Nate Sahr 1

Song/Casting: Combining and Songs to Create a Hybrid Medium

A Thesis Presented to the Honors Tutorial College,

Ohio University

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation

from the Honors Tutorial College with the degree of

Bachelor of Science in Media Arts & Studies

By Nate Sahr

May 2021

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Table of Contents

Abstract 3

Introduction – What is a Songcast? 4

The Hypothetical Songcast: Preliminary Research & Codification 9

Storytelling in Podcasts 10

Storytelling in Songs 12

Parasocial Relationships 14

Music 16

The Actual Songcast: Creative Process 17

Evaluating my Songcast 30

Conclusion 32

Bibliography 34

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Abstract

In my creative project and associated paper, I explore a hybrid medium, songcasting, that combines the most compelling elements of podcasts with the most compelling elements of songs. For the creation of this specific songcast, I interviewed 7 talented storytellers to capture audio recordings of them telling stories. From these, I chose a story about a Minnesotan teenager and his sister exploring Australia in 1979, and

I built my songcast around it. This story explores coming of age, what it means to live in the modern world, cross-cultural relations, and more. The music and narration are carefully arranged and fused together to provide an immersive listening experience.

While this songcast highlights the medium’s strengths, it is only one example of the many possibilities of songcasting. By synthesizing music, an emphasis on parasocial relationships, and the storytelling modes of both songs and podcasts, songcasts stand apart as unique audio format.

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Introduction – What is a Songcast?

Imagine a spectrum: on one side of the spectrum is the color blue, on the other side is the color yellow. What lies in the center of this spectrum? If you know anything about color theory, or if you have ever experimented with mixing paints in art class, you likely answered: the color green. This spectrum is simple; it exists within a system defined by the laws of nature. When blue and yellow mix, in equal amounts, we see green. Identifying the intersection is easy. However, many spectrums and intersections are not so simple as this.

Imagine another spectrum: this time one that spans between podcasts and songs.

What lies in the center of this spectrum? This is, essentially, the question I have studied and explored in my creative project: what would a hybrid medium, one that combined components from both music and podcasting, sound like? What would it be?

This -song spectrum is much less straight forward than the blue-yellow spectrum, but there are some similarities, nonetheless. In the blue-yellow spectrum

(image 1), green exists distinctly from blue and yellow. Green is not blue in the same way that blue is not yellow. However, while green is distinct in the blue-yellow spectrum, it is not independent. Without blue, green would not exist. Without yellow, green would not exist. In other words, green is blue and yellow at the same time, while simultaneously being neither parent color. Nate Sahr 5

Image 1: Blue-Yellow Color Spectrum (Towns)

So, how does this have anything to do with the podcast-song spectrum? First, to avoid confusion, I will refer to this hypothetical hybrid medium that lies in the center of the podcast-song spectrum by a name: “songcasts”. Now, songcasts and the color green have a few things in common. Namely, songcasts are a distinct medium. Just as green is not blue, songcasts are neither a podcast nor a song. Instead, they are something new and different. Furthermore, while songcasts are distinct, they are still a combination of both podcasts and songs; they are dependent on these mediums. Just as green would not exist without both blue and yellow, songcasts would not exist without both podcasts and songs.

Songcasts are a podcast and a song at the same time, while simultaneously being neither medium.

Of course, this is not a perfect analogy. Combining blue and yellow makes green; this is a simple law of nature. However, combining a podcast and a song might simply Nate Sahr 6 make a podcast with lots of music in it, or a song with lots of talking. What distinguishes a songcast? There are no laws of nature to define it, only varying perceptions and clashing definitions. Furthermore, it is impossible to even know if a distinct, hybrid medium even exists on the podcast-song spectrum without exploring that space in great depth.

Consequently, exploring that space is exactly what I have done via my creative project. I studied aspects of both podcasting and music, specifically songs with lyrical content, to identify why these mediums are so compelling. I identified what aspects of podcasting draw in its listeners, and what components of a song move the heart and mind.

Once I understood these aspects and how to replicate them, I created a hybrid work by combining the most compelling aspects of podcasting and the most compelling aspects of music.

