Hashem, Sonic Rhetoric

Sonic Rhetoric
I. Background Information
A. Curriculum Framework Standards:
MA.RI.5. Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his
or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear,
convincing, and engaging.
MA.RI.6. Determine an authors point of view or purpose in a text in which the
rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the
power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text.
B. Generative Topic:
The focal concept of this lesson is to apply principles of rhetorical analysis to
compositions completed in the sonic or audio mode.
C. Measurable Objectives:
Students will be able to actively discuss how various sonic strategies are used
in selected audio compositions.
Students will be able to complete a graphic organizer outlining the rhetorical
analysis of a selected audio composition.
D. End of Lesson Assessment:
The end of the lesson assessment will be based on the thoroughness and
complexity of the graphic organizer completed by students. I will be able to
determine the success of the lesson based on the degree to which students
critically consider the rhetorical role of each sound strategy in the selected
audio composition.
II. Content of the Lesson
A. Content and Skills:
This lesson will ask students to draw on their prior knowledge of rhetoric and
rhetorical analysis. They will need to understand:
o How to identify the components of the rhetorical triangle (purpose,
audience, and composer)
o What the three persuasive appeals are and how they work (ethos,
pathos, logos)
This lesson will ask students to apply these tenets of classical rhetoric to the
sonic mode. In order to do this, students will need some kind of framework for
thinking and talking about sonic compositions. This will include:
o An overview of the 5 Sonic Strategies
Music: establishes tone and atmosphere, creates mood, evokes
emotion, creates transitions
Silence: an absence of sound, raise awareness, create tension or
drama
Sound Effects: can act as symbols for ideas, triggering
emotions or memories

Hashem, Sonic Rhetoric

Voice: not what words are being said, but HOW they are being
said. Also consider vocalized sounds and utterances. Consider
vocal tension, pitch, and vibrato all as meaning-making
mechanisms.
Sound Interaction: the way these different facets of sound
interact with one another (i.e. how is dialogue enhanced by
music in the background so that the two create meaning in
tandem with one another)

B. Rationale:
The NCTE Definition of 21st Century literacies identifies the ability to create,
critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia texts as a necessary skill for
contemporary students. In recent years, the academic world has moved to
develop this skill with a heavy emphasis on the visual mode, stressing
photography, art, cinema, and digital design. In the process of teaching to
compose and think critically within these important modes, the sonic mode is
often overlooked and understudied. Despite this, compositions using sound
play a major role in our society and every day lives. Giving students the tools
and experience necessary to engage critically with sonic compositions has a
huge potential to increase their ability to interact meaningfully with the world
around them.
III. Preparation for the Procedures:
Materials:
My laptop
Speakers for my laptop
Copies of Graphic Organizers (See Attachment A)
IV. Sequence of Teaching-Procedures
A. Beginning of the Lesson (3 minutes)
Introduce myself. Write name on the board.
Ask for student names. Also ask students to write their name on a paper trifold
in front of them.
B. Getting on the Same Page (10 minutes)
BRIEF review:
o Rhetorical Triangle
o Rhetorical Appeals
Application of appeals to multimodal texts
o Have you done this before? Perhaps with images?
o Do we agree on our understanding of a text? A text is a
representation of an idea of concept that has been intentionally
composed. That representation can be written using words,
presented using images, or recorded using sounds.

