Contemporary Soundscapes

9 units · Graduate

Intermittent: 9 units In the late 1960s on Canada's West Coast, composer R. Murray Schafer started the "World Soundscape Project" (WSP). Originally conceived as an inquiry into the growing problem of noise pollution in Vancouver, the Project expanded to encompass the wider study of the relationship between sonic environments and human communities, both historical and present. From a small group of sound researchers making field recordings in natural landscapes and urban areas has grown the modern study of Acoustic Ecology on a global scale, and also the creative practice of Soundscape Composition, in which recorded elements of sound environments are expressively explored through electronic music. Beginning with a history of the WSP, this course surveys aspects of the field of Acoustic Ecology as an aesthetic, political, and ethical phenomenon, with special attention to its relationship with the creative and sound practices of "Soundwalking," "Deep Listening," and Soundscape Composition. This course will also contextualize the WSP within a broader history of music and sound in the background, including Satie's Furniture Music, Muzak and #174;, and coffee shop music. Throughout the course, students will participate in the activity and design of site-derived instruments, soundwalking, and site-specific compositions.