Technomusicology

This course uses hands-on media production, in the form of audio and video art, to examine the interplay between music and technology since the dawn of sound reproduction, especially in the digital age. Embracing such technologies ourselves, we use music software (Ableton Live) to explore new techniques and idioms by composing audio/video artworks. Readings, discussions, and projects focus on significant forms and their histories, including soundscapes, mashups, podcasts, supercuts, and DJ-style mixes. Students develop a fluency in the history of sound studies while cultivating competencies in audio and video editing, sampling and arranging, mixing and remixing, and, in framing their projects, descriptive and poetic forms of writing.