DC+CMI

Sound affects our lives to a catalytic degree, without being immediately understood. From extreme noise levels to absolute silence and from music to everyday sounds, the human ear is constantly being stimulated. But if, “the ear does not have ‘eyelashes’ like the eye to be able to choose what to listen to” (Schafer, 1977), how can we train the auditory organ of an audience, which does not necessarily have a systematic knowledge of music, to move to a level of a more active listening, by understanding the cultural background that produces the sound environment in question?

Music and more generally sound are analyzed through two prisms.

1. The cultural background that determines both their production and their perception
2. Their ability to create communities for which they hold a significant role.

The first part analyses music as a cultural/creative industry. We are going through its relationship with technology and economy as well as through key issues of audience identity redefined by its now mass character.

The course then introduces the physics of sound and the structure of the human ear. The distinction between different types of acoustic phenomena (Auguard, 1994). It asks the student to then be able to move from the single sound to the complex soundscape. To become familiar with the theory and to practice his/her auditory instrument through different types of hearing soundscapes.

With the help of ethnomusicology methodologies, the student is asked to create a short podcast using an interview. The topic is chosen by the student through the course material.

Syllabus