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Academic Year 2003/2004


Recording Culture
CHUM 312 SP

Crosslistings:
MUSC 294

The development of systems for the storage, reproduction, and distribution of sound as well as for the analysis and synthesis of sound have enabled fundamental changes in musical life and the study of music as well as entirely new forms of auditory culture. As music publishers evolved into music recording companies, recording engineers and producers became artists. The impulse to make ethnographic recordings of vanishing musical cultures provided a starting point for the development of ethnomusicology and the concept of world music. In film, the interplay of dialogue, music, and sound-effects has become a complex, yet readily understood, language termed 'sound design'.

Artistic response to these changing conditions has not been one of unequivocal approval. John Cage first conceived of a 'silent piece' as a silent recording to be inserted into the constant stream of Muzak. R. Murray Schafer's term 'schizophonia' refers to the separation of a physical sound from its electroacoustic manifestations (via amplification, recording, or broadcast) in pathological terms. John Oswald's 'Plunderphonics' are meticulously documented appropriations from other recordings reworked with great invention and savage humor. As a compact disc that could not be legally sold, it presented the mirage of a musical recording that in a very literal sense cannot become a commodity.

The course will review the history of recording as an artistic practice through readings, listenings, and discussion while teaching the techniques of recording and sound design required to create your own.

MAJOR READINGS

TBA

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

2 papers - 1 term project.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

This course is not open to first-year students.

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA CHUM    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE

SECTION 01

Instructor(s): Kuivila,Ronald   
Times: .M..... 09:00AM-11:50AM;     Location: PAC413
Reserved Seats:    (Total Limit: 12)

Special Attributes:
Curricular Renewal:    Reading Non-Verbal Texts, Speaking, Focused Inquiry Course
Permission:    Permission of Instructor Required
Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-19-2004


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