Throughout this process, I have encountered a few common misconceptions about songcasts, so I offer a few clarifications. Songcasts are not podcasts about music or songs about podcasting. Songcasts are not podcasts that use lots of music, nor are they songs that include lots of talking. Ideally, listeners will struggle to identify a songcast as either a song or a podcast. Instead, a songcast is both of these things and neither of them at the same time.

Consider the television show “Sherlock.” While each episode runs for 90 minutes, the length of some movies, the show is still episodic and (Heritage). This series combines aspects typical to movies and television shows to create something unique.

While it is presented and distributed as a television show, “Sherlock” could arguably be defined as either a show or a series of movies. Nate Sahr 7

By exploring the intersection of movies and shows, Sherlock’s writers and producers made something incredibly unique and compelling. As a result, the show’s second series averaged over 8 million viewers per episode when it premiered (Marszal).

Ultimately, this commercial success has much to do with the actual story, not just the form. There have been other television shows to follow similar formats with less success.

The story of “Sherlock,” however, relies on the form; it would be completely different if the episodes were only 45 minutes long. Form is important; it is the framework around which compelling stories are told. New forms allow for new stories.

“Sherlock” combines aspects of movies and television shows: two incredibly compelling and successful mediums that are extremely similar in many ways. I am interested in combining music in podcasts because they, like television and movies, are both incredibly compelling and similar mediums. The market value of podcasting and music point to their emotional value; in 2019 the podcasting industry generated $479.1 million dollars (Hogan), and the music industry generated $11.1 billion (Friedlander).

Clearly, these mediums have the power to move people, as said people have shown by paying for access to these mediums.

Additionally, both of these industries are built on the same technologies. The most influential of these technologies is audio recording; its implementation shattered the boundaries of time and space that previously held music captive. More recently, digital distribution and streaming have further democratized music. Now, anyone with a connection to the internet can access tens of millions of songs within minutes or less.

While music was transformed by these technologies, podcasting was born from the opportunities they create. Digital distribution allowed podcasts to form as a medium Nate Sahr 8 distinct from radio; no longer did consumers have to tune in at the right time to hear their favorite shows (McHugh). Instead, they could simply download them and listen whenever and wherever they pleased. With the advent of streaming, that ease of access has only increased.

Anecdotally, the similarities between podcasting and music can be seen by how

Spotify and Apple, owners of the world’s two largest music streaming platforms, also operate the world’s two largest podcasting streaming platforms (Mulligan). Their infrastructure and customer base translate so easily between music and podcasts because they are such similar mediums. In the case of , these services are even part of the same application (image 2); you can stream podcasts and music in the same place.

Clearly, then, podcasting and music are already intersecting commercially and technologically. Since they are both strictly audio mediums, they use the same technologies to record and distribute that audio.

Image 2: The Spotify Desktop Application (Spotify). Nate Sahr 9

There is also some existing creative overlap between the mediums. For example,

Daft Punk’s “Giorgio by Moroder” has sections that feel very much like a hybrid between podcast and song, even if the piece as a whole is clearly still a song. On the other hand, podcasts frequently use music to enhance their narratives and elicit emotional responses from their listeners. Other podcasts are all about music or music culture. The podcast

Song Exploder showcases different songwriters dissecting songs they have written. At the end of each episode, the song that was discussed is played in its entirety (Hirway). Other creatives, like Ryan O’Neal of Sleeping at Last, have created podcasts to accompany their musical works. In The Sleeping at Last Podcast, O’Neal discusses songs he has written and his motivation behind creating music.

These existing interactions between podcasting and music point to a greater potential that has yet to be fulfilled. While technologically these mediums are fairly integrated, the creative intersection of podcasts and songs has only been lightly explored.

There has yet to be a wholescale fusing of the two mediums, as I aim to accomplish. I plan on blending podcasting and music from the very beginning of the creative process.

By doing this, and by incorporating essential elements from both mediums, I will create works that demonstrate the fullest potential of a hybrid between songs and podcasts.

The Hypothetical Songcast: Preliminary Research & Codification

Before creating my songcast, I needed to identify the basic elements I will be working with. By breaking down both podcasts and songs into their most basic elements,

I compiled a short list of components that would be essential for creating a songcast.

