Week 2

In Class

• Listening to audiocumentaries in pairs — how is your soundscape different from mine?
• Individual: write down characteristics on Post-Its
• Whole group: organize Post-Its, identify overarching dimensions
• How to talk about sound → discuss insights → build an initial taxonomy and vocabulary

1. Two columns: what do I hear + what do I feel (physical + psychoacoustic)
2. Develop words and adjectives to use throughout the course

Key Ideas

• Listening as a shared practice
• Psychoacoustics — perceptual dimensions of sound
• Cross-modal description — we often use visual and tactile words to describe sound
• Build a shared vocabulary as a design tool — the Sound Encyclopedia

Homework — Whole Group

Synthesize insights from class into a shared sound taxonomy and vocabulary encyclopedia.

See Sound Encyclopedia — contribute your terms here.

Reading

Denis Smalley — Spectromorphology (excerpt, 1997) — PDF on Canvas