MHST 320 - Reproducing Sound: Histories of Mediated Music From the Nineteenth Century to the Present

Next Offered: Spring 2016 - AD HOC
Semester Offered: Second Semester
FC
Credits: 4 Credits
Attribute: CNDP/DDHU

This course examines the complex interactions between musicians and technologies of mass mediation since the advent of the phonograph. The course begins with a review of the approaches to mediated musical culture taken by scholars from the Frankfurt School to contemporary Sound Studies. A series of case studies invites application of these theoretical frameworks. A look at the folk music collection projects of musicians from Bartok to Lomax points to the potential of recording technologies both to preserve and facilitate the creation of musical heritage. An exploration of the careers of figures as diverse as Bill Monroe, Louis Armstrong, and Glenn Gould highlights the defining role of the studio and the “Studio system” in musical creativity. Examinations of modes of audience interactions with technologies of musical mediation (from records and radio to MTV, the MP3, and You Tube) shed light on the ways in which media shape, and are shaped by, the people who use them.
Enrollment Limit: 15
Instructor: J. Carlson
Consent of the Instructor Required: No
Prerequisites & Notes
MHST 101 and one MHST course at the 200 level.