According to the paradigm I established, songs are comprised of music and storytelling, Nate Sahr 10 and podcasts are comprised of parasocial relationships and storytelling. Since storytelling is an element of both mediums, although it is expressed quite differently in each, there are three total components between the two mediums.

Certainly, this is a limited analysis. Other aspects, which do not fit into any of my categories, can be identified in both songs and podcasts. Additionally, the categories I have identified are generalizations, not necessarily universal aspects of their respective medium. For example, podcast talk shows generally don’t include a story. However, I still hold to this paradigm because it identifies the components that most contribute to making songs and podcasts compelling mediums. Songs might generally be between two and five minutes long, but that’s not what draws people to them. People listen to songs because of the music and the stories. In the same way, people listen to podcasts because of the stories and the perceived intimacy they cultivate through parasocial relationships.

It is important to not only identify these components, but to analyze how they are used in songs and podcasts as well. Following is an analysis of the categories I have identified: storytelling, parasocial relationships, and music.

Storytelling in Podcasts

Movies, television, literature, paintings, dance, and many other mediums have the potential to tell stories, but they all tell these stories in different ways. The same is true for podcasts and songs. Even though these are both auditory mediums, they approach storytelling differently.

Podcasts range in form from fiction to comedy to investigative journalism, and each genre of podcasts handles storytelling differently. Podcast talk shows, like My Nate Sahr 11

Brother, My Brother and Me (McElroy), are essentially without a narrative. Meanwhile, fictional podcasts, like Wolf 359 (Urbina), offer clear and fleshed-out stories you might find on a television show or book series. Many podcasts, like 99% Invisible, present stories as a web of interconnected information rather than a narrative with a clear beginning, middle, and end (Mars).

Initially, I planned to focus on this third group of podcasts, ones that tell stories as an interconnected web of ideas, for a few reasons. The first is quite simple: this genre of podcasts is my favorite. Shows like , 99% Invisible, and The Memory Palace tell non-fiction stories in a way that I find incredibly compelling. Second, this genre of podcasts tends to integrate music more innovatively than other podcast genres. The

Memory Palace constantly utilizes stunning soundtracks that amplify the story and draw the listener in (DiMeo). Radiolab frequently uses sound and music as a narrative tool. For example, an episode in 2012 featured the voices of a choir to represent the light spectrum sonically (Abumrad 2012).

For the purposes of this paper, I will refer to this genre of podcasts as “abstract- story podcasts”. In these podcasts, interviews, conversations, monologues, and other speech-centric tools are all utilized to present a series of interconnected facts and observations. These connections form the story. In the 99% Invisible episode “Their Dark

Materials,” interviews and monologues describe “Vantablack” and other ultra-black pigments, which absorb nearly all light that touches them. They also show how different artists have used or responded these materials. Each section highlights a separate idea, but the show’s creators present these ideas as connected parts of a larger story. Artists Nate Sahr 12 innovate and create, audiences act and react, and the stakes escalate. Each bit of information is building the greater narrative. The story is abstract, yet clear (Mars 2020).

Since these podcasts are integrating music in such interesting ways, I thought it wise to use them as reference points for my own work. As it turned out, the story I had used for my initial songcast was very straightforward and linear, unlike these abstract- story podcasts. As such, the amount I could draw from these podcasts was limited.

However, this genre of podcasts could prove much more useful as a reference point for future songcasts. For example, I plan to create another songcast that would stitch together sections of four different stories to create a new narrative surrounding the relationships between people and their mothers. This songcast will likely use a storytelling approach similar to the “Their Dark Materials” episode of 99% invisible.

Storytelling in Songs

There are several different ways of approaching storytelling through song. Many songs that employ straightforward narratives. is a perfect example of this; folk writers often use characters, settings, and story arcs in ways an author might. “The

Temptation of Adam” by Josh Ritter is a perfect example of this kind of songwriting; it’s the story of two lovers living in an underground missile silo during the cold war. That could easily be the pitch for a novel. This type of songwriting most influenced my songcast for this creative project, as it has very clear and straightforward characters, settings, and story arcs. Nate Sahr 13

Other songs, especially pop songs, are far less complex. The entire story of “My

Girl” by The Temptations could be told in a few sentences. The singer feels really good.

