EXPRESSIVE CULTURE: SOUNDS: MUSIC AND LANGUAGE
Fall 2012 Mon/Wed 3:30-4:45
Silver Center, Room 320
Professor Lauren Ninoshvili (LN31@nyu.edu)
Office hours: Mon 5-6, Thurs 4:30-5:30
268 Waverly Building
Teaching Assistants:
Wang Jie (jw2554@nyu.edu)
Siv Lie (sbl326@nyu.edu)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
Language and music are universal aspects of human communication, expression, and social life. They are
so ubiquitous that we often fail to appreciate how intertwined they are and how they shape, and are
shaped by, our daily experiences. This course explores a broad spectrum of practices and ideas
pertaining to the intersections of language, music, and the human voice—informal and formal, popular
and elite. It addresses contemporary and historic phenomena in both Euro-American and non-Western
cultures. Specific cases to be explored include: stories and narratives told about song, the relationship of
vocal style and lyric choice to place, identity, and musical genre (rap will be treated as a specific case
study); speech surrogates (for example, Morse code, “talking” drums and whistle speech); jazz “scat”
and other popular vocal styles built around linguistic “nonsense”; and the controversies surrounding
contemporary technological manipulations of the human voice (for example, vocal synthesis software
and the mechanical “correction” of pop stars’ voices by professional sound engineers).
REQUIREMENTS AND EVALUATION
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Preparation for, and thoughtful participation in, lectures and recitation sections (20%)
Students are expected not only to complete the reading assignments for each class, but to spend
significant time thoughtfully listening to the audio examples, as directed by the instructor. Due to
the fact that there is no textbook associated with this class, there is absolutely no substitute for
attendance at lectures and recitation sections. Assigned reading materials will supplement and
augment—not replace—the lectures and recitations. A maximum of two unexcused absences
from lecture and one unexcused absence from recitation are permitted; further absences not
excused by a doctor’s note, notice of death in the family, or proof of other emergency will result
in a lower participation grade. Persistent lateness to class will also result in a lower grade.
Laptops are permitted in class exclusively for the purpose of taking notes. Use of a laptop in class
for any other purpose will result in a lower participation grade.
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Brief writing assignments (approximately 500 words, double-spaced, in a standard 12-point font)
which interpret an audio example, specified by the instructor, in light of the current lecture
topic and reading assignments (15%)
These will be due approximately every other week, on a Wednesday, and turned in to the
recitation instructor at the beginning of the lecture. They will be discussed in the recitation
sections and evaluated using a �+, �, �− system.
Ninoshvili MAP syllabus 9/5/12
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Presentation, in the recitation section, of one of the above writing assignments/analyses (5%)
Brief listening/reading quizzes at the end of each unit (30%)
Final project: 6-8-page analysis of the linguistic and musical aspects of a live concert recording
(30%)
MATERIALS FOR PURCHASE
All reading and many listening materials are posted to Blackboard, where they can be found under
“Course Documents.” Some listening materials are available for streaming on the internet (and indicated
as such below and on Blackboard), and others must be purchased and downloaded on iTunes (or other
music downloading service, if you prefer). If you do not have an Apple ID/iTunes account and need help
setting one up, please see the instructor or one of the teaching assistants. The total required music
purchases for the semester should total less than $25.
COURSE OUTLINE AND ASSIGNMENTS
September 5. Is Morse code music?
September 10. Modeling the music-language relationship
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Charles Seeger. 1977 [1935]. “Preface to All Linguistic Treatment of Music.” In Studies in
Musicology, U of California P., pp. 277-88.
John Blacking. 1982. “The Structure of Musical Discourse: The Problem of the Song Text.”
Yearbook for Traditional Music, Vol. 14, pp. 15-23.
UNIT 1. LANGUAGE ABOUT MUSIC
September 12. Speech around song
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Jeff Todd Titon. 1988. “Singing” [skim pp. 213-36 for context; read 236-52 carefully]. In
Powerhouse for God: Speech, Chant, and Song in an Appalachian Baptist Church. Austin:
University of Texas Press, pp. 213-52.
Aaron A. Fox. 2004. “Boundaries, Borders, and Frames: Speech around Song” and “Speech and
Song at Jam Sessions and Musical Parties.” In Real Country: Music and Language in WorkingClass Culture. Durham: Duke UP, pp. 286-99.
September 17. Speech about sound in the studio
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Thomas Porcello. 2004. “Speaking of sound: language and the professionalization of soundrecording engineers.” Social Studies of Science 34, pp. 733-58.
