Workshop presentations of your audio essay
April 30, 2008 – 9:27 amFRIDAY
Kelly
Trevor
Courtney
Jimmy
Jon
MONDAY
Jeremiah
Kaili
Andrew
Jessica
Chelsea
An Ethics of Use
April 28, 2008 – 9:32 am[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/3zJqihkLcGc" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
What should be the standards of usage where other people’s sounds are concerned? (For example, a song by The Beatles or a sound file from “The Sopranos” or even a recording of sounds in public spaces?
- What do the Negativland articles suggest about an ethics of sound usage?
- What arguments do they use to support their ethics?
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YOUR work will soon be online. You will need to come up with your own “usage permissions” that reflect some thoughtful reflection on ethics and copyright.
- Together with a partner, do some research on copyright “alternatives,” such as
- Creative Commons licenses
- Copyleft
2. Decide how you feel about these arguments. Which have merit and why? What are some counterarguments?
3. Post online your own “Tenants of Appropriation.” (Simply hit “comment” in response to this post.) If you’d like to use one of the Creative Commons licenses, be sure to indicate which license you prefer. Also provide a small explanation of why you have chosen this usage permission, as opposed to a different set of permissions.
Creative Commons music
April 23, 2008 – 9:57 amCreative Commons is an alternative to copyright. The artists and authors themselves give permission for people to download and use their music. This is an alternative to using music for which you have no permission to legally use.
You can find more resources by searching for “creative commons” and “music.”
More importantly, browsing through this music can also be an inventive exercise for you. Simply listening to the different sounds and beats might help to give you some ideas. Play around with different music in your pieces.
Final Project Rubric
April 23, 2008 – 9:39 amWhat am I looking for in this final project?
- Have you written for the listener by creating a text with good pacing, interesting sounds, and voices?
- Does the piece have good editing quality, or are there jerky cuts between songs or other sounds?
- Have you edited your original piece in order to fit the time confines, as well as the rhetorical needs of your audio version?
- Have you taken a unique, creative, and well planned approach to this piece?
- Have you put a lot of time and effort into this audio version, or does it sound like it was minimal effort on your part?
- Are there reasons for why someone might listen to this, even if they didn’t have to?
- Have you used layers well?
- Is the project 7-10 minutes long. Have you provided me with a CD copy by May 9th?
An A project will answer all of these questions with a defininte YES.
A B project will answer all of these questions with a less-definite yes.
A C project will answer some yes, and some no.
A D project will answer many more questions with a defininte NO.
An F project answers most questions NO.
Editing and Rhetoric
April 21, 2008 – 8:44 amHow might you re-edit this piece? (Think about sound recording, reading strategy, sound effects, music, pacing, etc.)
How about this one?
And what about this one?
Final Project
April 14, 2008 – 9:39 amFor your final project, you will create an audio version of the essay you just wrote. You will need to keep the essay between seven and ten minutes (no more than 10 minutes).
You’ll need to think about rhetorical goals you want to create for this audio essay version. We’ll talk about this more in class.
This project will be due on May 9th. Burn your final version on a CD and turn it into me.
Workshopping your essays
April 7, 2008 – 9:17 amEmail your comments directly to the author.
1. Try to paraphrase this author’s argument in a single sentence. For example, “The sounds of Vietnamese nail salons in California is important for cultural identification among Vietnamese-Americans.”
2. Think about the “rhythm” of this piece. Does the author hold your interest with a good pacing of argument, explanation, illustration, and quotes? Does s/he rush any of these elements too quickly? Do any parts seem too long for your interest? What parts need elaboration?
3. Do any parts seem to be jumpy? Are some lines of thought suddenly dropped or suddenly picked up without context?
4. Does the author give you plenty of illustration or evidence to persuade you of the claim? Where could the author expand in order to help make his/her point even stronger?
Workshopping
March 2, 2008 – 10:07 pm1. Open up Word. Begin by writing down a description of what your goals for this project are: What kinds of connotative meanings are you trying to create? Why did you make these choices in editing, music, vocal and audio effects? Be as descriptive as possible. Save this document and close it. Open a brand new Word document on your computer. This will be the critic’s comment page.
2. Listen to three other students’ audio pieces. Simply listen to the piece on its own without doing anything else. Open up the writer’s new Word document (your comment page), and
- decribe exactly what you hear.
- What stands out to you about the voice, the rhythm, the music, the audio effects?
- How does the writer juxtapose the words (narrative) with sound? What effect does it create?
- Do you have any suggestions for the author–how can s/he make this piece even stronger?
3. Return to your computer and read the critiques. Re-open your original description. Given the comments, what kinds of revisions could you make this week? Brainstorm some revisions and save both of these Word documents.
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On Friday, turn in the following via email or in my English Department mailbox:
- your storyboard
- these two workshop documents (yours and your critics).
Y/our soundscapes
February 18, 2008 – 10:22 amListen to the soundscapes that you all created for Project 1. (Click links and choose “Save Link As” in order to play the entire soundscape from your desktop. The links on this page are short.)
Project 2: Text-To-Audio Project
February 18, 2008 – 10:18 amGoals
You will create an audio version of a written text. You may choose any text you wish—fiction, non-fiction, poetry, blog entries, letters between you and your parents, and so forth. The project requires a narrator to read the text, yet you must make the text “your own” through an audio interpretation/re-creation. Your audio text will be a minimum of four minutes.
Requirements
Your project will need to:
- focus on a genre and/or rhetorical effect: to create mystery, to make this seemingly simple text seem more complex, to make someone see something new, to move us to tears, to explore the strangeness of this text, etc. How do you want people to “hear” this text?
- connotatively create meaning by selecting layers of music, sounds, and vocal effects.
- purposefully select a way of narrating this text. How will you use voice to achieve your goals?
- work from a storyboard that you create before you begin recording and editing.
Due dates
February 22: Choose your text. Begin storyboarding your project.
February 27: Bring music clips to class, along with your storyboard, and prepare to talk about your plans. Record your text.
February 29: Edit in class. Peer comments.
March 7: Project is due. Email me final copy, or burn on CD. Share your projects in class on this date.
Tips
Looking for sound clips of music? Try < www.opsound.org/>. This is open source music that is mostly instrumental and free/legal to use.
Free sound effects clips are at < http://www.acoustica.com/sounds.htm> and <http://www.ljudo.com/>.
Recording your voice can be done on your own computer (via the built-mic), or you can use a digital iPod recorder.