When people ask him why, he tells them his girl makes him feel good.

A third type of song uses more poetic, abstract imagery. The song “Not” by Big

Thief is an apt example of this kind of songwriting. The entire song describes a mysterious unknown, but it does so exclusively by describing what it is not. The chorus lyrics read: “Not a ruse / Not heat / Not the fire lapping up the creek / Not food / Not to eat.” The song never clearly states what it is referring to; the listener is left to interpret the meaning themselves. Songs like “Not” present stories as a web of connected ideas, just like abstract-story podcasts.

Another aspect found in some branches of songwriting is the use of both fiction and non-fiction, sometime simultaneously. It is often unclear if a song is fictional or not; songwriters use fiction and reality alike as a simple tool. It is both unimportant and unclear whether the tangled love story in “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to

Get Us” by Sufjan Stevens is true. Much of the story seems plausible, but it is laced with fantastical imagery of a wasp that follows and antagonizes the singer. Stevens has said that his lyricism is inspired by creative writing courses he has taken, intended for authors of fictional literature. The important thing about his songs is the imagery, the conflicts, and the way these things make the listener feel. The song’s devotion to reality is much less important (Rachel). Often, fiction presents truths far better than non-fiction does; the tradition of songwriting stands testament to this.

Finally, songwriting is musical. In songwriting, the lyrics are integral to storytelling, but so is the music. A verse of “What I Got” by Sublime sings “Got to find a Nate Sahr 14 reason / A reason things went wrong / Got to find a reason why my money’s all gone.”

The melody, beat, riff, and everything else musical about this song is upbeat and happy. The juxtaposition is part of the storytelling. However, imagine the same lyrics were being sung in a droning voice over a solitary playing slow, minor chords.

That would be a very different story, but the lyrics would not be any different. The music in a song is important to the story, just as the lyrics are.

Parasocial Relationships

Parasocial relationships are all about perceived intimacy. The phenomenon of parasocial relationships refers to the interaction between an audience and a media celebrity in which the audience members experience an unreciprocated closeness with said celebrity (Horton 580). For example, imagine a podcast listener that feels as though they are friends with the podcast’s host, while the host doesn’t even know the listener exists as an individual (Keiles 76). Those one-way feelings are the basis of a parasocial relationship. Horton and Strauss first coined this term while studying a subset of television personalities in 1957. Specifically, personalities who spoke directly to those watching their programs, such as game show hosts or announcers, were the subject of this study. They found viewers of these television personalities, especially over many episodes, felt a sense of intimacy with them (Horton 579).

Jamie Keiles, in her article “The Fans Run the Show,” explores how podcasts are arguably even more effective at forming these parasocial relationships than any television medium. Podcasts amplify the aspects in television that were most effective in generating these relationships. Podcast hosts, like a game show host, speak directly to the listener, Nate Sahr 15 but they often do so in a more casual and intimate manner. Additionally, the way podcasts are often consumed increases this sense of intimacy. People listen to podcasts while doing chores, commuting to work, taking showers, or falling asleep. In these intimate spaces, podcast hosts are with them and speaking directly to them (76).

Podcasts and other similar mediums allow individuals to form relationships without the normal effort and vulnerability involved. As Keiles puts it, “Podcasts allow us to get to know someone without all the stress of making ourselves known.” While these relationships provided a lesser sense of intimacy than a reciprocated friendship, they also require less work. This ease of access is part of what makes the medium so appealing (76).

Within podcasting, parasocial relationships can be formed in different ways. The most direct approach can be seen in talk shows, like My Brother, My Brother and Me

(McElroy), in which the hosts frequently respond to fan mail and respond to questions posed by the listeners. In fact, one could argue this is more than a parasocial relationship, as there is a small amount of host-fan interaction within the podcast. Most shows, including talk shows, simply use the same host in all their episodes. In the podcast 99%

Invisible, the primary host, , in prominent in every original episode.

Additionally, other members of the podcast’s team make frequent and reoccurring appearances. In this way, the listener will form connections with Mars and the whole team over time as they listen (Mars).

