Due Feb 4: 1-2 pages on ancient Greek use of mathematics to
describe and understand music. You will want to do some research (library
and/or Web) on Pythagoras and Philolaus and, perhaps, Plato and Aristotle. From a
thousand years or so later, you may also want to check out Boethius (Amicius Manlius
Severinus). Submit as a MS Word file attached to an email message. No particular form
of citations is required, just be consistent and indicate your sources. For Web citations,
a URL that I can just click on or copy and paste into my browser will be appreciated.
Due Feb 18: a Written essay on "Methods and Resources for
Reconstructing a Historical Soundscape"4-5 pages on bringing together
information from a wide range of disciplines in an effort to understand the roles of sound
in society at various times and places. Note that this is a paper on the process of
researching historical soundscapes in general, though you may want to include some
examples from times and places that we've already studied and others you know about or
are curious about. [This essay will take the place of a mid-term test for purposes of
reporting first-year mid-term grades. Each essay should be one person's work, but general
discussions of the topic with classmates will be fine.] Submit as a MS Word file attached
to an email message. No particular form of citations is required, just be consistent and
indicate your sources. For Web citations, a URL that I can just click on or copy and
paste into my browser will be appreciated.
Due Mar 25: Report on a Historical Soundscape other than
the ones considered in class. Choose a time and place in the past, and
write a report [minimum 5 pages or equivalent] about important sounds then and
there. You may, if it seems appropriate, relate those sounds to any of the ones we
have studied as a class. You may be able to make use of knowledge from our room
acoustics readings to assess the acoustical properties of spaces relevant to your
discussion. You may choose to emphasize music or theatre or other speech, and/or
other sounds associated with an environment (these might include sounds of work,
social interactions, industry, war, commerce, construction, sports, recreation, travel,
navigation, politics, . . . ) Your report may include graphics, sound recordings,
and/or video recordings if you wish. After review by the instructor, your report will
be made available to your classmates on the course Web site. If you use MS Word,
for instance, you can save your report as a "Web Page," which will place any
graphics into an associated folder that can be emailed to the instructor with the
main (.htm) file. Any audio or video materials that can't be placed within the main
document file can be sent to the instructor as additional email attachments.
Due Apr 17: Report on a Contemporary Soundscape,
including your own sound recordings. Choose a contemporary
soundscape that interests you, and write a report about it [minimum 5 pages or
equivalent.] Include illustrative sound recordings that you have made yourself.
Some ideas for topics -- just intended to stimulate your thinking, not to limit it: a
contemporary concert or other performance (perhaps including performance
environment, rehearsal, setup); a sports event (perhaps including practices,
different venue environments, associated activities); a social or entertainment
event; a political event; a mode of transportation, an industrial or other work
environment; or some endangered soundscape (natural or human-influenced).
These reports also will be made available to classmates via the course Web site. You
may want to relate your chosen contemporary soundscape to one or more historical
ones -- possibly including the one you chose for your earlier report.