Sonic Rhetoric Lesson

7/26/2019 Sonic Rhetoric Lesson

1/6

Hashem, Sonic Rhetoric 1

Sonic Rhetoric

I. Background Information

A. Curriculum Framework Standards: MA.RI.5. Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his

or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear,

convincing, and engaging. MA.RI.6. Determine an authors point of view or purpose in a text in which the

rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to thepower, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text.

B. Generative Topic:

The focal concept of this lesson is to apply principles of rhetorical analysis to

compositions completed in the sonic or audio mode.C. Measurable Objectives:

Students will be able to actively discuss how various sonic strategies are usedin selected audio compositions.

Students will be able to complete a graphic organizer outlining the rhetoricalanalysis of a selected audio composition.

D. End of Lesson Assessment:

The end of the lesson assessment will be based on the thoroughness and

complexity of the graphic organizer completed by students. I will be able to

determine the success of the lesson based on the degree to which students

critically consider the rhetorical role of each sound strategy in the selected

audio composition.

II. Content of the Lesson

A. Content and Skills:

This lesson will ask students to draw on their prior knowledge of rhetoric andrhetorical analysis. They will need to understand:

o How to identify the components of the rhetorical triangle (purpose,

audience, and composer)

o What the three persuasive appeals are and how they work (ethos,

pathos, logos)

This lesson will ask students to apply these tenets of classical rhetoric to thesonic mode. In order to do this, students will need some kind of framework for

thinking and talking about sonic compositions. This will include:o An overview of the 5 Sonic Strategies

! Music: establishes tone and atmosphere, creates mood, evokes

emotion, creates transitions

! Silence: an absence of sound, raise awareness, create tension ordrama

! Sound Effects: can act as symbols for ideas, triggeringemotions or memories


2/6


! Voice: not what words are being said, but HOW they are beingsaid. Also consider vocalized sounds and utterances. Consider

vocal tension, pitch, and vibrato all as meaning-makingmechanisms.

! Sound Interaction: the way these different facets of sound

interact with one another (i.e. how is dialogue enhanced bymusic in the background so that the two create meaning intandem with one another)

B. Rationale:

The NCTE Definition of 21stCentury literacies identifies the ability to create,

critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia texts as a necessary skill forcontemporary students. In recent years, the academic world has moved to

develop this skill with a heavy emphasis on the visual mode, stressingphotography, art, cinema, and digital design. In the process of teaching to

compose and think critically within these important modes, the sonic mode isoften overlooked and understudied. Despite this, compositions using sound

play a major role in our society and every day lives. Giving students the toolsand experience necessary to engage critically with sonic compositions has a

huge potential to increase their ability to interact meaningfully with the worldaround them.

III. Preparation for the Procedures:

Materials:

My laptop

Speakers for my laptop

Copies of Graphic Organizers (See Attachment A)

IV. Sequence of Teaching-Procedures

A. Beginning of the Lesson (3 minutes)

Introduce myself. Write name on the board.

Ask for student names. Also ask students to write their name on a paper trifold

in front of them.

B. Getting on the Same Page (10 minutes)

BRIEF review:

o Rhetorical Triangle

o

Rhetorical Appeals Application of appeals to multimodal texts

o Have you done this before? Perhaps with images?

o Do we agree on our understanding of a text? A text is a

representation of an idea of concept that has been intentionally

composed. That representation can be written using words,

presented using images, or recorded using sounds.


3/6


C. Sonic Rhetoric (20 minutes):

When I say that we are going to look at a multimedia text, what do you think

of?

o When we think about multimedia work, we often think of images,

movies, websites etc. But we dont usually think of sounds. One of the

more understudied and often overlooked modes is the sonic one. Even

when we talk about critical cinematography, we usually analyze shot

composition, camera angle, scenery, costumes etc. For sound, all we

really look at is soundtrack. But sound is a HUGE component. So

today were going to talk about a rhetorical analysis of compositions

completed entirely using sounds. Those sounds can be spoken words

or music or sound effects or all kinds of things.

Working with sound can be intimidating, especially if you have never done so

before, but were going to walk it through together. And youll be surprisedby how much innate ability you have to analyze sound compositions just

based on your own life experience. This will largely be a process of putting

words and formal analysis to things that you already intuitively know.

