2013-2014

News Release

REF NO.: 16

SUBJECT: Acoustic ecology symposium to kick off annual music lecture series at Memorial

DATE: September 24, 2013

Memorial University’s Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media and Place (MMaP) is gearing up for its annual lecture series, but this year there will be a twist.
The opening lecture of this year’s Music, Media and Culture series will be a two-part event within a daylong acoustic ecology symposium taking place on the St. John’s campus Saturday, Sept. 28. The symposium is titled Expanding Ecomusicology: Exploring Sonic Culture and Environmental Change.
“Ecomusicology has been gaining considerable interest among music scholars who are concerned both with the social and the environmental impact of music,” said Dr. Ellen Waterman, dean, School of Music. “It’s one way of studying the relationship between music and place, so it’s a natural fit with the MMaP speaker series.”
As part of the symposium, visiting scholar Dr. Andra McCartney of Concordia University will lead participants in what she has titled Memorial String of Pearls Soundwalk. She will also present a keynote address titled Listening Filters and Standpoints.
“The morning soundwalk will give participants the opportunity to listen together with a group of people while walking, and then to discuss our different perceptions and thoughts about the place and the listening experience, afterwards,” said Dr. McCartney.
“The listening session at the end of the symposium will give participants the chance to listen to environmental sound recordings and discuss the types of narratives and images that these evoke, and how those narratives are related to listening standpoints and perspectives.”
The one-day symposium is being co-sponsored by Memorial’s School of Music. The event will include presentations by scholars from Memorial University, York University, Cape Breton University and Concordia University. Topics include non-human sound production, industrial soundscapes, environmental issues in musical instrument manufacture and musics that imitate place-based sound.
For more information on the MMaP Music, Media and Culture lecture series, please visit www.mun.ca/mmap. For more information on the Expanding Ecomusicology: Exploring Sonic Culture and Environmental Change symposium, please visit www.mun.ca/music.

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