INTG 521 Sonic Body: Ancient Ritual to Afrofuturism
Forging transtemporal forms of music-making, from exorcism rituals of North Africa to Afrofuturism, from shamanic chants of Inuit people of Arctic to the Avant-garde composer and improvisers of the 20th and 21st century, this course is the study of the only thing we have: our body, our body in its proximity to sound, possessed by sound, and in becoming sound; our body in its alienation, in its connection to language, to masks, objects, electronics and to other bodies in rituals. Whereas most disciplines follow linear traditions, a transdisciplinary approach is able to traverse time barriers, eras, and epics in a more eminent and fractal way; one that can simultaneously house the ancient, the futural, the emergent, the recurring, the momentary and the eternal. This course is divided into five sections: 1) Embodiment: marginalized bodies, marginalized sounds, 2) Language and the ineffable, 3) Resonant bodies: texture, counterpoint, resonance, shadows, and nonhuman proximities, 4) Secrecy and deception, 5) Composed Theater. Each section helps students with the formation of one of the parameters of the final project, which is the creation of a short, multimedia composed theater. Other assignments and projects include readings, listening, score study, performance and composition projects, one presentation and a paper.