Can you think of genres of compositions or texts that are created primarily

with sound?

o Music, sound poems, radio ads, podcasts, spoken word poems, moth

hour stories, speeches.

o Many of these compositions do rely on an additional mode or modes,

but were going to focus on sound.

In order to help us with our analyses, Im going to give you guys somestrategies to think about. These are tools that sound composers often use to

make the rhetorical appeals that we talked about earlier.

o Introduce the 5 sound strategies one at a time, asking for input as we

go. Discuss/ask students for examples

! Music.

Can anyone think of a scenario in which music is used

as a rhetorical device in a sound composition? One of

the ones we talked about? (potential answers: dramatic

music in an audio drama or in the background of a

speech)

How is it used? Come up with a collaborative

definition. (Potential answers: create mood, transition,

make an allusion etc.)


4/6


Ad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvOq9orBFF8&list

=PLfe-SR05tRx96Gv4wNpcbO1TUHA4M1hNY

Hillary Ad:

https://soundcloud.com/hillary-clinton-

976818877/hillary-for-america-my-story

! Silence.

(potential answers: slam poem, radio drama)

How is it used? (potential answers: create suspense,

draw attention to something etc.)

PSA on texting and driving:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0ysEGwkf0I

! Sound Effects.

(potential answers: movie advertisement, radio drama)

How is it used? (to create mood or atmosphere, to makean allusion, to create a setting)

Buffalo Wild Wings Ad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4toeqZfEDg

! Voice.

(think about radio announcers or the way storytellers

use their voices, advertisements, singers)

How is it used?

48:00, Moth hour story about a visually impaired kid

running the Boston Marathon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AekVGPlY79M

! Sound Interaction.

Most audio compositions use this in some way or

another

WNYCs Radiolab Excerpt from Gravitational

Anarchy, which is a podcast about living with Vertigo.

Starting at 2:30 3:44

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLPqBTGIUgc

D. Rhetorical Analysis Group Work (27 minutes)

Now Im going to let you guys get into groups and have you perform your

own rhetorical analyses on a piece well all listen to together. Youre going to

work in groups of 4-5, which should give us 5 groups.

Hand out graphic organizer (see Attachment A).


5/6


Each group is going to take a sonic strategy. As we listen to the clip Im going

to play, listen carefully for ways in which your assigned sonic strategy is used

with specific rhetorical goals. Ill play it through twice, you can discuss in

your groups, Ill give you some time to fill in your section of the graphic

organizer, and then well go around and share our analyses.

Listen up through 1:55

https://soundcloud.com/navigatingthesoundscape/grandmont-night-visions-an-

audio-drama

So as you go forth to analyze these different sound compositions, I will

remind you of two things

o I recommend you start by identifying the components

of the triangle. Author, Audience, Purpose. This will

help you immensely

o Dont focus on the appeals being made in the dialogue.

Focus specifically on the sounds. Go back to the 5sound strategies that we have up here and see if you can

recognize appeals being made using these strategies.

Not WHAT is being said, but HOW it is being said.

Give everyone at least 5 minutes. Ill circulate while students work

Share out for the remainder of class. Ask students to take notes on their

graphic organizers while other groups are talking. Everyone should end with a

full graphic organizer.

D. Extension Option:

Analyze this Geico radio ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IniZNABAxRY


6/6


Attachment A: Graphic Organizer

!"#$%&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

!"#$%!'()'*+,

-.)/01*2 3!"#$%&'

)$*+$",%") -* +.."+/)

0)"! 1' $2" 3-4.-)"*5

6-7 "8+3$/' %) $2"+.."+/ 1"%#, 4+!" -*

$2" )$*+$",' 1"%#,

0)"!9

-44*%'$5*#*662 :) $2"

+.."+/ )033"))&0/9 :)

$2" %#$"#!"! .0*.-)"+33-4./%)2"!9 ;2' -*

72' #-$9

7"66$81* 3/0("5*/*#'62 :&

'-0 7"*" $2" 3-4.-)"*

Documents

Sonic Rhetoric Lesson