Let's compose with sound--all we need is a web browser and an internet connection. Along the way, we will write in wiki.

I tell you: one must still have chaos in one, to give birth to a

dancing star. I tell you: ye have still chaos in you.

Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra

Writing takes work, but writing together requires play. Here's a chance to play around with the very idea of "music." Words notoriously fail to describe music very well, so as you play around at the Freesound site, you might consider how interaction itself creates diverse distinctions between organized sound and noise. Where, and how, does noise become music? To explore this matter first-hand, listen to each other's freesound compositions (instructions, below), and add layers of sounds in response. While you listen, write. Actively making music will help us focus our collective attention on important steps in collaborative rhetorical processes and teach us the art of premise-matching. All you'll need is an internet connection and a web browser.

Step 1

1 Sequencing and layering sound can alter how you feel and where you focus your mind. Go to the Freesound site at http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/. Freesound makes it easy for anyone to play around with and layer different sounds. Using a tabbed browser, you can play and loop different sounds in different tabs in the same browser window. Record your composition. This is easy: create a wiki space for your composition, name your mix, and list the freesound urls. At this stage, you might want to blog a bit about the recording process. Think like a composer: listen to the layers of sounds you've selected, and tell us (performers, listeners, and fellow composers) about them (give us directives, write out liner notes, share associational thoughts, etc). You may be compelled to place images, links, and previously composed text on this page, as well. Upload. Now, we can all open the tabs you selected and concatenated, and in doing so, read and listen to your composition.

Step 2

2. Listen to your classmate's compositions. Add at least two freesounds to three different compositions; or, you may even want to subtract a sound or two from the original you are remixing. Try playing 2 compositions at the same time--"mash them up." Describe the effect of the composition before and after your additions. What do your additions and/or subtractions do? Do they amplify the effects of the composition as you found it? Reverse them? Did your changes simplify or add complexity?

3. Listen again to your classmate's compositions. Post your two favorite compositions to your blog. What effect does the music seem to induce in listeners? Write a couple hundred words and post to your blog.