S HUM 413 Noise,
Music, Power
(also ANTHR 414,
MUSIC 413)
Prof. Gabriela
Vargas-Cetina
Cornell University
W 2:30-4:25
A.D. White House, room 110
Office Hours: Th 10:00-12:00.
Description of Seminar
Music is often contrasted with noise. Music is generally understood as the
organized reproduction of sounds, while noise is often thought of as chaotic
and disturbing. This seminar will
bring together different fields of discussion around the musical
phenomenon. The title of this seminar
makes reference to Jacques Attali’s influential book, Noise. The Political Economy of Music. Attali
proposed that power is always behind the ordering of noise into music and the
limits of musical enjoyment. The
legal upheaval brought about by Puff Daddy’s release of No Way Out in 1997 and Metallica’s lawsuit against Napster in
2000 show us how music can be conceptualized as part of the things and
resources subject to ownership rights and commerce laws. The resistance movements spurred by
these events also show there are contesting views as to what music is about and
who should have the right to enjoy it.
Objectives
This seminar will explore the boundaries between noise and
music from the perspective of critical theory, musicology and ethnomusicology. Students are expected to engage in
cross-disciplinary discussions so as to approach the study of music as part of
interrelated fields of knowledge.
The readings listed as ‘supplementary’ are part of the general
theoretical background for this course, since many of the ideas for the
sessions emerged from questions posed by those texts. Graduate students are particularly encouraged to read those
texts during the course.
Sessions
The sessions will consist of discussion of the readings
assigned, and of music, either pre-recorded, or performed live by seminar
participants. When films are part
of a session, they will be shown for 30 mins. All the films listed on the syllabus will be on reserve at
the Cox Library of Music and at the Olin Library.
Requirements
Attendance to the sessions and class participation are important requirements of this course. The final grade will be calculated as follows:
Attendance 5%
Informed class participation: 20%
Midterm exam: 35%
Final exam: 40%
Exams
There will be two exams in this
course, consisting of two critical essays. Each essay is expected to use at least the literature
reviewed during the course, in relevant and thoughtful ways.
Midterm: the midterm is due on Oct 11. It will be a critical essay on one of the following books (between 5 000 and 7 000 words in length):
Ø Kahn,
Douglas. Noise, Water,
Meat. A History of Sound in the
Arts.
The MIT Press, 1999. ISBN
0-262-61172-4. Cox library of
music NX650.S68 K25x 1999.
Or :
Ø Kittler,
Friedrich A. Gramophone, Film,
Typewriter. Stanford University Press 1999. ISBN 0-8047-3233-7.
Olin library P96.T42 K5713x 1999, Uris library P96.T42 K5713x 1999.
Final exam:
For the final exam students should
write a critical essay on one of the following books (10 000 to 15 000 words):
Ø Pedelty,
Mark. Musical Ritual in Mexico
City.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005. ISBN: 0292702310.
Cox Library of Music ML210.8.M4 P43 2004. 2 day reserve.
Ø Small,
Christopher. Musicking. The Meanings of Performing and
Listening. Wesleyan University Press 1995. ISBN 0-819-52257-0. Cox library of music ML3845
.S628x 1998.
Ø Yano,
Christine. Tears of
Longing. Nostalgia and the Nation
in Japanese Popular Song. Harvard University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-674-01276-3. Cox library of music ML3501 .Y3 2002.
SEMINAR SESSIONS
Session 1.
Aug 30. Noise, music, power
and anthropology
Introduction to the seminar
PART I. NOISE
Session 2.
Sep 6. Noise and Music
Required readings:
From Attali, Jacques (1985) Noise. The Political Economy of Music. University of Minnesota Press:
Ø Chapter 1, Listening
Ø Chapter 2, Sacrificing
Session 3. Sep 13. Playing
From Attali, Jacques (1985) Noise. The Political Economy of Music. University of Minnesota Press:
Ø Chapter 3, Representing
Ø Chapter 4, Repeating
From Cox, Christoph and Daniel Warner, eds. (2004) Audio Culture. Readings in Modern Music. New York: Continuum Press:
Ø Cage, John (1937) “The Future of Music: Credo”
Ø Cowell, Henry (1929) “The Joys of Noise”
Ø Russolo, Luigi (1913) “The Art of Noises. Futurist Manifesto”
Film:
Cage/Cunningham, a film by Elliot Caplan.
Session 4. Sep 20.
