Wesleyan University Department of Music MUSC510 Proseminar in World Music Studies [Fall 2016]

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1 Wesleyan University Department of Music MUSC510 Proseminar in World Music Studies [Fall 2016] Instructor: Dr. Kate Galloway Office: Music Studios 307 Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 10:00am-11:30am or by appointment Contact: Class Timetable: Mondays 4:20pm-7:10pm [Music Studios MST301] Course Description Sound studies is an emergent interdisciplinary field of sonic inquiry that is increasingly in dialogue with the fields of musicology, ethnomusicology, performance studies, and composition. This proseminar is designed to acquaint graduate students with key and emergent issues, concepts, and themes pertinent to the field of ethnomusicology. The primary goal of this course is to examine sound studies from the perspectives of ethnomusicology and composition and places the different approaches to, and fields of music studies into dialogue. Sound studies is a multivocal and multidisciplinary area with scholars from a variety of disciplines contribution to the theories, methods, and approaches involved in the study of auditory culture. Some of the disciplines that converge in sound studies include: ethnomusicology, composition, science and technology studies, history, cultural geography, communication studies, anthropology, and disability studies, among others. Throughout the course we will be encountering a variety of authors and perspectives who draw from these varied disciplinary homes to study auditory culture of the past and present. Our central text will be David Novak and Matt Sakakeeny s edited collection Keywords in Sound (2015). Most of the contributors to this volume are ethnomusicologists or anthropologists, although others come from media studies, communication studies, and science and technology studies. Three other anthologies that we will consult and will be central to your research projects are the Sound Studies Reader (largely cultural studies and communications studies scholarship), The Oxford Handbook of Sound Studies (various music studies disciplines in addition to science and technology studies), and Music, Sound and Space: Transformations of Public and Private Experience (musicology and ethnomusicology perspectives). Our readings and discussions will then center on some of the theoretical and methodological debates that have shaped ethnomusicological and sound studies scholarship and recent writings that address emergent scholarly perspectives. Students will gain familiarity with a variety of approaches to music and sound in/as culture, while learning to generate and critique the kinds of research questions ethnomusicologists and scholars of auditory culture pose. The course also seeks to provide an understanding of how the discipline is evolving as it is (re)situated in relation to historical musicology, anthropology, performance studies, and other branches of inquiry within the humanities and social sciences. A secondary goal is to create a fruitful dialogue between you as ethnomusicologists and composers. Since sound studies draws on thinking from contemporary music and ethnomusicology in ways that may suggest alternative approaches to both composition and ethnomusicology. Course Materials and Required Reading Materials: 1) David Novak and Matt Sakakeeny. Keywords in Sound. Durham: Duke University [Available at Broad Street Books and E-book available online through Olin Library] 2) Supplementary assigned readings are available online through the Wesleyan University Library electronic resource system and in PDF form or via links for reading/download Moodle. Evaluation: ASSIGNMENTS & DEADLINES Seminar Presentation 20% [Scheduled throughout the course on allotted days] Participation and Professionalization 10% [Ongoing] Audio Postcard and Sound Analysis Essay (25%) [Audio Postcard due October 25 th by midnight uploaded to class SoundCloud page, Presentations of Audio Postcards in class November 7 th and Analysis paper due in class] Final Research Presentation (15%) [Scheduled during the final class] Final Research Paper (30%) [Due Wednesday December 14 by in Google Doc format] 1

2 Coursework and Assignments Descriptions Readings: Your preparation of the readings for each meeting of the seminar, your reading responses, and your in-class discussion all count toward your Participation and Professionalization grade. For each one of the course meetings you will submit a written response paper. The responses can either analyze the arguments of one or more of the articles or give more anecdotal examples of what the article discusses. These responses can range from one to three pages and are due by the Sunday at p.m. before class by to the course Wesleyan group thread that I will send around following the first meeting of the class. Including links to recordings or videos is actively encouraged. This way your classmates and I can review our reactions to and thoughts concerning the readings prior to the meeting of the seminar. I advise everyone to print out the weekly readings and proceed to mark up your copies so that you can identify (and quickly find during discussion) the crucial passages and arguments. You will also want to outline on your personal copies the specific points you referenced and discussed in your response and direct us to those points and arguments during our discussions. Seminar Presentations: Students will be assigned to lead the discussions on assigned set of articles during one meeting of the seminar [to be assigned during the first week of class] the effectiveness of that leadership will also contribute to this portion of your grade. Students are required to complete all readings and attend all classes. Much of this seminar involves participatory learning and classroom