MUSC 170 - Music and the Environment

Credits: 5
Examines the engagement of sound in the environment such as marine, bird, and animal sounds, depictions of nature in music, and the impact of the music industry. This course will look the ways that human sounds (cars, planes, roadways, etc.) impact the natural habitat of animal and bird species and how these changes impact indigenous lifestyles. This course will look at how sound and music are used within environmental protests and how sound is used as a technical tool for city grid systems, acoustic weapons, and echolocation.

Satisfies Requirement: Humanities/Fine Arts/English
Course Fee: $10.00

Course Outcomes:
Students who successfully complete this class will be able to:

Investigate how natural sounds are used, imitated, and expressed within musical works.
Identify the different ways that animals and birds use sound for communication.
Identify the different ways in which the music industry (i.e. concert venues and festivals) have an environmental impact.
Trace the process the environmental impact of sound on animal migration and effect on indigenous lifestyles.
Compare the different ways that music and sound are used within technical systems (use of echolocation, acoustic weapons, and water grid monitoring).
Investigate how music and sound are used in environmental activism and protest.

Program Outcomes

Demonstrate a knowledge of historical genres and styles beyond current trends in Performing Arts.
Demonstrate responsibility by one or more of the following: attendance, assignment completion, final project or performance completion.

College-wide Outcomes

Critical Thinking - Critical thinking finds expression in all disciplines and everyday life. It is characterized by an ability to reflect upon thinking patterns, including the role of emotions on thoughts, and to rigorously assess the quality of thought through its work products. Critical thinkers routinely evaluate thinking processes and alter them, as necessary, to facilitate an improvement in their thinking and potentially foster certain dispositions or intellectual traits over time.
Responsibility - Responsibility encompasses those behaviors and dispositions necessary for students to be effective members of a community. This outcome is designed to help students recognize the value of a commitment to those responsibilities which will enable them to work successfully individually and with others.
Diversity and Equity - In order to advance equity and social justice, students will be able to examine their own and others’ identities, behaviors, and/or cultural perspectives as they connect to power, privilege, and/or resistance.