- For the first part of the course, we will take up a series of larger issues and approaches to listening, from acoustic ecology and phenomenology, to histories of human subjectivity, to theories of noise.
- For the second part of the course, we will survey current concepts in listening and sound studies and how these concepts are being articulated and applied to research across disciplines, discourse, and art.
- In the final part of the class we will focus on media-related matters, thinking about how we listen to different media and the devices those media use to shape and direct our listening and perception.
The study of listening and sound cuts across many different disciplines, including communication, sociology, physics, psychology, acoustics, music and art. It also touches on every branch of philosophy: logic (semiotics), metaphysics, epistemology, and axiology. As a philosophical course, in-class participation and discursive engagement with the readings is essential. Additionally, assignments will consist of: regular reading summaries, a presentation on a specific reading, a listening assignment, and a final paper or creative work that includes an initial project proposal and final presentation.
Learning Outcomes
- Develop deeper familiarity with key issues and approaches in studies of modern listening
- Develop a greater consideration of how the language we use shapes our perception of listening and other modalities
- Gain new perspectives on the larger political, economic, and social forces that shape how we listen
- Think critically about how media channel and structure our listening practices
- Improve your ability to apply and critically analyze relevant scholarship and art
Course Topics
- Introduction to Sound Studies
- The soundscape
- Acoustemology
- Phenomenology of Listening
- The body, embodiment, and immersion
- Deafness
- The ontology of sound and sonic warfare
- Reduced Listening
- Philosophy of music
- Noise, rock and punk
- Synthetic instruments
- History of musical notation
- Acousmatics
- Ambient Music
- Adorno's critical theory of popular music listening
- Rhythm
- Silence
- Ubiquitous Listening: Affect, Attention, and Distributed Subjectivity
- Television & sound
- Audiovision
- History of film sound
- Deleuze: remix and refrain
- Remapping a global sound studies
Syllabus
Listening, Sound, Noise
- Tom Rice, Listening, from Keywords in Sound (2015)
- Jonathan Sterne, Introduction. pp. 1-30, The Audible Past (2003)
Acoustemology and Phenomenology
- Feld, Acoustemology, in Keywords in Sound (2015)
- Don Ihde, Listening and Voice, Chapter 4, Keywords in Sound (2015)
Phenomenology of Listening
- Don Ihde, Listening and Voice, selection
- Berland, Jody. “Contradicting Media: Toward a Political Phenomenology of Listening,” Radiotext(e), edited by Neil Strauss, pp. 38-55. New York: Semiotext(e), (1993)
Spaces and Scapes
- R. Murray Schafer, “The Soundscape”, Sound Studies Reader, (2012) p. 95
- Ari Y. Kelman “Rethinking the Soundscape” (2010)
- Barry Blesser, “Auditory Spatial Awareness”, Spaces Speak, Are You Listening: Experiencing Aural Architecture (2006) pp. 11-66
The Body
- Mara Mills: Do Signals Have Politics? Inscribing abilities in cochlear implants. (2011)
- Kapchan, Deborah “Body” in Keywords in Sound (2015)
- Leigh Eric Schmidt, “Hearing Loss” in Keywords in Sound (2015)
Ontology
- Steve Goodman, “The Ontology of Vibrational Force”, Sound Studies Reader, p. 70
- Jaques Atalli: “Noise: the political economy of music” Sound Studies Reader (2012) pp. 29-39
- Vert Erllman, "Resonance", in Keywords in Sound (2015)
Deep Listening
- Pauline Oliveros, Excerpt from “Deep Listening, a Composer’s Practice” (2005)
- Jonathan Sterne, “Techniques of Listening” (excerpt) + “Audile Technique & Media” in The Audible Past (2003)
Articulating Sound
- R. Murray Schafer, “Open Ears” from Auditory Culture Reader (2015)
- Roland Barthes, “the Grain of the Voice”. Image-music-text (1977)
Philosophy of Music
- Arthur Schopenhauer, “On the Metaphysics of Music”. The World as Will and Representation (trans. E.F.J. Payne). New York, Dover, 1969, pp. 447-457.
- Matt Sakakeeny, "Music", in Keywords in Sound (2015)
- Douglas Kahn, The Sound of Music, Audio Culture, p. 77
Noise and Avant-Garde Music
- Michael Nyman, Experimental Music. Audio Culture.
- David Novak, Noise, in Keywords in Sound (2015)
Aural Architecture
- Benjamin Steege, Acoustics, in Keywords in Sound (2015)
- Barry Blesser, “Auditory Spatial Awareness”
- Emily Thompson, “Electroacoustics and Modern Sound” and “Sound, Modernity, and History” in Sound Studies Reader (2012)
Recording and Acousmatics
- Kittler, Friedrich. “Gramophone.” in Sound Studies Reader (2012), p. 234.
- Pierre Schaffer, Acousmatics, Audio Culture, p. 76
- Chris Cutler, Plunderphonia, Audio Culture, p. 138
Silence
- Richard Leppert, “Hoarding Sound in a Culture of Silence”
- Ana María Ochoa Gautier, silence, in Keywords in Sound (2015)
- Mark Slouka, “Listening for Silence: Notes on the Aural Life”, in Audio Culture
- Richard Rath, “Silence and Noise” in Keywords in Sound (2015)
Rhythm
- Eleni Ikoniadou, Introduction. The Rhythmic Event: Art, Media, and the Sonic (2014)
Ambience + Ubiquity
- Brian Eno, Ambient Music, Audio Culture Reader, p. 95
- Anahid Kassabian, Introduction. Ubiquitous Listening: Affect, Attention, and Distributed Subjectivity (2013)
Voice
- Katja Silverman, Introduction, The Acoustic Mirror (1988)
Synthetic Music
- Tara Rodgers, synthesis, in Keywords in Sound (2015)
- Trevor Pinch and Frank Trocco, “Shaping the synthesizer”. In Sound Studies Reader (2012)
Radio and Television
- Carolyn Birdsall, “Rethinking Theories of Television Sound”. Journal of Sonic Studies (2012)
- Daniel Fisher, “Radio”, in Keywords in Sound (2015)
Cinema and Film Sound
- Michel Chion, Audio-Vision selections
- Altman, Rick. “Four and a half Film Fallacies”. In Sound Studies Reader (2012)
Immersion
- Dyson, Frances. “Introduction”. Sounding New Media : Immersion and Embodiment in the Arts and Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.
Remix and Refrain
- Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, 1987. “1837: Of the Refrain,”, A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 310-350 and 474-500
Affective Resonances
- A Cho, “Queer Reverb, Tumblr, Affect, Time” (2015)
- Brian Massumi, “Autonomy of affect”, Parables of the Virtual (2002)
- Christobel Sterling, “Sound, Affect, Politics”, in Routledge Companion to Sound Studies (2018).
Translation and Re-mapping
- Gavin Steingo and Jim Sykes, “Introduction: Remapping Sound Studies in the Global South,” Remapping Sound Studies, eds. Gavin Steingo and Jim Sykes. Durham: Duke University Press, (2018)