MUSI343

This course considers the philosophical history of sound from the perspective of scientific innovation, aesthetics, technology, and culture. Tracing the influence of “sonic thinking" across history and culture, from Pythagoras to Sun Ra, this course will integrate theoretical and technical approaches to critically and creatively reconsider the auditory imagination as a method of inquiry. Students will develop and refine a critical awareness of sonic phenomena across disciplines as diverse as art, architecture, music, science, politics, literature, film, ecology and medicine. Students will supplement in-class seminar discussion with readings and independent research culminating in one
major paper and one final sound art project.