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Sound Cultures - MUS211
It is rarely recognised that one of the most distinctive features of the modern world is its sonic environment. Since the late 19th century we have for the first time been able to store and mass-circulate sound, and produced a sonic environment that is louder, more dense and more heterogeneous than at any previous time. We are overloaded with sound, it is one of the fastest growing causes of environmental pollution. Today we inhabit multiple and overlapping sonic world in a way once unimaginable. We define ourselves and our space acoustically and some of our most profound experiences are sonic. But while scholars have long meditated on things visual, the invisible world of sound has been barely explored. We will examine various aspects of sound, including its relationship with power, violence, politics and technology. We explore what is unique about sonic experience; the history of sound (and the sound of history); sound and neuroscience; sound and music; sound and image; sounds; sounds and bodies and the sounds of bodies. We analyse the way sonic experience challenges fundamental assumptions that underpin cultural studies including the mind/body split and the cultural construction of identity. This unit will be of broad interest to filmmakers, musicians, sound recordists, listeners, writers and to anyone wanting to deepen their understanding of human communication.
| Credit Points: | 3 |
| When Offered: | D1 - Day; Offered in Session 1, North Ryde |
| Staff Contact(s): | Dr John Scannell |
| Prerequisites: |
12cp |
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| NCCW(s): | |
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| Assessed As: | Graded |
| Offered By: | Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies Faculty of Arts |
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