Ninoshvili MAP syllabus 9/5/12
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September 19. Metaphors for music
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Sterne, Jonathan and Tara Rodgers. 2011. “The poetics of signal processing.” Differences 22:3253.
IN CLASS: Language and the “Construction of Personal Musical Style” (Siv Lie)
UNIT 2. THE SPEECH-SONG CONTINUUM
September 24. Speech, song, and the spaces in between: country music
QUIZ #1
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Aaron A. Fox. 2004. Excerpt from “The Art of Singing.” In Real Country: Music and Language in
Working-Class Culture. Durham: Duke UP, pp. 272-83.
♪George Jones. “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” I Am What I Am. [iTunes]
September 26. Speech, song, and the spaces in between: African American vocality
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Kofi Agawu. 1995. “Language in motion: a town crier’s announcement.” In African Rhythm: A
Northern Ewe Perspective. Cambridge UP, pp. 44-8.
Dargan, William T. 2006. “Chapter 5: I Love the Lord, He Heard My Cries”: The Role of Dr. Watts
Hymns in the Musical Acculturation of African Americans.” In Lining Out the Word: Dr. Watts
Hymn Singing in the Music of Black Americans. Berkeley: U of California P. Pp. 120-39. [e-book
on BobCat]
♪ ”Town crier’s announcement.”
♪ ”A Charge to Keep I Have.” Blue Spring Mississippi Baptist Delegation. Wade In the Water,
Vol. 2: African-American Congregational Singing. Smithsonian Folkways, 1994. [iTunes]
October 1. Expression and communication in European opera
READING ASSIGNMENT TBA.
♪ Claudio Monteverdi. Recitative Tu se’ morta and aria Possente spirto from L’Orfeo (1607).
♪ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Scene 1 from Don Giovanni (1787).
UNIT 3. THE MUSIC OF LANGUAGE
October 3. Melodic speech: tone languages
QUIZ #2
Ninoshvili MAP syllabus 9/5/12
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Murray Schellenberg. 2012. “Does language determine music in tone languages?”
Ethnomusicology 56:2, pp. 266-78.
George Cowan. 1948. “Mazateco whistle speech.” Language 24(3): 280–86.
♪ “A whistled conversation in Sochiapam Chinantec
(Mexico)” http://www.sil.org/mexico/chinanteca/sochiapam/13i-Conversacion-cso.htm
[Print the text or open in a separate window to follow along with the content of the whistling]
October 8. Making music in tone languages
Guest lecture: Composer Wang Jie
UNIT 4. INSTRUMENTS AS VOICES
October 10. Western technologies of vocal imitation
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Theo Van Leeuwen. 2010. “Vox Humana: the instrumental representation of the human voice.”
In Voice: Vocal Aesthetics in Digital Arts and Media, ed. Neumark, Gibson, van Leeuwen.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
♪Bobby McFerrin and Yo-Yo Ma. “Barrière: Allegro Prestissimo from Sonata for 2 Cellos.” Hush.
October 17. African talking drums
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Amanda Villepastour. 2010. Ancient Text Messages of the Yoruba Bata Drum: Cracking the Code.
Pp. 13-16 and 91-93.
“Pressing patrons with proverbs” http://www.sil.org/anthro/articles/proverbs/notes.htm#note1
“‘Drum talk’ news agitates natives.” 1923. Christian Science Monitor.
♪Yoruba praise poetry on bata
♪Yoruba praise poetry on dundun (same text as on bata)
♪Yoruba proverbs on bata
♪King Sunny Adé. “Ase.” From King of Juju. [iTunes]
October 22. The Brazilian cuica
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Watch video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9xlRJbIfmk&feature=related (don’t worry
about the Portuguese text, just listen for the sounds produced and watch for the playing
technique)
♪Samba New York! “Bateria no Caminho.” [iTunes]
IN CLASS: Guest artists Philip Galinsky (Samba New York!) and Zé Mauricio (cuica)
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October 24. Speech-masking instruments
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Theodore Levin with Valentina Süzükei. “The Mimesis of Mimesis.” In Where Rivers and
Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond. Bloomington: Indiana UP,
pp. 115-17.
♪“Talking Jew’s Harp,” performed by Sarymai Orchimaev. On CD accompanying Where Rivers
and Mountains Sing.
♪“A) Didjeridu B) vocal part” [Australian aboriginal]. Voices of the World.
