CFP: Sound and Play 7/15

Call for Posts: Sound and Play, Due July 15th 

From a needle placed atop spinning vinyl, to fingers cascading up and down a guitar, or even children yelling “Marco Polo” in a pool, the instumentalization of sound in all of these contexts is invariably referred to as play. Play has many connotations, some biological and others cultural. Where Johan Huizinga argued that it was from the primeval soil of play that all human culture has sprung, Jean Piaget has argued that play is a foundational cognitive premise to all learning. How does sound, and sound studies as a discipine,  help us to rethink and reconfigure these canonical approaches to the practice of play?

Sounding Out! invites its readers to submit blog posts  which focus on understanding how sound is mediated through the practice of play. In other words, what does it mean to play with sound? Why are so many sonic activities apprehended, primarily, through the context of play? How does sound play within an embodied ecology of the senses? And, finally, what is the play of sound in our imaginations? We particularly welcome work that is international/comparative in scope as well as posts that considers play’s role in understandings of sound’s material, affective, epistemic, and consumerist dimensions.

Keep in mind that many of our best posts mix a research-based perspective with the  examination of aural experience through a first-person narrative style. We also encourage pitches for podcasts on this issue as well as ideas for artistic posts that use the blog format to create an original audio-visual experience.

Please pitch your idea in 250 (or less) of your best words by July 15th.  Send inquiries and submissions to Aaron Trammell, SO!’s Multimedia Editor, at (aht@soundingoutblog.com).  Don’t forget to read our submission guidelines before sending us your stuff.   Good luck!