H85.1109 History & Criticism 2 Credits
Instructor(s): Staff
How much do technologies of listening and playback affect our experience? From the first mechanical devices for the inscription and playback of sound waves to the phonograph, to tape machines and 8 tracks, to CD players and iPods, the record player has radically changed music and popular culture, influened social and political movements, and altered the nature of memory and auditory consciousness.
In this seminar, we will trace the history and impact of recording machines on popular music, the psychology of hearing, and intercultural relations. Each class will focus on an era, moving chronologically from the earliest dreams of preserving voices as re-sounding objects to the current ubiquity of internal and external soundtracks. Our approach will combine a variety of different perspectives-including theoretical, musicological, technological, and historical-to produce a concise picture of the production and reception of records and record players through the years.
