An ear for education : the sonic mode of address in education studies (review essay)

[Extract] Two recent texts, Music in television (Deaville 2011a) and Voice (Neumark et al. 2010) remind readers that sounds are integral to the construction of meaning. At the beginning of the twenty-first century in Australian schools, audio-visual digital texts are flourishing. As multimodal texts continue to be produced online, and television and film remain central to popular culture, the sonic mode of address remains important in the processes of meaning-making. The two texts examined here, Voice and Music in television offer insights into the role of sound at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Both texts justify their emergence as opportunities to revitalise attention to sounds in the twenty-first century—a time in which digital and online texts are becoming increasingly important aspects of everyday life. In this review essay, the contributions of these two texts to the literature on sound studies are discussed, and their potential value to education scholars outlined. These texts bring to light the importance of sounds, and philosophical questions about authenticity and meaning of sound, in a digitised world.

The Australian Association for Research in Education, Inc. 2013