This class examines the ways humans experience the realm of sound and how perceptions and technologies of sound emerge from cultural, economic, and historical worlds. In addition to learning about how environmental, linguistic, and musical sounds are construed cross-culturally, students learn about the rise of telephony, architectural acoustics, and sound recording, as well as about the globalized travel of these technologies. Questions of ownership, property, authorship, and copyright in the age of digital file sharing are also addressed. A major concern will be with how the sound/noise boundary has been imagined, created, and modeled across diverse sociocultural and scientific contexts. Auditory examples--sound art, environmental recordings, music--will be provided and invited throughout the term.

An introduction to the musical ensembles of Bali.

Improvisation and composition are words frequently used in the western world to describe the creation of music. But are they really two distinct processes, or are they aspects of the same phenomenon? In this unit we will explore the relationships between the two using examples of Asian music to help us clarify the concepts.

Lesson plan for an activity, in which students take turns dancing and playing percussion instruments, that encourages understanding of a basic principle of Balinese music and dance.

A short introduction to the musical instrument called the didjeridu, and its place within the Australian Aboriginal music tradition.

A set of related, cross-discipline, classroom activities suitable for a wide range of students, featuring the Australian musical instrument.

Florida Folklife from the WPA Collections is a multiformat ethnographic field collection documenting African-American, Arabic, Bahamian, British-American, Cuban, Greek, Italian, Minorcan, Seminole, and Slavic cultures throughout Florida. Recorded by Robert Cook, Herbert Halpert, Zora Neale Hurston, Stetson Kennedy, Alton Morris, and others in conjunction with the Florida Federal Writers' Project, the Florida Music Project, and the Joint Committee on Folk Arts of the Work Projects Administration, it features folksongs and folktales in many languages, including blues and work songs from menhaden fishing boats, railroad gangs, and turpentine camps; children's songs, dance music, and religious music of many cultures; and interviews, also known as "life histories." The online presentation provides access to 376 sound recordings and 106 accompanying materials, including recording logs, transcriptions, correspondence between Florida WPA workers and Library of Congress personnel, and an essay on Florida folklife by Zora Neale Hurston. A new essay by Stetson Kennedy reflects on the labor and the legacy of the WPA in Florida, and an extensive bibliography, a list of related Web sites, and a guide to the ethnic and language groups of Florida add further context to the New Deal era and to Florida culture. This online collection is made possible by the generous support of The Texaco Foundation.

A lesson plan for an activity that explores the type of musical form used by the percussion orchestras of Bali.

Lesson plan, appropriate for the secondary music classroom, for an activity that allows students to create elaborations on a simple melody in the style of a Balinese gamelan.

Lesson plans, suitable for students of all ages, for growing gourds and using them to make a variety of musical instruments.

The primary mission of the Judaica Sound Archives at FAU Libraries is to collect, preserve, and digitize Judaica sound recordings; to provide educational programming to highlight the contents of this rich cultural legacy; and to promote the use of this unique scholarly resource for students, scholars and the general public.

Lesson plan for an activity that challenges music students to use a technique from Balinese gamelan, to play challenging music in a cooperative manner.

For the Westerner with some knowledge of Western music theory, but none of Balinese gamelan, an introduction to the basic elements of the music, with some suggestions for informed listening.

A combination social studies and music course for children at elementary school level. Some lessons feature music to learn; others introduce interesting aspects of music in other cultures. Individual lessons can be used in any order or left out.

Focuses on musical traditions of West Africa. A variety of musical practices and their cultural contexts are explored through listening, reading and written assignments with an emphasis on class discussion. Subject includes in-class instruction in Senegalese drumming, song and dance, as well as live lecture-demonstrations by guest performers from throughout West Africa. This course is an introduction to selected musical traditions of West Africa. A variety of musical practices and their cultural contexts will be explored through listening, reading, and written assignments, with an emphasis on class discussion. The course includes in-class instruction in West African drumming, song and dance, as well as lecture-demonstrations by guest artists. After an introductory unit, the course will be organized around four main geographical areas: Senegal, Mali, Ghana, and Nigeria. An in-depth study of music from these countries will be interspersed with brief overviews of Southern, Central, and East Africa.

This site offers a sampling of traditional Omaha Indian music. The sound recordings include wax cylinder recordings made in the 1890s, as well as songs and spoken-word segments from the 1983 Omaha harvest celebration pow-wow, segments from an interview with an Omaha elder in 1983, songs and speeches from a performance by members of the Hethu'shka Society in 1985, and portions of an interview with an Omaha musician in 1999. Photos, fieldnotes, and more from the 1983 pow-wow are included.