Each semester, students in various programs at Syracuse University are taking part in The Sound Beat Class Partnership Project. They’ve followed our script production process: selecting recordings, planning a programming schedule, researching and then writing: starting with longer papers and arriving at Sound Beat-sized scripts.
It’s been a great experience on our end! We’re sure the students have loved us prattling on and on about “our craft” too. The real value has been getting students involved with Belfer Archive and the absolute treasure trove it contains. Four classes have taken part in the Partnership to date, examing these historic recordings from diverse disciplinary lenses: writing, African American studies and music history among them. The cream of the crop are edited, tweaked and made into living, breathing Sound Beat episodes, for which the students get a publishing credit and hear their words broadcast across North America and the web.
We couldn’t have done any of it without the work of Rachel Fox von Swearingen, librarian for Music, Dance and Musical Theater, and Patrick Williams librarian for, (are you ready?) American Literature, Communication & Rhetorical Studies, Composition & Cultural Rhetoric, Drama, English/Textual Studies, Linguistics, Writing Program, (Acting) Philosophy, Research, Collections & Scholarly Communication. Phew. Check out this amazing research guide they’ve compiled. Dr. Jenny Doctor, new Director of Belfer Archive, has made it her goal to increase student access to the building, and has taken a hands-on role in the Partnership. And big thanks indeed to Professors Steve Meyer, Theo Cateforis, Paul Steinbeck and Jason Luther. Want to hear some student episodes? Click below!
Ryan Lu – Begin the Beguine by Art Tatum
Sarah Detweiler – Big Stuff by Billie Holiday
Brent Kelley – Lester’s Savoy Jump by Arthur “Prez” Young
Mark Perkins – Aint It The Truth by Count Basie