interaction lies at its heart. Any absences from seminar meetings should be discussed with the professor. Missing any of your fellow classmate s presentations will result in the forfeiture of the class participation grade! Students are expected to take notes, participate in the led discussion, and ask pertinent questions of these presentations. Audio Postcard and Sound Analysis Essay: For this critical creative audio assignment you will compose and audio postcard and write a reflection essay of approximately 2000 words discussion your compositional process, aesthetic choices, expectations for the listener, sound recording and processing choices and techniques, among other aesthetic and critical sound characteristics involved in your audio postcard. An audio postcard is a short digital audio piece (ca. 5-8 minutes in length) that tells a listener about a place through aural information without using narration. When you receive and sort through your mail, and come across a postcard, you are immediately drawn to the picture on the front. The picture invites you into the place it depicts, and gives you diversified visual information concerning the place the postcard is from. Similarly, you want the first sound in your audio postcard, and all subsequent individual and collaged sounds, to immerse the listener in a specific place and depict a locale that the listener may or may not be familiar with. You could include sounds that depict the kinds of activities that take place in the location, the built and natural architecture, the music and sonic culture of the place, and sounds that convey sociocultural context to the listener, among other types of sounds. Finally, you want to compose an appropriate ending to your audio postcard that sonically encapsulates the sonic experience of place. Don t limit the sounds you use. Conversations, music, ambient noise, machinery, etc., anything that will take the listener from where they are, to the place card the audio postcard depicts. The soundscape of the audio postcard sonifies place for the ears. For an example of audio postcards (although shorter in length) consult and which features an introduction to Audio Postcards Canada led by Carmen Braden with curators Andrea Dancer and Hildegard Westerkamp. You will upload your final product to Soundcloud.com in.wav file and submit the link to your page on the hard copy of your sound analysis essay. (Make sure your SoundCloud page is set to public and permits downloads!) Final Research Paper: This will be a research paper (16-20 pp. in length, exclusive of musical examples, endnotes and bibliography) on a topic of your choice relating to the course. You should include footnotes (or endnotes) and a complete bibliography that demonstrates a consequential survey of primary and secondary sources relating to your topic and a good mix of materials (books, articles, theses/dissertations etc.). Your research paper should be submitted to my Wesleyan address electronically as a Google Doc to facilitate commenting and you will receive a receipt confirming submission. Schedule of Course & Readings Week 1 [September 5]: Introduction to the Course & Communities of Ideas and Scholarship Winslow, Richard K. Annual Report, Cheng, William. Just Vibrations: The Purpose of Sounding Good. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, [Open- 2

3 access e-book [Note: We will be returning to Cheng s recent book at the end of the semester, but I wanted you all to start reading selections from it throughout the semester and think about the ways we can shape our academic and non-academic communities through both our work, as well as through our actions as scholars, creative workers, a community of learners, and members of society. In this introductory class we will also discuss the debates and reactions surrounding the release of Cheng s work and the problematic reactions from non-academic critics.] Re: The Just Vibrations debate consult Renovating the Ivory Tower and Norman Lebrecht s Slipped Disc (and comments) that led to the debate in public comments and academic society (e.g. AMS-L) discussion lists and Cheng s requested follow-up excerpt from Just Vibrations Week 2 [September 12]: The Materiality and Networks of Music Research [Library Session Part 1 Meet in Olin Library in the Music Library Seminar Room] Bates, Eliot. The Social Life of Musical Instruments. Ethnomusicology 56/3 (2012): Cooley, Timothy J, Katharine Meizel, and Nasir Syed. Virtual Fieldwork: Three Case Studies. In Shadows in the Field, 2 nd ed. Timothy J. Cooley and Gregory Barz, eds. Pp Oxford: Oxford University Press, [E-book available online Olin Library] Piekut, Benjamin. Actor-Networks in Music History: Clarifications and Critiques. Twentieth-Century Music 11/2 (2014): Novak and Sakakeeny, Introduction, In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University [Course textbook purchase or E-book available online Olin Library] Week 3 [September 19]: Transmission, Transcription, Circulation, and Play [Library Session Part 2 Meet in Olin Library in the Music Library Seminar Room] Bohlman, Andrea F. Solidarity, Song, and the Sound Document. The Journal of Musicology 33/2 (2016): Kane, Brian. Sound Studies without Auditory Culture: A Critique of the Ontological Turn. Sound Studies 1/1 (2015): Moseley, Roger. Digital Analogies. Journal of the American Musicological Society 68/1 (2015): Stanyek, Jason, et al. Forum on Transcription. Twentieth-Century Music 11/1 (2014): Steingo, Gavin. Sound and Circulation: Immobility and Obduracy in South African Electronic Music. Ethnomusicology Forum 24/1 (2015): Week 4 [September 26]: Technologies Gibbons, William. Blip, Bloop, Bach? Some Uses of Classical Music on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Music and the Moving Image 2/1 (2009): Katz, Mark. Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music, Revised Edition. Berkeley: University of California Press, [E-book available online Olin Library, Excerpts] Loughridge, Deirdre. Making, Collecting and Reading Music Facsimiles before Photography. Journal of the Royal Musical Association 141/1 (2016): Feaster, Patrick. Phonography. In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University Fisher, Daniel. Radio, In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University Helmreich, Stefan. Transduction. In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University Rodgers, Tara. Synthesis. In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University Press, Week 5 [October 3]: Spaces Born, Georgina, ed. Introduction. In Music, Sound and Space: Transformations of Public and Private Experience. Georgina Born, ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, [E-book available online Olin Library] Eisenberg, Andrew J. Islam, Sound and Space: Acoustemology and Muslim Citizenship on the Kenyan Coast. Music, Sound and Space: Transformations of Public and Private Experience. Georgina Born, ed. Pp Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, [E-book available online Olin Library] Jackson, Travis. Jazz and Spatiality: The Development of Jazz Scenes. In Blowin the Blues Away. Berkeley: University of California Press, [E-book available online Olin Library] Sakakeeny, Matt. Under the Bridge : An Orientation to Soundscapes in New Orleans. Ethnomusicology 54/1 (2010):

4 Eisenberg, Andrew J. Space. In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University Mowitt, John. Image. In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University Media: Novak, David. Osaka Inside Out, Week 6 [October 10]: Environments and Ecology Adams, John Luther. Winter Music: Composing the North. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, [Excerpts] Devine, Kyle. Decomposed: A Political Ecology of Music. Popular Music 34/3 (2015): Roda, P. Allen. Ecology of the Global Tabla Industry. Ethnomusicology 59/2 (2015): Schafer, R. Murray. The Tuning of the World. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, [Excerpt] Schwartz, Jessica. A Voice to Sing : Rongelapese Musical Activism and the Production of Nuclear Knowledge. Music & Politics 6/1 (2012). [Online]. Silvers, Michael B. Birdsong and a Song about a Bird: Popular Music and the Mediation of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Northeastern Brazil. Ethnomusicology 59/3 (2015): Titon, Jeff Todd. Thoreau s Ear. Sound Studies 1/1 (2015): Week 7 [October 17]: Spaces of Protest, Sounds of Trauma Abe, Marié. Sounding Against Nuclear Power in Post-3.11 Japan: Resonances of Silence and Chindon-ya. Ethnomusicology 60/2 (2016): Cusick, Suzanne. Towards an Acoustemology of Detention in the Global War on Terror. In Music, Sound and Space: Transformations of Public and Private Experience. Georgina Born, ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, [E-book available online Olin Library] Daughtry, J. Martin. Thanatosonics Ontologies of Acoustic Violence. Social Text 32/2 119 (2014): Tausig, Benjamin. A Division of Listening: Insurgent Sympathy and the Sonic Broadcasts of the Thai Military. positions 24/2 (2016): Pilzer, Joshua D. Music and Dance in the Japanese Military Comfort Women System: A Case Study in the Performing Arts, War, and Sexual Violence. Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture 18/1 (2014): Manabe, Noriko. Music in Japanese Antinuclear Demonstrations: The Evolution of a Contentious Performance Model. The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 11, 42/3, October 21, Media: Novak, David. The Sounds of Japan s Antinuclear Movement **Midterm Break October 22-25** Week 8 [October 31]: Aurality and Acoustemologies ***Meet in Special Collections Library in Olin Library for the first half of class Heller, Michael C. Between Silence and Pain: Loudness and the Affective Encounter. Sound Studies 1/1 (2015): Feld, Steven. Waterfalls of Song: An Acoustemology of Place Resounding in Bosavi, Papua New Guinea. In Senses of Place, Keith Basso and Steven Feld, eds. Pp Santa Fe: School of American Research, Sterne, Jonathan. Mediate, Auscultation, the Stethoscope, and the Autopsy of the Living : Medicine s Acoustic Culture. Journal of Medical Humanities 22/2 (2001): Feld, Steven. Acoustemology. In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University Press, Novak, David. Noise. In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University Ochoa Gautier, Ana Maria. Silence. In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University Steege, Benjamin. Acoustics. In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University Press, Week 9 [November 7]: Audio Postcard Listening Party, Presentations, and Discussion Week 10 [November 14]: Hearing History Hui, Alexandra E. From the Piano to the Phonography Solo: Four Case Studies of Musical Expertise in the Laboratory and on the City Street. Sounds of Modern History. Daniel Morat, ed New York: Berghahn Books,

