Subversive Creative Practice & Sonic Worldbuilding with Slowfoam
4-week online course hosted by Soundial
Description
This course combined intuition, queer theory, and music production to explore sonic fictional
worlds and energize the creative process. We investigated ways to hack flow, while
challenging and critiquing dominant production standards to engage in playful and imaginative sound exploration. Using sound as a queer and feminist autoethnographic device, we drew on our bodies and environments to reimagine and reclaim an authentic and playful creative practice. We discussed the barriers faced by gender-diverse artists, collaboratively imagining and creating queer/feminist alternatives in a supportive atmosphere. The course highlighted works by pioneering and contemporary theorists and musicians for inspiration. Throughout the course, participants developed a portfolio of exploratory works, receiving
conceptual and technical feedback each week.
Syllabus
Week 1: CONNECTION → Hearing The Self and Environment
In the first week, we will focus on using the body and immediate environment as gateways to
possibility and creativity. By moving away from conventional song structures and production
techniques, we will center our body's situated knowledge and the surrounding soundscape. This approach will help us challenge our expectations, bringing presence, connection, and
imagination to our creative practice. We will begin to dissolve our sense of self, exploring
sensing and perceiving as modes of interrelated ways of being. Additionally, we will explore
experimental vocalization techniques and possible uses of technology, including field recording and microphone placement, to deepen this practice.
Week 2: CHAOS → Destruction!
This week, we will explore the value of destruction and chaos, inviting the possibility of surpris into our creative practice. By deconstructing normative structures that don’t serve us an relearning a childlike, intuitive approach, we will unravel ourselves and our creations to build something new from the rubble. By resisting order and subverting expectations, we will use technology as a collaborator to discover facets of possibility and surprise. Rooted in musique concrète, we will experiment with techniques like disintegration loops, time warping, and granular delay to access an aural pluriverse from a single sound.
Week 3: COLLAGE - Reconstruction!
Branching off from last week’s exploration of chaos, we will examine the other side of “solve et
coagula” — or deconstruct to reconstruct — by collaging a new work. Focusing on our sound
sources and their dichotomies, we will discuss methods for developing a dialogue between
source materials that is old/new, filthy/pristine, hi-fi/lo-fi, biological/technological, self/other,
and more. This approach will help us create uncanny textures, surprising contrasts, and
delightful similarities. We will also address the ethics of sampling and ownership, and explore
techniques for honoring and/or transforming the original sound to make it our own.
Week 4: COLLABORATION - Becoming Together ⚘⚘
In the spirit of creating and evolving together, we will explore the vast possibilities of
collaboration and its subversive potential. We will examine communication between past and
future selves, across species, and a holistic, creative interdependence. Emphasizing
collectivization and an abundance mindset, we recognize that our survival depends on these
principles. How can we navigate a shared collaborative process more graciously, and what
benefits arise from working together to discover new ways of being, thinking, and growing?
Hardware & Software Requirements
→ soundial.org
Course Resources: ✺ Reading ✺ Listening ✺ LearningDescription
This course combined intuition, queer theory, and music production to explore sonic fictional
worlds and energize the creative process. We investigated ways to hack flow, while
challenging and critiquing dominant production standards to engage in playful and imaginative sound exploration. Using sound as a queer and feminist autoethnographic device, we drew on our bodies and environments to reimagine and reclaim an authentic and playful creative practice. We discussed the barriers faced by gender-diverse artists, collaboratively imagining and creating queer/feminist alternatives in a supportive atmosphere. The course highlighted works by pioneering and contemporary theorists and musicians for inspiration. Throughout the course, participants developed a portfolio of exploratory works, receiving
conceptual and technical feedback each week.
Syllabus
Week 1: CONNECTION → Hearing The Self and Environment
In the first week, we will focus on using the body and immediate environment as gateways to
possibility and creativity. By moving away from conventional song structures and production
techniques, we will center our body's situated knowledge and the surrounding soundscape. This approach will help us challenge our expectations, bringing presence, connection, and
imagination to our creative practice. We will begin to dissolve our sense of self, exploring
sensing and perceiving as modes of interrelated ways of being. Additionally, we will explore
experimental vocalization techniques and possible uses of technology, including field recording and microphone placement, to deepen this practice.
Week 2: CHAOS → Destruction!
This week, we will explore the value of destruction and chaos, inviting the possibility of surpris into our creative practice. By deconstructing normative structures that don’t serve us an relearning a childlike, intuitive approach, we will unravel ourselves and our creations to build something new from the rubble. By resisting order and subverting expectations, we will use technology as a collaborator to discover facets of possibility and surprise. Rooted in musique concrète, we will experiment with techniques like disintegration loops, time warping, and granular delay to access an aural pluriverse from a single sound.
Week 3: COLLAGE - Reconstruction!
Branching off from last week’s exploration of chaos, we will examine the other side of “solve et
coagula” — or deconstruct to reconstruct — by collaging a new work. Focusing on our sound
sources and their dichotomies, we will discuss methods for developing a dialogue between
source materials that is old/new, filthy/pristine, hi-fi/lo-fi, biological/technological, self/other,
and more. This approach will help us create uncanny textures, surprising contrasts, and
delightful similarities. We will also address the ethics of sampling and ownership, and explore
techniques for honoring and/or transforming the original sound to make it our own.
Week 4: COLLABORATION - Becoming Together ⚘⚘
In the spirit of creating and evolving together, we will explore the vast possibilities of
collaboration and its subversive potential. We will examine communication between past and
future selves, across species, and a holistic, creative interdependence. Emphasizing
collectivization and an abundance mindset, we recognize that our survival depends on these
principles. How can we navigate a shared collaborative process more graciously, and what
benefits arise from working together to discover new ways of being, thinking, and growing?
Hardware & Software Requirements
.