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Course Description

Summary

Sound is critical to the survival, social structure, and well-being of many organisms, human and non-human alike. In this interdisciplinary course we will examine how animals, plants, humans, and other forms of life impact one another through the calls, songs, and other vibrations they make. Using various case studies about music, sound, and society in Papua New Guinea, Mongolia, the Middle East, Southern United States, Brazil, Iceland, and a variety of music compositions spanning several centuries, we will begin to understand and appreciate how sounds of nature shape and inspire the musical and sound-making practices of different cultures throughout the world. On the non-human side, we will explore the different ways that birds, mammals, insects, plants, and other organisms produce sounds and the various reasons why these behaviors evolved. Further, we will focus on how non-human organisms have responded to living in a world that has become increasingly dominated by human-made sounds. This will be a highly integrative class, mixing foundational knowledge from both Ethnomusicology and Biology as well as other disciplines including sound studies, ecomusicology, multi-species anthropology, music composition, soundscape ecology, animal communication, and bioacoustics. Our work will include reading a diverse assortment of texts, reviewing scientific literature, active music listening in class and at home, and opportunities to conduct studies in the field.