Music-making
From Attali, Jacques (1985) Noise. The Political Economy of Music. University of Minnesota Press:
Ø Chapter 5, Composing
Ø Afterword, by Susan McClary
From Evens, Aden (2005) Sound Ideas. Music, Machines, and Experience. U of Minnesota Press:
Ø Four. Making Music.
Part II. MUSIC
Session 5. Sep 27. Noise as music
From Cox, Christoph and Daniel Warner, eds. (2004) Audio Culture. Readings in Modern Music. New York: Continuum Press:
Ø R. Murray Schafer, “The Music of the Environment”
Ø Mark Slouka, “Listening for Silence: Notes on the Aural Acoustic Life.”
Ø Mary Russo and Daniel Warner, “Rough Music, Futurism, and Postpunk Industrial Noise Bands.”
Ø Simon Reynolds, “Noise”
Ø “The Beauty of Noise: An Interview with Masami Akita of Merzbow”
Ø John Zorn, “The Game Pieces”
Ø Kim Cascone, “The Aesthetics of Failure: “Post’Digital” Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music.”
From Paul D. Greene and Thomas Purcello, eds. (2005) Wired for Sound. Engineering Technologies in Sonic Cultures. Wesleyan University Press:
Ø Chapter Nine. Heavyness in the Perception of Heavy Metal Guitar Timbres: The Match of Perceptual and Acoustic Features over Time.
Film:
Celestial Subway Lines: Salvaging Noise by Ken Jacobs and John Zorn.
Session 6. Oct 4. Sound
Readings:
From Cox, Christoph and Daniel Warner, eds. (2004) Audio Culture. Readings in Modern Music. New York: Continuum Press:
Ø Francisco López “Profound Listening and Environmental Sound Matter”
From Evens, Aden (2005) Sound Ideas. Music, Machines, and Experience. U of Minnesota Press:
Ø Chapter 1. Sound and Noise
Ø Chapter 2. Sound and Time
Session 7. Oct 11. Technology [MIDTERM DUE]
Set 1.
From Evens, Aden (2005) Sound Ideas. Music, Machines, and Experience. U of Minnesota Press:
Ø Chapter 3. Sound and Digits.
From Cox, Christoph and Daniel Warner, eds. (2004) Audio Culture. Readings in Modern Music. New York: Continuum Press:
Ø 22. Brian Eno, “The Studio as Compositional Tool”
Ø 24. Chris Cutler “Plunderphonia”
Ø 25. Kowo Eshun “Operating System for the Redesign of Social Reality”
Set 2.
From Evens, Aden (2005) Sound Ideas. Music, Machines, and Experience. U of Minnesota Press:
Ø Chapter 3. Sound and Digits.
From Lysloff, René T.A. and Leslie C. Gay Jr., eds. Music and Technoculture. Wesleyan University Press:
Ø Chapter Ten. Stretched from Manhattan’s Back Alley to MOMA: A Social History of Magnetic Tape and Recording.
Ø Chapter Eleven. Tails Out: Social Phenomenology and the Ethnographic Representation of Technology in Music Making.
Ø Chapter Twelve. There is not A Problem I Can’t Fix ‘Cause I Can Do it in the Mix
Set 3.
From Evens, Aden (2005) Sound Ideas. Music, Machines, and Experience. U of Minnesota Press:
Ø Chapter 3. Sound and Digits.
From Cox, Christoph and Daniel Warner, eds. (2004) Audio Culture. Readings in Modern Music. New York: Continuum Press:
Ø 47. Laslo Mholy-Nagy, “Production-Reproduction: The Potentialities of the Phonograph”
Ø 48. William S. Borroughs, “The Invisible Generation”
Ø 49. Christian Marclay & Yasunao Tone, “Record, CD, Analog, Digital.”
Ø 50. Paul D. Miller, “Algorithms: Erasures and the Art of Memory.”
Film:
Modulations, Cinema for the Ear, directed by Iara Lee.
Part III. POWER
Session 8. Oct 18.
Music and the social sciences
From Kramer, Lawrence (1995) Classical Music and Postmodern Knowledge. University of California Press:
Ø Chapter One. Prospects. Postmodernism and Musicology
From Greene, Paul D and Thomas Porcello, eds. Wired for Sound. Engineering and Technologies in Sonic Cultures. Wesleyan University Press:
Ø Introduction. Wired Sound and Sonic Cultures.
From Lysloff, René T.A. and Leslie C. Gay Jr., eds. Music and Technoculture. Wesleyan University Press:
Ø Chapter One. Ethnomusicology in the Twenty-first Century
Session 9. Oct 25.
Classical, folk and popular music
Set 1.
