History of Music and Technology with Professor Wallin-Huff

Sarah Wallin Huff
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Sarah's History of Music and Technology lectures, exploring the 40,000-year history of humans and their evolving relationship with music and the technology that makes it happen.

  1. 02/13/2025

    Unit 14b: Utilitarian Music, Holograms, Virtual Concerts, and A.I.

    In our final segment of this course, we talk about the evolution of music being used in utilitarian ways (versus artistic ways), holograms performing on stage, Vocaloids and voice synthesis, virtual concerts held in cyberspace, and the artifical intelligence boom in the field of music creation. To view the videos this audio is taken from, as well as related links and slides, visit: https://is.gd/YaVxR2 If you’re interested in purchasing the online textbook for this course, find instructions on how to do that at https://sarahwallinhuff.com/history-of-technology-in-music

    40 min

  2. 02/06/2025

    Unit 14a: The Globalizing and Remixing Effects of the Internet

    In this segment, we summarize the overall effects of the Internet (including developments during the Covid-19 pandemic) on music: how we make it, how we consume it, how we take what has come before and remix it in new ways. To view the videos this audio is taken from, as well as related links and slides, visit: https://is.gd/YaVxR2 If you’re interested in purchasing the online textbook for this course, find instructions on how to do that at https://sarahwallinhuff.com/history-of-technology-in-music New episode each Thursday!

    28 min

  3. 01/30/2025

    Unit 13b: The Media-Music Industry and Video Game Music

    First discussed is how technology is reshaping the film music industry, before diving into a timeline of video game music milestones. To view the videos this audio is taken from, as well as related links and slides, visit: https://is.gd/X3Lbav If you’re interested in purchasing the online textbook for this course, find instructions on how to do that at https://sarahwallinhuff.com/history-of-technology-in-music New episode each Thursday!

    37 min

  4. 01/23/2025

    Unit 13a: The History of Music and Sound in Film

    An overview of the histortical timeline of technology’s evolution for synchronizing sound and music with film. To view the videos this audio is taken from, as well as related links and slides, visit: If you’re interested in purchasing the online textbook for this course, find instructions on how to do that at https://sarahwallinhuff.com/history-of-technology-in-music New episode each Thursday!

    33 min

  5. 01/16/2025

    Unit 12b: The History of Hip-Hop and the Effects of Modern Sampling

    Starting with a deeper discussion on the philosophies behind sampling, we then touch on the controversies of fair compensation to artists whose work is used as a sample as well as the issue of diminishing creativity in an economy where digital samples can be easily found and legally used by anyone. And, of course, we discuss the origins of hip-hop in the 1970s, and how the underground genre was transformed by technology and the influence of the market. To view the videos this audio is taken from, as well as related links and slides, visit: https://is.gd/igjd3t If you’re interested in purchasing the online textbook for this course, find instructions on how to do that at https://sarahwallinhuff.com/history-of-technology-in-music New episode each Thursday!

    40 min

  6. 01/09/2025

    Unit 12a: The Historical Roots of Sampling

    In this segment we go over the two historical roots that are the foundations of what we now call sampling: the history of “found sound” and the history of “musical borrowing”. We especially take note of how the evolving technology of the times contributed to the development of these art forms. To view the videos this audio is taken from, as well as related links and slides, visit: https://is.gd/igjd3t If you’re interested in purchasing the online textbook for this course, find instructions on how to do that at https://sarahwallinhuff.com/history-of-technology-in-music New episode each Thursday!

    28 min

  7. 01/02/2025

    Unit 11c: File Sharing, Streaming, and TikTok

    Thanks to the appearance of both the mp3 format and the public Internet in the 1990s, illegal file sharing exploded onto the scene, prompting the soon-after emergence of the streaming economy. We are still wrestling with the implications of this “digitally post-scarce” world and finding our way through the trials of making a living in this new economy. To view the videos this audio is taken from, as well as related links and slides, visit: https://is.gd/LbqkFA If you’re interested in purchasing the online textbook for this course, find instructions on how to do that at https://sarahwallinhuff.com/history-of-technology-in-music New episode each Thursday!

    48 min

  8. 12/26/2024

    Unit 11b: RCA v. Columbia and Moog v. Buchla

    In this segment, we’ll examine the reasons why RCA chose to release the new tech of vinyl as a 45 format rather than an LP (as Columbia did), and we’ll see how the public responded to these two options for recorded music. Then we’ll study the reasons why—even though Moog and Buchla invented the same voltage-controlled modular synthesizer technology at the same time on opposite coasts—Moog remains a household name in the industry instead of Buchla. To view the videos this audio is taken from, as well as related links and slides, visit: https://is.gd/LbqkFA If you’re interested in purchasing the online textbook for this course, find instructions on how to do that at https://sarahwallinhuff.com/history-of-technology-in-music New episode each Thursday!

    26 min
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Sarah's History of Music and Technology lectures, exploring the 40,000-year history of humans and their evolving relationship with music and the technology that makes it happen.

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