cover Song,” listen here, and Earth Wind and Fire’s “September” here, and Taylor Swift’s cover here. Elton John, “Rocket Man” here, and William Shatner, “Rocket Man” here. Big Freedia as sampled in “Formation” and “Nice for What” as linked here.
Writing: All-class Blog:
Find a cover-song and its original, or a sample and its source. Post links to these in the class blog, and offer commentary on the relationship between one and the other (sample/source; cover/original), drawing from our readings. Be prepared to discuss in class on Monday.
250 – 300 words, due Sunday morning by 5 PM.
Unit 2: Voice, pt. 2
Week 5
Monday, 9/17: Discussion of Studio 1A, other listening and reading assignments, and all-class blog.
Reading: Clover Hope, “The Making and Unmaking of Iggy Azalea” here; extracts from W Magazine feature on Rihanna here; “No, Rihanna is Not Post-Verbal” here; “Once and For All, Rihanna is in Fact Saying Actual Words” here.
Listening: Iggy Azalea tracks (as linked and discussed in “Making and Unmaking”); Rihanna,
“Work.” Vox videos: “Rapping, Deconstructed” here; “Kanye, Deconstructed” here; “How Triplet
Flow Took Over Rap” here.
Writing: All-class Blog:
Re-visit Douglass and/or Stoever. What questions, concerns, or comments remain, or
how has your understanding of these texts developed since our discussion? Post at least
one quotation from your text, your contextualized paraphrase of that quotation, and also at least one lingering question.
200 words; due Wednesday, 9/19, by 9 AM.
Wednesday, 9/19: *Library session. Location TBD.
Goals: finding and incorporating critical sources and popular media in Writing Project #2.
Reading: Petronzio, Smith, Basile, and Giaimo on “Poet’s Voice.” Branum, “My Gay Voice” here. Kearney, “That Loud-Assed Colored Silence” (handout).
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:
Jonathan Sterne collects the authors in his anthology under a claim that they and others have “used sound to ask big questions about their cultural moments and the crises and problems of their time” (3). Practice posing several questions that you are or will consider asking in relation to our readings and listenings. List and elaborate on these questions (try at least 3). Begin searching for primary and secondary sources relevant to these questions; keep track of these in writing and bring to class on Friday for discussion and break-out sessions.
Friday, 9/21: Discussion of listening and reading; formation of small research groups. Prepare for small focus-group meetings next week; these groups will coordinate meetings over the weekend, and will meet with Professor Rippeon during class time Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, to discuss their research-in-progress and questions they have.
Reading: Gather primary and secondary sources relevant to your work on Writing project #2. Brathwaite, “History of the Voice” (handout).
Listening:
Writing: Prepare synopsis of your research: questions, concerns, progress. Share these with your small group, and collectively author one to two pages of commentary and questions to share during next week’s meeting. Begin “Annotated Bibliography,” for review and discussion in research conferences next week, and to be collected with final draft. Begin drafting Writing Project #2. Peer Review of Rough Draft on Friday, 10/10.
Week 6: Small research-group meetings with Professor Rippeon (9/24, 9/26, 9/28)
Reading: Schafer, “The Soundscape” (in SSR). Thoreau, extracts from Walden on “Sounds” (click through this site to Chapter IV, “Sounds,” here).
Listening:
Writing: Writing Project #2. Peer Review of Rough Draft on Wednesday, 10/10.
Week 7
Monday, 10/1: Discussion of Schafer, Thoreau.
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 draft of Writing project #2.
Wednesday, 10/3: Discuss Monday’s listening activities. View iPod commercials. Discuss Thompson, Bull, and iPod commercials.
Reading: Guzy, “The Sound of Life: What is a Soundscape,” parts 1 and 2 (link to part 2 from part 1), and related links. Review THINK about SOUND.
Listening: Guzy soundscape links.
Writing: Continue draft of Writing project #2; final version due Monday, 10/15.
Friday, 10/5: Visit from T & I to discuss soundwalks and sound-mapping. Discuss Guzy, THINK about SOUND. Preview our sound-map.
*Complete Writing Project #2 for Group Review and Group Conferences after Fall
Break.
**Fall Break begins, 4:20 pm**
Reading: Chion, “The Three Listening Modes” (in SSR), Richardson, “Listening for Silence with the Headphones Off.”
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).
Recording: Following Cage, and preparing for your soundwalk recording, choose a public location and sit and record exactly 33 seconds of continuous sound in a single location. Note date, time, and GPS coordinates. Following the template posted in our class Gmail folder, upload as a text file the GPS coordinates and title of the sound file, and the sound file itself. Due by or before Friday, 10/12. This will be a test-run for our sound-map.
Writing: Complete Annotated Bibliography and Draft of Writing Project #2, for Group Review and Group Conferences after Fall Break (on Wednesday, 10/10 and Friday, 10/12). Final version of Writing Project #2 due 10/15.