UNIT 5. SENSES OF NONSENSE AND PLAY
October 29. Modernist experiments in sung language
QUIZ #3
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Marina Yaguello. 1998. “From Word to Sound: The Destruction of Meaning.” In Language
through the Looking Glass: Exploring Language and Linguistics. T. Harris, transl. New York:
Oxford UP, pp. 94-8.
♪ Kurt Schwitters. “Ursonate” (1922-32). http://www.ubu.com/sound/schwitters.html
♪Toru Takemitsu. “Vocalism Ai” (1966).
October 31. Irish lilting, Scottish mouth music, and Scottish waulking songs
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“Lilting” and “mouth music.” In Companion to Irish Traditional Music, ed. Fintan Vallely. Cork
University Press, 2011. Pp. 403-5, 467.
Guest lecture: Mick Maloney, Professor of Music and Irish Studies, NYU
November 5. Voices as instruments
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Brent Hayes Edwards. 2002. “Louis Armstrong and the Syntax of Scat.” Critical Inquiry 28:3, pp.
618-49.
♪Louis Armstrong. “Hotter than That.” The Hot Fives and Hot Sevens, Vol. III. [iTunes]
♪Ella Fitzgerald. “Blues Skies.” Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook. [iTunes]
♪Betty Carter. “Giant Steps.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4AyCqCHCK0
JUST FOR FUN! Click on each horse’s head and see what happens:
http://www.svt.se/hogafflahage/hogafflaHage_site/Kor/hestekor.swf
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November 7. Vocables in “world” music
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Lauren Ninoshvili. 2009. “The Poetics of Pop Polyphony: Translating Georgian Song for the
World.” Popular Music & Society 32:3, pp. 407-424.
♪Orera. “Krimanch’uli.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc2UfK6SNyw
♪Orera. “Lalebi.”
♪The Shin. “Standard Lullaby.” Eg Ari. JARO Medien GmbH, 2005.
November 12. Guest performance by Ensemble “Sakhioba,” Republic of Georgia
UNIT 6. LANGUAGE IN MUSIC
November 14. TBA
QUIZ #4
November 19. The song text in popular music
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Frith, Simon. 1996. “Songs as Texts.” In Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 158-82.
♪Bruce Springsteen. “Born in the U.S.A.” Born in the U.S.A. [iTunes]
November 21. Case study: rap and hip-hop (roots)
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Cheryl Keyes. 2004. “The Cultural Reversion of African Culture in the United States” and “The
Transformation of Black Vernacular Expressions.” In Rap Music and Street Consciousness.
Urbana: University of Illinois Press, pp. 22-32.
♪Goldie Ranks. “Kill up a Sound.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igV9yV__PD0
♪Bo Diddley. “Say Man.” Chess 50th Anniversary Collection. [iTunes]
♪Parliament. “Chocolate City.” Best of Parliament. [iTunes]
November 23. Rap and hip-hop (rhetoric)
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Cheryl Keyes. “Language and Rhetorical Style: The Artifice of Rhyme” and “The Art of Signifyin.”
In Rap Music and Street Consciousness, pp. 126-39.
♪Sugarhill Gang. “Rapper’s Delight.” The Essentials: The Sugarhill Gang. (1979) [iTunes]
♪Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. “The Message.” The Message. (1982) [iTunes]
Ninoshvili MAP syllabus 9/5/12
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UNIT 7. VOICE
November 28. Capturing the voice
QUIZ #5
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Roland Barthes. 1977. “The Grain of the Voice.” In Image, Music, Text. New York: Hill and Wang,
pp. 179-89.
Simon Frith. 1996. “The Voice.” In Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 183-202.
December 5. Voice “types” in popular music
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Mats Johannson. 2012. “Michael Jackson and the Expressive Power of Voice-Produced Sound.”
Popular Music and Society 35:2, pp. 261-279.
♪ Michael Jackson. “Blood on the Dance Floor” (US Single, Refugee Camp Edit).
December 10. The human voice in the digital age: Vocaloid
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Bill Werde. November 23, 2003. “Could I get that song in Elvis, please?” The New York Times.
♪Peruse the official Vocaloid website and listen to samples: http://www.vocaloid.com/en/
December 12. The human voice in the digital age: Auto-Tune
QUIZ #6
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Tyrangiel, Josh. February 5, 2009. “Auto-Tune: Why Pop Music Sounds Perfect.” Time.
Jenna Wortham. July 30, 2009. “When Jay-Z Hates Your Software.” The New York Times.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/when-jay-z-hates-your-software/
[read blog entry AND watch Jay-Z’s music video “Death of Auto-Tune”]
Wednesday, December 19. FINAL PAPERS DUE BY 4 pm
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