Technomusicology Spring 2015

          

I’m offering another semester of technomusicology this spring via the Harvard Extension School (Harvard’s open-enrollment option), beginning January 29. The class meets Thursday evenings from 5:30-7:30pm, but the course will also be available online for anyone who cares to join us from a distance (including realtime participation in classes, if you can make it).

A project-oriented approach to studying the relationship between technologies, audio cultures, and media regimes, technomusicology remains my favorite class to teach. I’m looking forward to another go-round with a new set of students who’ll bring their own interests and talents to the class and to their work. Check out some projects from the Classes of ’12 and ’14 to see & hear a wide range of examples.

Building on previous iterations, I’ve tuned up the syllabus, revising the readings and assignments; most notably, I’ve selected a new final etude: a short, sound-designed, documentary video, building on the audio production skills we’ve learned, offering a window into local sound or music culture (ideally with a focus on an individual and his or her sonic world).

I’ve also been collecting some great new examples that do wonderful technomusicological work. Here’s one that I hope will inspire a few students when we turn to mashups as critical/pedagogical vehicles:

Now that’s what I call technomusicology! Up there with the Migos Flow montage, or with the following video, which I’ve been playing in classes for years, a production that deftly pulls back the curtain on a submerged, fully flipped sample–

No doubt, there are all manner of undiscovered genres of meta-musical musicking along these lines — or orthogonal to them! I look forward to seeing — and, of course, hearing — the directions this spring’s forays into the technomusicological will take us. Do consider contributing to the collective effort if you have the time, inclination, and, yes, the means.

Or just go ahead and DIY and holler at a scholar if you cook something up you’d care to share ;)