INTRO TO AUDIO STORYTELLING

The medium of audio offers possibilities and challenges all its own: no images, no visual text, only sound. In this class, we will explore principles of the form both by studying and by making. Students can expect to leave with an understanding of the niceties of script writing and basic technical aspects of audio creation, as well as the beginnings of a portfolio of work. The class will encourage movement along a spectrum: you are encouraged to experiment in an unbounded way with audio as an art form, and to progress toward an understanding of how to create refined, public-facing work. 

While this class involves a fair amount of reading, much of what we will study and discuss is audio material. We will consider sound stories from the ground up – from folkloric oral traditions, to raw, naturally captured experimental pieces, to seemingly straightforward radio news segments, to highly polished narrative podcasts. At the same time that we study these works, each student will also complete small audio production exercises of their own; as a final project, students will be expected to create a fully rounded “pilot episode” for a theoretical show, from 7 to 20 minutes in length. 

This is an intro class intended to open exploratory space across fields of interest, but writers in particular stand to benefit. Our lessons will focus most rigorously on the lexical mechanics of scripting: how to “tell” a story. Oral storytellers arguably understand suspense, humor and showmanship in ways only a live performer can. Even if you are a diehard writer of text for readers, you may find, once the class is over, that you have learned techniques that can translate across borders: your readers may benefit. Alternatively, you may discover that audio is the medium for you.

This class is split into two parts: each week, you’ll meet for a lecture; separately, you’ll meet again during the week for a discussion section, where you may be asked to share and workshop your work, to analyze outside audio, and generally go deep in ways you can’t in lecture. The class is intended for beginners to the audio tradition. There are some tech requirements: a recording device (most phones will suffice), workable set of headphones, and computer. You’ll also need to download the free audio editing software Audacity.