Music, Sound Art, and Design

Examination and analysis of intercultural musical
aesthetics and sonic/cultural structures of
meaning through the dual lenses of artistic and
academic views of music, sound art, and design. In
this course we examine both great and small
intercultural traditions that inform music-making
and sound practices (theater, dance, performance,
ritual, nature, healing, mass participation,
religion, commerce, identity-building). We do this
in order to expand our own art praxis into an
informed, inclusive art practice. We will also
examine the work of modern and contemporary
individual and collaborative artists in a
worldwide context.
By challenging basic Western assumptions about
meaning, beauty, symmetry, and organization,
classical and vernacular world musics and arts
challenge the everyday "common sense" categories
of Western ethnocentrism still lingering in
American and European post-colonial society. We
will also examine difficult contemporary ethical
issues such as appropriation and representation,
compensation and justification. This course is
intended for sound designers, filmmakers, theater
designers, and visual artists (not formal
musicians, although musicians will also benefit)
who want to make sound/music/noise a central part
of their creative practice.