Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Unit Convenor
Jadey O'Regan
Contact via jadey.oregan@mq.edu.au
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Credit points |
Credit points
3
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
12cp
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
It is rarely recognised that one of the most distinctive features of the modern world is its sonic environment. Since the late nineteenth century we have for the first time been able to store and mass-circulate sound, and produced a sonic environment that is louder, more dense and more heterogeneous than at any previous time. We are overloaded with sound, it is one of the fastest growing causes of environmental pollution. Today we inhabit multiple and overlapping sonic world in a way once unimaginable. We define ourselves and our space acoustically and some of our most profound experiences are sonic. But while scholars have long meditated on things visual, the invisible world of sound has been barely explored. We will examine various aspects of sound, including its relationship with power, violence, politics and technology. We explore what is unique about sonic experience; the history of sound (and the sound of history); sound and neuroscience; sound and music; sound and image; sounds; sounds and bodies and the sounds of bodies. We analyse the way sonic experience challenges fundamental assumptions that underpin cultural studies including the mind/body split and the cultural construction of identity. This unit will be of broad interest to filmmakers, musicians, sound recordists, listeners, writers and to anyone wanting to deepen their understanding of human communication.
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Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Name | Weighting | Due |
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Lead the Class | 20% | Ongoing from Week 3 |
Tutorial Paper | 20% | The week after presentation |
Research Essay | 40% | 31st May 2013 at 4pm |
Participation | 20% | Weekly |
Due: Ongoing from Week 3
Weighting: 20%
Each student will choose a week to "lead the class" in discussion. There will generally be 2 students presenting each week and they are asked to work together as a group (if possible).
This task requires you to stimulate and manage class discussion, and no, this assignment is not a summary of readings...It is about leading a discussion based on the core concepts of the readings...and as such, it is NOT a speech. The best way to approach the task is simply to be familiar with the readings, and have a few questions ready for your peers. The management of this task will be discussed further in class.
How to prepare: The task is akin to running a meeting, in which you have a clear agenda and need to make sure everyone takes part. Yes, a group situation is sometimes difficult to handle, and I implore all students to be egalitarian in their approach to the task. I do not want other, meeker students to fear that they will be railroaded, or left to do all of the work. You will be discouraged from being a limelight hog, I'm looking for caring and sharing...
Musical examples:
Students are welcome to provide appropriate musical examples if they desire, but are asked to play no more than a couple of minutes of given example...
Due: The week after presentation
Weighting: 20%
Each student is required to write and present a tutorial paper that discusses the readings for the week. Students will be expected to frame the discussion within appropriate musical examples that will illustrate the issue/theme/theory from the presentation week you have been designated. Questions for each week will be uploaded to iLearn.
Due: 31st May 2013 at 4pm
Weighting: 40%
Questions and detailed instructions will be uploaded to iLearn in mid-semester. The music research exercise, will be due at the end of Week 12.
Due: Weekly
Weighting: 20%
Tutorials offer students the chance to extrapolate on the ideas of the readings for that week. Your participation mark depends on your committment to exploring and contetxualising the concepts of the course. This requires not only physical attendance at lectures and tutes, but also a willingness to discuss the readings each week.
To even be in the running to pass attendance, you will have to be present at ALL of the tutes and demonstrate that you have read and understood the requisite readings for those weeks. If you have not been physically present, you cannot demonstrate your understanding of the readings, and if you have missed three or more tutes, you will be deemed as having fallen behind and thus likely fail the course.
REQUIRED READING
For this unit there is one required text: MUS 211 Reader (available in Co-op bookshop) from week 2.
RECOMMENDED READING
If you want a well written and comprehensive guide to recording in the twentieth century, I would suggest Milner, G (2010) Perfecting Sound Forever: An Aural History of Recorded Music, London: Granta: 3-25.
Unit can be accessed at: http://ilearn.mq.edu.au/.
Unit Schedule: Overview |
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Week 1 |
6th March |
Introduction and Welcome – Jadey O'Regan |
Week 2 |
13th March |
Refrains and Territory – John Scannell |
Week 3 |
20th March |
What is Pop Music? - Jadey O'Regan |
Week 4 |
27th March |
A Brief History of Recording Technologies - Jadey O'Regan |
Week 5 |
3rd April |
Music, Mind and the Brain - Tim Byron |
Week 6 |
10th April |
Signs and Sounds: Semiotics and Popular Music - Jadey O'Regan |
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MID SEMESTER BREAK |
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Week 7 |
1st May |
The Canon of Popular Music and the 'Golden Age' of Rock - Jadey O'Regan |
Week 8 |
8th May |
More Than the Notes?: The Way Music Sounds - Jadey O'Regan |
Week 9 |
15th May |
Is This the Real Life?: Authenticity and Popular Music - Jadey O'Regan |
Week 10 |
22nd May |
Music on the Big and Small Screen - Liz Giuffre |
Week 11 |
29th May |
Turntables and Sampling in Pop - Jadey O'Regan |
Week 12 |
5th June |
Behind the Glass: The Role of the Producers and Production - Jadey O'Regan |
Week 13 |
12th June |
Genre and Style - Jadey O'Regan |
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