Book Review
Faris, M. J., Danforth, C. S., and Stedman, K. D., Eds. (2022). Amplifying Soundwriting Pedagogies: Integrating Sound into Rhetoric and Writing. The WAC Clearinghouse/University Press of Colorado.
When we reflect on writing, the sound we associate with it may only be the tap tap of the computer’s keystrokes, and the double click of the mouse as we fight the formatting gods. It may not be as intuitive for composition instructors and graduate students to understand what sort of role sounds play in the classroom. In Amplifying Soundwriting Pedagogies: Integrating Sound into Rhetoric and Writing, editors Michael J. Faris, Courtney S. Danforth, and Kyle D. Stedman present us with a collection of tried-and-tested activities designed to engage students across a range of courses with sound and what sound means for rhetorical awareness. Each chapter concludes with the transcript of the author’s reflection accompanied by the mp3 file housed on the book’s page on the WAC Clearinghouse website, which reinforces the title’s promise.
In the editors’ introduction, Stedman cements the central term for the book, defining soundwriting as “the action and object created by drafting, revising, and delivering composition in the aural mode” (p. 8). Much like our interpretation of traditional alphabetic print writing, the editors elaborate on why the word soundwriting is particularly significant: it fills the pedagogical gaps that a term such as “sonic rhetoric” misses, blending the disciplines of sound studies and writing studies (p. 8). For both students and teachers who are unconvinced that sound is something that should be included in the curriculum, the editors make a compelling case . First, if writing and rhetoric courses are based on the notion that we should engage with the discourse of our surrounding environments, students need to understand how soundscapes are part of said discourse. Second, “sound is always multimodal” (p. 9) and therefore aids instructors and researchers in understanding ways that we embody rhetoric and writing.
JOMR readers may already value the role of soundwriting, so skipping to the heart of this book will lead to action in the classroom. The editors were motivated to share lesson plans and prompts that teachers could easily incorporate into their classes “at all levels and in almost any context” because there is an absence of an open-source collection where instructors can “steal” assignments (p. 12). The 25 included chapters are divided into four different sections: “Soundwriting Through Remix,” “Soundwriting with Music,” “Soundwriting with Primary Research,” and “Soundwriting with Stories”; the editors assume the reader will skim through this book as needed to pick and choose assignments. The contents of Amplifying were compiled with accessibility in mind. The editors give instructors assignments with a flexible license (Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International) so one can modify their use without needing the authors’ permission, as long as they are credited and do not pursue anything commercially (p. 14).
With such an array of enticing chapter titles, this reviewer jumped to “Part Two: Soundwriting with Music” as the first part of the book focuses on remix, which is already a common theme throughout composition curricula. In Chapter 8, “Cultivating Signal, Noise, and Feeling: Songwriting Practices in Digital Rhetoric Courses,” Rich Shivener reflects on his years as a musician and presents a full lesson plan on songwriting that can be used in a first-year composition course. We start understanding the writing of songwriting, as Shivener has us write a 500-word argument, which later serves as the transcript instead of being an afterthought (p. 128). Accessibility is a major theme throughout this book, and this full plan is no different: it doesn’t matter if students are using a Mac or PC - it’s open-access and the software used is free.
If an instructor doesn’t know where to begin in implementing sound into the classroom, one may start the book with intriguing exercises like “Bring a Small Noisemaker” and “Sensory Writing on the Harbor” (p. 164). There is so much energy brought to the low-stakes assignments and exercises presented in Chapter 12, “The Resonance Is the Composer: Students Soundwriting Together” by Conner et al. The authors take it a step further and equate soundwriting with community and our whole being, “creating a common space of exploration that transcends intellectual boundaries.” (p. 160).
Archival units find a place in Chapter 14, “From Cylinders to WordPress: Using Digital Sound Archives for Short-Form Radio Programs” by Jason Luther. To set up this assignment, students find a digitized phonograph recording, conduct research to write a script, and record their own voice over that recording (p. 189). Luther draws historical connections between the New Jersey classroom and the birthing of soundwriting technology by Thomas Edison and others, further demonstrating the value of these sorts of projects: “This is essentially what 21st century multimodal composing is all about” (p. 189).
For those engaging with public writing, in Chapter 21, “Producing Community Audio Tours,” Mariana Grohowski explains 17 exercises that build into a “sound-seeing” or “mobile audio tour” project which can be used in various types of courses, including new media, technical writing, and community literacy (p. 286). In the author’s audio reflection, they point to the agency that this type of project gives students through Gmail, Voicemap, and other social media accounts: “they assume a sense of ownership over the project when they know that their work is published online and immediately available to a global audience” (p. 207). There is something powerful about the author’s approach to intersecting voice, place, and collaboration. And, for those of us who struggle not just with the planning of multimodal assignments but with their evaluation, Grohowski provides a succinct rubric to assess a student’s audio tour (p. 288).
Overall, Amplifying Soundwriting Pedagogies: Integrating Sound into Rhetoric and Writing is packed full of assignments that can be pieced together easily to inspire a multimodal assignment, whether for first-year writing or advanced composition. There are a few chapters that may feel too advanced for beginning instructors, and in the spirit of the editors’ intentions, one would skip them over to “steal” what suits their classroom’s needs. In addition, of note is the book’s alternative organization, which the editors recognize that they did not employ, dividing chapters into themes such as “Collaborative Work,” “Storytelling,” and “Technical Practice and Guidance” (p. 31-32). When first reading the introduction, the book’s arrangement seems adequate, and the reader can picture themself scanning the chapter titles to find something that piques their interest. But, after reviewing the entire book, perhaps their alternative organization may have been more useful to those who will treat the book as a handbook or reference guide; identifying course levels appropriate for each chapter would also have been beneficial. However, Faris, Danforth, and Stedman achieve their goal of providing accessible aural-based scholarship: the book is free and in PDF format, inspiring all of us to try and explore sounds in new and innovative ways.
— Greg Gillespie, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Greg Gillespie is a Teaching Associate and PhD student in Rhetoric, Writing & Linguistics at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His research interests center on multimodal rhetorics and composition pedagogy. His recent work examines ways that writing center engagement with community resources may bridge the gap with technical training for instructors.