The Memory Palace exclusively features Nate DiMeo narrating odd stories from history—there are no other voices on the show (DiMeo). This allows the listener to form a connection rather quickly. On the other side of the spectrum, only Nate Sahr 16 features the host in the intro and outro of each podcast. With the host appearing so little in the show, the parasocial relationship weaker a podcast like The Memory Palace.

However, the hosts of Song Exploder use other tools to cultivate parasocial relationships as well. As curators, they choose which artists will appear on their show, as well as editing what the artists say to present an interesting podcast. In this way they earn the listener’s trust. Additionally, the listener has the opportunity to form a connection with each songwriter guest on the show, although the lack of repeated appearances hinders the formation of a stronger parasocial relationship (Hirway).

The way I have approached creating my songcast looks more similar to Song

Exploder than The Memory Palace, at least in terms of forming parasocial relationships. I plan to continue in this fashion as I create more songcasts in the future. This, however, has more to do with the content I’ve chosen to include in my songcast than with songcasts themselves. Were someone else to create a songcast, or I to create a different type of songcast, it could easily reflect other modes of forming parasocial relationships.

A songcast could emulate The Memory Palace or 99% Invisible just as easily as Song

Exploder in this way.

Music

Music is used in both songs and podcasts, but its role is much more significant in songs. Music, along with storytelling, is one of the essential aspects of a song. Podcasts, on the other hand, only use music to support their essential aspects. Music is tangential and unnecessary, if incredibly helpful, in podcasting. The same cannot be said of songs. Nate Sahr 17

For the purposes of my project, music refers to all parts of a song besides the lyrics and associated story. This includes melody, harmony, rhythm, and more. Music plays a part in storytelling, but it also plays its own, distinct role in songs. Music imbues songs with emotional impact. Any casual consumer of music can observe this, and many scientific studies have examined the specific ways music impacts its listeners.

For example, one study shows that the emotional impact of a melody is influenced by lyrics; sad lyrics overtop of a happy melody will produce a different emotional response then the same happy melody without any lyrics. Additionally, melody has a greater emotional impact than lyrics do (Ali and Zehra 1). A second study shows a positive correlation between the complexity of a rhythm and brain stimulation (Alipour et al. 2607). A third study demonstrates that faster tempos result in more negative responses from their test subjects (Kellaris and Ronald 15).

More research examines the emotional impact of other facets of music, but the details are not incredibly relevant to my project. The important takeaway is that music, both its individual elements and the combined whole, has an emotional impact on people that is separate from storytelling or parasocial relationships. As such, music will be a core factor in making my creative project compelling.

The Actual Songcast: Creative Process

The creative process is hard to predict. Unforeseen ideas and challenges always crop up, and the artist is forced to deal with them. This has certainly been the case with my creative project; I encountered several major obstacles along the way. Additionally, the timeline and workflow of this creative project looked drastically different than how I Nate Sahr 18 imagined it last summer. While the change in workflow was ultimately helpful, other difficulties only proved to conjure up extra work and stress for me. However, I knew to expect challenges along the way, and ultimately this project has been very rewarding.

I began working on this creative project in the spring semester of my junior year.

It was not long before the beginning of this semester that the central idea of this creative project, to combine songs and podcasts, was taking shape in my mind. I was interested in this idea, but unsure of its viability as a thesis project. I decided to take an independent study with Professor Beth Novak to flesh out this idea and do some initial research. A large part of this independent study was identifying and studying existing works, either podcasts or songs, that touched on the idea in any way. We also sought to identify what defines the mediums of songs and podcasts, so we could better understand what combining them would entail.

During this time, I was also refining my idea and writing my prospectus in HC

3000J, the Honors College composition class. As part of my prospectus, I gathered academic research surrounding songs, podcasts, and hybrid mediums. With this research,

I began to identify the core, most compelling elements of songs and podcasts. Along with this research, I created an outline and rough timeline for how I would approach this project.