From Kramer, Lawrence (1995) Classical Music and Postmodern Knowledge. University of California Press:
Ø Chapter Two. From the Other to the Abject
Ø Chapter Three. Music and Representation
Ø Chapter Four. Music Narratology
Set 2.
From Bennett, Andy and Kevin Dawe, eds. (2001) Guitar Cultures. Berg:
Ø 2. David Evans, “The Guitar in the Blues Music of the Deep South.”
Ø 8. Denis Crowdy, “The Guitar Cultures of Papua New Guinea: Regional, Social and Stylistic Diversity.”
Ø 10. Rock to Raga: Rock to Raga: The Many Lives of the Indian Guitar.”
Set 3.
From Greene, Paul D. and Thomas Porcello, eds. (2005) Wired for Sound. Engineering and Technologies in Sonic Cultures. Wesleyan University Press:
Ø Chapter Two. Louise Meintjes, “Reaching “Overseas”: South African Sound Engineers, Technology and Tradition.”
Ø Chapter Seven. Jeremy Walach, “Engineering Techno-Hybrid Grooves in Two Indonesian Sound Studios.”
Ø Chapter Ten. Paul D. Greene, “Mixed Messages. Unsettled Cosmopolitanism in Nepali Pop.”
Film:
Tales from Arab Detroit, directed by Joan Mandel
Session 10.
Nov 1st. Money
Set 1.
From Negus, Keith (1999) Music Genres and Corporate Cultures. Routledge.
Ø Culture, Industry, Genre: The Conditions of Musical Creativity.
Ø Corporate Strategy: Applying Order and Enforcing Accountability
Ø Record Company Cultures and the Jargon of Corporate Identity.
Ø The Business of Rap: Between the Street and the Executive Suite.
Set 2.
From Negus, Keith (1999) Music Genres and Corporate Cultures. Routledge.
Ø Culture, Industry, Genre: The Conditions of Musical Creativity.
Ø The Business of Rap: Between the Street and the Executive Suite.
Ø The Corporation, Country Culture and the Communities of Musical Production.
Ø The Latin Music Industry: The Production of Salsa and the Cultural Matrix.
Set 3.
From Negus, Keith (1999) Music Genres and Corporate Cultures. Routledge.
Ø Culture, Industry, Genre: The Conditions of Musical Creativity.
Ø The Latin Music Industry: The Production of Salsa and the Cultural Matrix.
Ø Territorial Marketing: International Repertoire and World Music.
Ø Walls and Bridges: Corporate Strategy and Creativity within and across Genres.
Session 11.
Nov 8. Politics
From Kramer, Lawrence (1995) Classical Music and Postmodern Knowledge. California University Press:
Ø 5. The Lied as Cultural Practice
Ø 6. Cultural Politics and Musical Form
Ø 7. Consuming the Exotic
Film:
War Symphonies; Shostakovich against Stalin, directed by Larry
Weinstein
Session 12. Nov 29.
Identity
From Bennet, Andy and Kevin Dawe, eds. ( 2001) Guitar Cultures. Berg:
Ø 2. The Guitar in the Blues Music of the Deep South
From Lysloff, René T.A and Leslie Gray Jr., eds. Music and Technoculture. Wesleyan University Press:
Ø Chapter Five. Tong Soon Lee, “Technology and the Production of Islamic Space: The Call to Prayer in Singapore.”
Ø Chapter Six. Deborah Wong, “Plugged in at Home: Vietnamese American Culture in Orange County.”
Ø Chapter Seven. Janet L. Sturman, “Technology and Identity in Colombian Popular Music.”
Film:
Our Nation.
A Korean Punk Community, directed by
Stephen J. Epstein and Timothy R. Tangherlini.
Main books to be used in the course:
Attali, Jacques. Noise. The Political Economy of Music. University of Minnesota Press. 1985. ISBN 0-8166-1286-0. Required. Cox library of music ML3795 .A91 1985. 2 day reserve.
Cox, Christoph and Daniel Warner,
eds. Audio Culture. Readings in Modern Music.
Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004. ISBN 0826416152. Required. Cox library of music ML197
.A85 2004. 2 day reserve.
Evens, Aden. Music, Machines and Experience. University of Minnesota Press. 2005. ISBN 0-8166-4537-X. Cox library of music ML3800 .E87 2005. 2 day reserve.
Kramer, Lawrence. Classical Music and Postmodern
Knowledge. University of California Press 1995. ISBN 0-520-20700-9. Required. Cox library of music ML3845 .K89 1995. 2 day reserve.
