SOUNDING COMPOSITION [PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION]
In Sounding Composition Steph Ceraso reimagines listening education to account for twenty-first-century sonic practices and experiences. Sonic technologies such as audio editing platforms and music software allow students to control sound in ways that were not always possible for the average listener. While digital technologies have presented new opportunities for teaching listening in relation to composing, they also have resulted in a limited understanding of how sound works in the world at large. Ceraso offers an expansive approach to sonic pedagogy through the concept of multimodal listening—a practice that involves developing an awareness of how sound shapes and is shaped by different contexts, material objects, and bodily, multisensory experiences. Through a mix of case studies and pedagogical materials, she demonstrates how multimodal listening enables students to become more savvy consumers and producers of sound in relation to composing digital media, and in their everyday lives.
"Sounding Composition demonstrates that sound surrounds us, but the book also, perhaps more importantly, equips us with techniques for cultivating sensibilities for listening, producing, teaching, relating, and composing new sonic realities. Ceraso has offered rhetoric, sound studies, and those interested in multimodal pedagogy a project that will resonate for a very long time."
—Casey Boyle, University of Texas
"In a context where multimodal composition has become central to college writing instruction, Ceraso offers evidence to make the case for multimodal listening pedagogy as a useful term in composition studies 'that moves away from ear-centric approaches to sonic engagement and instead treats sonic experience as holistic and immersive.' This book offers a compelling range of embodied engagements, sonic rhetorical theory, and timely practices for implementing multimodal listening pedagogies."
—Mary E. Hocks, Georgia State University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction: Toward Expansive Listening and Sonic Composing Practices
1. Sounding Out Rhetoric and Composition and Sound Studies: Resonances, Perturbations, Provocations
2. Sounding Bodies, Composing Experience: (Re)Educating the Senses
Reverberation: "My Listening Body"
3. Sounding Space, Designing Experience: The Ecological Practice of Sonic Composition
Reverberation: "Mapping Sound"
4. Sounding Cars, Selling Experience: Sound Design in Consumer Products
Reverberation: "Sonic Objects"
Conclusion: Multimodal Listening Pedagogy and the Future of Sonic Education
REVIEWS
“A Review of Sounding Composition: Multimodal Pedagogies for Embodied Listening by Steph Ceraso.” Reviewed by Shannon Kelly. Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy. Volume 26, Number 1 (Fall 2021).
“The Rhetoric of Sound Rhetoric.” Reviewed by Justin Eckstein. Rhetoric Society Quarterly. Volume 51, Number 3 (July 2021).
“Circulating Ethical Digital Writing.” Reviewed by James P. Purdy. College English, Volume 83, Number 4 (March 2021).
“Layering Additional Tracks: A Review of Steph Ceraso’s Sounding Composition: Multimodal Pedagogy for Embodied Listening.” Reviewed by Kati Fargo Ahern. Enculturation. March 9, 2020.
“SO! Reads: Steph Ceraso’s Sounding Composition: Multimodal Pedagogy for Embodied Listening.” Reviewed by Airek Beauchamp. Sounding Out! May 20, 2019.
“A Review of Sounding Composition: Multimodal Pedagogies for Embodied Listening, Steph Ceraso, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2018), 193 pp.” Reviewed by Jason Tham. Computers and Composition, Volume 54 (December 2019).
intermezzO EBOOK
I’m excited to announce the publication of my first digital book, Sound Never Tasted So Good: “Teaching” Sensory Rhetorics. This project focuses on a “multisensory dining event” in which my students worked with a chef to create original sonic compositions that complimented and enhanced the visual design, smell, texture, and taste of a prepared meal. The event introduced students to new ideas about the rhetorical possibilities of sound and raised questions about when and why sensory rhetorics fail. Multisensory projects like this one can attune us to the ambient rhetoric that influences moods and behaviors in a range of everyday settings. Drawing from a broad spectrum of interdisciplinary scholarship and media, Sound Never Tasted So Good offers a sensuous approach to digital writing and rhetoric pedagogy and advances discourse on the role of the senses in educational experiences.
Reviews
“Review: Sound Never Tasted So Good.” Reviewed by KC Hysmith. Reviews in Digital Humanities. Volume 2.8 (August 2021).