*Rippeon will meet with small groups (2 per class session on Wednesday and again on Friday) to discuss questions regarding research writing and bibliographies. While Rippeon is meeting with one group, the other three should be reviewing and commenting on each other’s work, following our earlier established Peer-Peer-Review procedures. For these meetings, develop at least 2 or more specific questions or concerns for discussion in Group Review and Group Conference after the break. These may be addressed to Rippeon, to your group, or both. Bring these in writing, and be prepared to share and discuss.
**Classes resume Wednesday, 10/10, 8:05 am**
Week 8
Wednesday, 10/10: Group Discussion with Rippeon and Peer Review, in class.
Writing: Revise Writing Project and prepare for submitting.10/15.
Recording: Collect 33″ of sound for map test-run.
Friday, 10/12: Group Discussion with Rippeon and Peer Review, in class.
Writing: Finalize Writing Project #2. Due as hard-copy by 5 PM on Monday, 10/15.
Listening: David Byrne, TEDtalk and “Playing the Building” here and here.10/15.
Recording: Post sounds collected and text-file with GPS coordinates to your sub-folder in the class folder.
Unit 3: Soundscapes and Acoustic Ecology
Week 9: Soundscape 1: Soundwalk Planning and Recording.
*In addition to your writing and other activities, this week you will need to plan and carry out your recording of your soundwalk. By Monday of next week, you will need to have your sounds collected. You will also need to begin drafting your essay contextualizing and theorizing the soundscape you record. You might consider returning to Schafer, Thompson, and others for contextualization of your soundscape.
Monday, 10/15: Discussion of soundscape writing. Discussion of Byrne.
Writing Project #2 due as hard-copy by 5 PM.
Reading: Rath, “No Corner for the Devil to Hide,” Blesser and Salter, “Ancient Acoustic
Spaces” (in SSR)
Writing: Partial class-blog (1st 3rd of class, according to roster):
Consider Byrne in relation to Rath and Blesser and Salter. In what ways do these thinkers overlap? In what ways do they depart? How do they illuminate or complement one another? 250 – 300 words, due Tuesday by 5 PM.
Wednesday, 10/17: Discussion of Byrne cont’d, Rath, Blesser and Salter, blogs.
Reading: Hosakawa, “The Walkman Effect,” Picker, “The Soundproof Study” (both in SSR). *Also, review material sent by T&I, as we prepare for their presentation on Davidson Domains this Friday, 10/19.
Writing: Partial class-blog (2nd 3rd of class, according to roster):
Using terms from our recent readings, consider public and private sounds, public and private music, and public and private silence. How are we now sensitized to the soundscape? What has emerged as surprising or unexpected in your listening to this acoustic environment? 250 – 300 words, due Thursday by 5 PM.
Friday, 10/19: Visit from T&I–introduction to Davidson Domains.
Reading: Howe, Singularities (first half)
Listening: Review class sound-map preview, provided by T&I and populated with sounds you have collected; Hildergard Westerkamp, “Kitts Beach Soundwalk”
Writing: Partial class-blog (3rd 3rd of class, according to roster):
How does our sample sound-map, along with Westerkamp’s soundwalk, draw our attentions to the environment as well as to the materiality of sound recording? 250 – 300 words; due Sunday by 5 PM.
Week 10: Soundscape 2
Monday, 10/22: Discussion of Singularities, first half. *Post sound-walk sounds to your sub-folder in the class folder.
Reading: Continue Singularities.
Writing: Continue recording and writing activities; full contextualizing essay due for Peer
Review on Friday, 10/26.
Wednesday, 10/24: Discussion of Howe; introduction of Howe and Grubbs.
Reading: Complete Singularities. Share soundwalk essays and recorded soundwalks with group of peer-reviewers; peer-reviewers, search for sections that may be revised for narration or for menu tags suitable for web-publication.
Listening: Howe and Grubbs, Thiefth and related performances.
Writing: Continue recording and writing activities.
Friday, 10/26: Break-out sessions sharing soundwalk essay.
Writing: Begin revising, and formatting your soundwalk essay for digital hosting on your domain.
Week 11: Soundscape 3: Revising, Posting, and Formatting; Abstracting.
Monday, 10/29: In-class//breakout group work on recording, posting, revising, etc.
Wednesday, 10/31: In-class//breakout group work on recording, posting, revising, etc.
Friday, 11/2:In-class//breakout group work on recording, posting, revising, etc.
Writing: Complete the various aspects of your soundscape: overarching essay, abstract, image-selection, and digital formatting. Post your soundwalk to your domain, and send Rippeon the link.
Week 12.
Monday, 11/5: Soundwalk tours. Introduction to Paul Miller and last unit of the course.
Wednesday, 11/7: Schedule to follow.