Other required books that will be available at the
bookstore:
Bennett, Andy and Kevin Dawe, eds. Guitar Cultures. Berg 2001. ISBN 1-85973-434-0. Required. Cox library of music ML1015.G9 G828x 2001. 2 hour reserve.
Greene, Paul D. and Thomas
Porcello, eds. Wired for
Sound. Engineering Technologies in
Sonic Cultures. Wesleyan University Press 2005. ISBN 0-8195-6517-2.
Required. Cox library of
music ML3545 .W57 2005. 2 hour
reserve.
Kahn, Douglas. Noise, Water, Meat. A History of Sound in the Arts. The
MIT Press, 1999. ISBN
0-262-61172-4. Cox library of
music NX650.S68 K25x 1999. 2
hour reserve.
Kittler, Friedrich A. Gramophone, Film, Typewriter.
Stanford University Press 1999.
ISBN 0-8047-3233-7. Olin
library P96.T42 K5713x 1999, Uris library P96.T42 K5713x 1999. 2 hour reserve.
Lysloff, René T.A. and Leslie C.
Gay, JRr. eds. Music and Technoculture.
Wesleyan University Press.
ISBN 0-8195-6514-8. Cox
library of music ML197 .M78 2003. 2
hour reserve.
Negus, Keith. Music Genres and Corporate Cultures.
Routledge 1999. ISBN 0-415-17400-7. Cox library of music ML3790 .N4x 1999. 2 hour reserve.
Other required texts:
Pedelty, Mark. Musical Ritual in Mexico City.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005. ISBN: 0292702310.
Cox Library of Music ML210.8.M4 P43 2004. 2 day reserve.
Small, Christopher. Musicking. The Meanings of Performing and Listening. Wesleyan
University Press 1995. ISBN
0-819-52257-0. Cox library
of music ML3845 .S628x 1998. 2 day
reserve.
Yano, Christine. Tears of Longing. Nostalgia and the Nation in Japanese
Popular Song. Harvard University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-674-01276-3.
Cox library of music ML3501 .Y3 2002. 2 day reserve.
Films:
Cage/Cunningham, a film by Elliot Caplan. VHS. 95mins.
Cox Music Library Videotape 310.
Celestial Subway Lines: Salvaging Noise by Ken Jacobs and John Zorn. DVD 99mins. Cox Music Library DVD 190.
Modulations, Cinema for the Ear, directed by Iara Lee. THIS FILM IS NOT IN CORNELL’S LIBRARIES, SO WE WILL WATCH IT IN CLASS ONLY.
Tales from Arab Detroit, directed by Joan Mandel. VHS 45mins. Olin Library Media Center E 1 84. A65 T35 1995.
War Symphonies; Shostakovich
against Stalin, directed by Larry Weinstein. DVD Cox Music Library DVD 249.
Our Nation. A Korean Punk Community, directed by by Stephen J. Epstein and Timothy R.
Tangherlini. VHS 39mins. Olin Library. Video 3455.
Supplementary background texts:
Baudrillard, Jean (1994) Simulacra and Simulation.
University of Michigan Press.
Olin Library. BD236 .B3813x 1994.
Cage, John (1961) Silence. Wesleyan Press. Cox Library of Music ML60.C13 S5 1961.
Deleuze, Gilles (1993) The Fold. Leibniz and the Baroque. University of Minnesota Press. Fine Arts Library B2598 .D4513x 1993.
Deleuze, Gilles and Felix Guattari (1987) A Thousand Plateaus. Capitalism and Schizophrenia. University of Minnesota Press. Olin Library RC455.D34 M6 1987.
Derrida, Jacques (1981) Dissemination.
University of Chicago Press.
Olin Library and Uris Library AC25 .D43 1981
Derrida, Jacques (1997) Of Grammatology. Translation by Gayatri C. Spivak. John Hopkins University Press. Olin and Uris Libraries PD105 .D5313x 1997
Derrida, Jacques (1998) The Monolingualism of the Other, or, The Prosthesis of Origin. Stanford University Press. Uris Library P106 .D456613x 1998
Foucault, Michel (1998) Aesthetics, Method and Epistemology. Edited by James D. Faubion. New Press. Olin Library B2430.F722x 1998
Spivak, Gayatri C. (1999) A Critique of Postcolonial Reason. Toward a History of the Vanishing Present. Harvard University Press. Olin and Uris Libraries JV51 .S58x 1999
Virilio, Paul (2003) Art and Fear. Continuum Press. Fine Arts Library N72.S3 V37x 2003.