In the unit of Language, Sound, and Music we have talked about the various connections between literature and sound, how sound can be mashed up, as well as the reading about several different people who have created characters such as DJ Spooky that creates a blend of sounds and words. We approached the topic using: articles, documentaries, and journals as well as created our own blend of sounds.

In terms of what I knew about the subject before we began, is actually not a whole lot. Music has been a constant things in my life. I used to participate in a contest every year that required you to learn 16 pieces of classical music and then be able to identify the piece within any 15 seconds, the composer and be able to answer questions about the composer. Actually my SoundCloud pieces were inspired by a piece I had to memorize- Jupiter by: Gustav Holst. I know that the way music lines up with the words or vice-versa or the rhythm of a certain piece of literature can change the mood and the way the audience members feel about it.


I learned a lot in this section, not only about the program Audacity, but also how to collage and mix music together to create a new sound. I learned a lot about how literature, other than poetry, can have a rhythm. Within the individual journal writing, I found it interesting that after reading the articles I learned about what people have been creating with sounds, and how people thought about how or writing capacity was changing with the influx of social media in our lives. In the discussion group, people commented about the interaction Bruno gave in terms of the 1, 1-2-1, 1-2-3-2-1... exercise as well as the McKurky effect. I found it absolutely fascinating that if you close your eyes you are more able to identify the sound rather than if you open your eyes and try to identify the sound. The audio composing projects were intriguing because I picked one topic- Jupiter by using Jupiter from The Planets, a documentary about Jupiter, and Drops of Jupiter by Train in order to make my audio compositions. Please click here to listen the Seamless Blend. And here for the Double Exposure. And here for the Side-by Side.

Some things I would like to learn more about is the study done by Andrea Lunsford at Stanford University, concerning social media and our writing skills. While we write so much more than our ancestors, our writing skills are only adequate. I would also like to know more about the McKurky effect and how we distinguish phonetics. Trying to learn about these subjects would require more knowledge on how your senses work together and separately or when you are deprived of one senses. It would also require you to do a longer study of how writing has changed in the last 20 years.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about this section, not only because music is a part in my life, but that music goes along with language so well. I love the mixing sounds project, because we physically saw how the music changed when we did the various effects on it. This unit has really changed my perspective on how music can change emotions and how the audience can perceive a moment. I find that this unit will be really helpful for the future in terms of sound design and various shows.