Hashem, Sonic Rhetoric

C. Sonic Rhetoric (20 minutes):

When I say that we are going to look at a multimedia text, what do you think
of?
o When we think about multimedia work, we often think of images,
movies, websites etc. But we dont usually think of sounds. One of the
more understudied and often overlooked modes is the sonic one. Even
when we talk about critical cinematography, we usually analyze shot
composition, camera angle, scenery, costumes etc. For sound, all we
really look at is soundtrack. But sound is a HUGE component. So
today were going to talk about a rhetorical analysis of compositions
completed entirely using sounds. Those sounds can be spoken words
or music or sound effects or all kinds of things.
Working with sound can be intimidating, especially if you have never done so
before, but were going to walk it through together. And youll be surprised
by how much innate ability you have to analyze sound compositions just
based on your own life experience. This will largely be a process of putting
words and formal analysis to things that you already intuitively know.
Can you think of genres of compositions or texts that are created primarily
with sound?
o Music, sound poems, radio ads, podcasts, spoken word poems, moth
hour stories, speeches.
o Many of these compositions do rely on an additional mode or modes,
but were going to focus on sound.
In order to help us with our analyses, Im going to give you guys some
strategies to think about. These are tools that sound composers often use to
make the rhetorical appeals that we talked about earlier.
o Introduce the 5 sound strategies one at a time, asking for input as we
go. Discuss/ask students for examples
Music.
Can anyone think of a scenario in which music is used
as a rhetorical device in a sound composition? One of
the ones we talked about? (potential answers: dramatic
music in an audio drama or in the background of a
speech)
How is it used? Come up with a collaborative
definition. (Potential answers: create mood, transition,
make an allusion etc.)

Hashem, Sonic Rhetoric

Ad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvOq9orBFF8&list
=PLfe-SR05tRx96Gv4wNpcbO1TUHA4M1hNY
Hillary Ad:
https://soundcloud.com/hillary-clinton976818877/hillary-for-america-my-story
Silence.
(potential answers: slam poem, radio drama)
How is it used? (potential answers: create suspense,
draw attention to something etc.)
PSA on texting and driving:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0ysEGwkf0I
Sound Effects.
(potential answers: movie advertisement, radio drama)
How is it used? (to create mood or atmosphere, to make
an allusion, to create a setting)
Buffalo Wild Wings Ad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4toeqZfEDg
Voice.
(think about radio announcers or the way storytellers
use their voices, advertisements, singers)
How is it used?
48:00, Moth hour story about a visually impaired kid
running the Boston Marathon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AekVGPlY79M
Sound Interaction.
Most audio compositions use this in some way or
another
WNYCs Radiolab Excerpt from Gravitational
Anarchy, which is a podcast about living with Vertigo.
Starting at 2:30 3:44
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLPqBTGIUgc

D. Rhetorical Analysis Group Work (27 minutes)

Now Im going to let you guys get into groups and have you perform your
own rhetorical analyses on a piece well all listen to together. Youre going to
work in groups of 4-5, which should give us 5 groups.
Hand out graphic organizer (see Attachment A).

Hashem, Sonic Rhetoric

Each group is going to take a sonic strategy. As we listen to the clip Im going
to play, listen carefully for ways in which your assigned sonic strategy is used
with specific rhetorical goals. Ill play it through twice, you can discuss in
your groups, Ill give you some time to fill in your section of the graphic
organizer, and then well go around and share our analyses.
Listen up through 1:55
https://soundcloud.com/navigatingthesoundscape/grandmont-night-visions-anaudio-drama
So as you go forth to analyze these different sound compositions, I will
remind you of two things
o I recommend you start by identifying the components
of the triangle. Author, Audience, Purpose. This will
help you immensely
o Dont focus on the appeals being made in the dialogue.
Focus specifically on the sounds. Go back to the 5
sound strategies that we have up here and see if you can
recognize appeals being made using these strategies.
Not WHAT is being said, but HOW it is being said.
Give everyone at least 5 minutes. Ill circulate while students work
Share out for the remainder of class. Ask students to take notes on their
graphic organizers while other groups are talking. Everyone should end with a
full graphic organizer.

D. Extension Option:
Analyze this Geico radio ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IniZNABAxRY

Hashem, Sonic Rhetoric

Attachment A: Graphic Organizer
Name:__________________________________________
Example: Identify
strategies or appeals
Effectiveness: Is the
used by the composer. appeal successful? Is
Sonic
How exactly is the
the intended purpose
Strategy
appeal being made or
accomplished? Why or
the strategy being
why not?
used?
Music

Silence

Sound
Effects

Voice

Sound
Interaction

Possible Improvements: If
you were the composer,
what could you try that
might make this appeal
more successful?