From the Aulos to Smart Contracts: A Brief History of Rhetoric & Music

[dwla...@mtu.edu]

Music does more than play with our emotions.

It can influence the way we eat. 

It is used in warfare.

And it is implemented as a method of torture.

For Aristotle, it can bring us closer to virtue.

For Quintilian, it might drive us to madness.

For Baroque composers, rhetorical terms were deeply integrated into the theory of musical composition.

We will take a big picture look at key thoughts in the relationship between rhetoric and music, from Ancient Greece to new music distribution technologies emerging on the blockchain and the invasion of "corporate listening" into our private lives with the Amazon Echo, Google Home, and audio-based digital marketing hyper-targeting.

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Bio: 

Dr. Daniel William Lawrence is an Assistant Professor of Writing at the University of Wisconsin - Superior, and founder of the Upper Peninsula Record Company. His peer-reviewed research takes an interdisciplinary approach to issues at the intersection of rhetoric, music, digital media studies, the philosophy of technology, and ethics. 

Publications:

"Press C to Play the Ocarina: Rhetoric and Game Music." Online Credibility and Digital Ethos: Evaluating Computer-Mediated Communication. IGI Global. December 2012.

"The Quiet, Wintry North: Digital Folk of the Upper Peninsula." Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion. Special Issue on Sonic Rhetoric. April 2013.

"Singing Spectres: Phenomenology in the Performance of Music." Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities. Special Issue on Performance Studies. October 2013.

On the Digital-Political Topography of Music. Michigan Technological University. Dissertation. August 2014.