MUS2651 – Music and the environment

Course content

What is the relationship between music and the environment? Across various genres and historical moments, music has been engaged to celebrate breathtaking mountain- and seascapes, to protest environmental crises, and to acoustically meditate on humanity’s relationship to an ever-changing environmental context. But music has also contributed to noise pollution, generated tons of greenhouse gas emissions, and flourished as a result of almost inconceivable resource extraction.?

This course is about the history of musical thought and scholarship on the environment. It is equally about the history, current state, and future of the relationship between music and the environment. Engaging with a diverse range of musical examples, the course draws on ideas from foundational fields such as acoustic ecology and soundscape studies as well as contemporary and developing fields such as ecomusicology, sound studies, the environmental humanities, and the energy humanities.?

Learning outcome

On passing this course, students will be able to:

  • Critically analyze relationships b