In this course, students will investigate theories of classical and contemporary persuasion in relation to sound and writing. This course explores a variety of sound writing genres including soundscapes, podcasts, and music. Using theories of classical and contemporary rhetoric, students will critically analyze texts that rely upon sound as a composing mode. In addition, students will compose projects to learn how to write, record, edit, and distribute persuasive sound texts. Along the way, students will consider the following questions: What are the rhetorical effects, possibilities, and limitations of recorded sound? How does sound persuade, and what effects might the addition of sound have on a writer’s process? In a contemporary world where writing is mostly digital, we often overlook the presence of sound—music that accompanies video, voice published as podcasts, noise remixed into an ambient art form or as background for daily life. In order to understand sound’s role in our culture’s persuasive practices, this course seeks to identify and utilize methods for effectively integrating sound into writing.

Required Texts
Civic Jazz by Gregory Clark
Keywords in Sound edited by Novak + Sakakeeny