5 Smith, Mark M. Futures of Hearing Pasts. Sounds of Modern History. Daniel Morat, ed New York: Berghahn Books, Corbin, Alain. Village Bells, trans. New York: Columbia University Press, [Excerpt] Smith, Mark M. Echo. In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University Hirschkind, Charles. Religion. In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University Erlmann, Veit. Resonance. In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University Press, Media: Thompson, Emily The Roaring Twenties: an interactive exploration of the historical soundscape of New York City Week 11 [November 21]: Voice, the Body, and Power Cheng, William. Pleasure s Discontents. In Judith Peraino et al. Colloquy: Music and Sexuality. Journal of the American Musicological Society 66/3 (2013): Garcia, Luis Manuel. Beats, Flesh, and Grain: Sonic Tactility and Affect in Electronic Dance Music. Sound Studies 1/1 (2015): Mahon, Maureen. Musicality, Sexuality, and Power: A Practice Theory Approach. In Judith Peraino et al. Colloquy: Music and Sexuality. Journal of the American Musicological Society 66/3 (2013): Wong, Deborah. Sound, Silence, Music: Power. Ethnomusicology 58/2 (2014): Wong, Deborah. Ethnomusicology Without Erotics. Women & Music 19 (2015): Kapchan, Deborah. Body. In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University Press, Samuels, David and Thomas Porcello. Language. In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University Weidman, Amanda. Voice. In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University Press, **Thanksgiving Break November 23-27** Week 12 [November 28]: Disability, Accessibility, and Scholarly Communities of Compassion Cheng, William. Just Vibrations: The Purpose of Sounding Good. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, [Openaccess e-book Howe, Blake et al. Colloquy: On the Disability Aesthetics of Music. Journal of the American Musicological Society 69/2 (2016): Mills, Mara. Deafness. In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University Rice, Tom. Listening. In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University Sterne, Jonathan. Hearing. In Novak and Sakakeeny, Keywords in Sound. Pp Durham: Duke University Press, Week 13 [December 5]: Final Research Project Presentations (20 min talk followed by 10 min for questions) Course Policies Missed Classes: You are responsible for obtaining notes, information, instructions, class alterations, etc. from the missed classes. In other words, it is not the responsibility of the instructor to see that you are caught up. Late Submission Policy: All written assignments must be submitted in hard copy at the beginning of the class on the day they are due. Late assignments will receive a penalty of 5% per day (including weekends). Only in the case of very serious and well documented circumstances or illness will the instructor consider an exception to this policy and a student in this situation must provide the instructor with the requested written documentation to support the need for compassionate grounds. Any student wishing to have an absence excused must provide the requested documentation and in the case of religious observance and university-sanctioned activities arrangements must be made with the instructor at least a week in advance of the due date. 5

6 Correspondence: It is very important that you check your Wesleyan account and Moodle regularly for any correspondence and updates regarding the class. Ensure that is on your safe list so s from your instructor go straight into your inbox. It is also important to know that some accounts may be recognized as spam by the Wesleyan system so you are encouraged to use your Wesleyan account as well when corresponding with the instructor to ensure messages are received. Except for weekends, holidays, or other absences (which you will know about) the instructor will respond to s within 24 hours. I am also available during office hours. Statement of Support Services and Accessibility/Disability Services: Students with a disability/health consideration are welcome in this course and should contact the instructor; such students are also encouraged to approach the various student services and centers available at Wesleyan. Wesleyan University is committed to ensuring that all qualified students with disabilities are afforded an equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from its programs and services. To receive accommodations, a student must have a documented disability as defined by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, and provide documentation of the disability. Since accommodations may require early planning and generally are not provided retroactively, please contact Disability Resources as soon as possible. The mission of Disability Resources is to create an accessible and inclusive learning environment where disability is recognized as an aspect of diversity. The goals and objectives of Disability Resources are to: 1. Promote and facilitate access through outreach and training, collaborative partnerships, innovative programs, and proactive solutions across the campus; 2. Create inclusive environments by engaging and supporting the campus community in evaluating accessibility; 3. Consult regarding the reduction of barriers for persons with disabilities; and ensure the effective delivery of accommodations. If you believe that you need accommodations for a disability, please contact Dean Patey (lpatey@wesleyan.edu) in Disability Resources, located in North College, Room 021, or call for an appointment to discuss your needs and the process for requesting accommodations. There are a variety of academic and non-academic support services on campus, including but not limited to: 4. Writing at Wesleyan Student Services: 5. Information and Technology Services: 6. The Olin Library: 7. Counseling and Psychological Services: Academic Honesty: Students are expected to abide by Wesleyan University s Honor Code in all assignments and examinations. Discussion of class content among students is strongly encouraged, but simply copying a classmate s responses to homework or exams undermines our community of trust, and keeps you from practicing the skill covered in the assignment. Suspected Honor Code violations will be referred to the Honor Board. Don t hesitate to approach me if you have questions or concerns about academic honesty in this course. Caveat on the Nature of the Syllabus: The instructor reserves the right to make adjustments to the syllabus in extenuating circumstances or by mutual agreement between the instructor and the students. Any changes will be communicated to students immediately. 6