Completing much of the research and ideation for my project, both in HC 3000J and my independent study, allowed me to begin working on the project at the beginning of the following fall semester. However, there was one key element I had not figured out in the spring: content. All of my research and thought had revolved around this unique hybrid form of songcasts, and I had not though much about what I wanted to make a Nate Sahr 19 songcast about. After all, you can’t make a podcast or a lyrical song about nothing, and the same is true of songcast.

I brainstormed different ideas for content, and while I came up with many ideas, two of them stuck out. My first idea was to focus on natural storytellers—the kind of individuals who could enchant a whole dinner party with tales of their sundry adventures.

I would record them telling a story and make a songcast using those stories. My second idea was similar but would focus instead of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individual people’s lives. Eventually, I chose to focus on natural storytellers because I thought that this option would be the simplest and entertaining in its own right. This was appealing because it would allow me to focus my energy more on form and figuring out how to make a songcast.

Once I determined the content, I originally planned to launch right into creating my first songcast. I knew I wanted to interview my close friend, Peter Koudelka, who is a master’s student at Case Western Reserve University. Peter is a certainly a natural storyteller, and my relationship with him was a large part of my inspiration for interviewing storytellers. Because I already had one interviewee, I planned to record him telling a story and get to work on my first songcast.

However, my thesis advisor, Professor Beth Novak, suggested I gather more interviews before beginning to create. This would give me a wider range of content to pull on and could only serve to improve the content I featured in my songcast.

Additionally, it would allow me the option of combining fragments of multiple stories and interviews into one songcast. After acknowledging all of these benefits, I decided to gather a variety of interviews first and then begin creating songcasts. Nate Sahr 20

The next step, naturally, was to find storytellers to interview. Using both

Professor Novak’s contacts as well as my own, we gathered the names of storytellers from across and , and I reached out to them. Christy Zempter, director of the OHIO Honors Program, was especially helpful in this endeavor. She provided the names of several storytellers and pointed us to the West Virginia Storyteller’s Guild. On top of reaching out to contacts, Professor Novak and I put out a call for participants as an email to both theater students and media students.

After gathering all of these contacts and reaching out, eight different storytellers agreed to work with me on this project. Peter Koudelka, my close friend, was one. Two current Ohio University professors, Duane McDiarmid and Dr. Yegan Pillay, offered to help, as well as the retired professor Jack Wright. Lexie Tillery, a theater student, and

Eva Kinneary, a media student, responded to the call for participants. Tom Hodson, a former Athens Judge and Ohio University professor, offered to help after hearing about my project from Professor Novak. Ilene Evans, from the West Virginia Storyteller’s

Guild, responded to my emails and agreed to help as well.

Over the course of the fall semester, I stayed in regular email contact with each interviewee. This included confirming their willingness to participate, scheduling interviews, supplying important information, and more. This was a fluid process; I was scheduling some interviews even after others were long completed.

Recording these interviews was complicated. In ordinary times, I would invite interviewees into a recording studio in order to use the acoustically treated space and professional recording equipment. However, all of these interviews took place in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, rendering in-person interviews unsafe and unwise. Nate Sahr 21

As such, I was forced to develop a way of conducting these interviews virtually, while still capturing professional, high quality audio recordings. My solution was to assemble a mobile and simple–to–use recording setup (image 3). Using various funding sources, I was able to acquire all the necessary equipment: headphones, a microphone with a stand, an audio interface, a flash drive, all the needed cables, and a case to store and protect the rest of the equipment.

Image 3: The mobile recording kit used for this project

Next, I drafted detailed instructions on how to set up and use all of this recording equipment, as the interviewees wouldn’t be able to figure it out on their own. While I included a copy of these instructions in the mobile recording bundle (via a document on the flash drive), it served more useful as a script to use when walking the interviewees through the process via video call. These video calls were the method I used to relay this information to nearly every interviewee. Nate Sahr 22

Once I fully assembled the mobile recording bundle and completed the set-up instructions, Professor Novak and I did a test run. I dropped off the equipment with her, and we went through setting up the equipment via video call like I would later with the interviewees. This allowed me to troubleshoot the process and refine the instructions before any actual interview.

All that remained was to interview the storytellers. Each interview followed the same general structure. Well before the interview, I would ship or drop off the mobile recording bundle, depending on the interviewee’s proximity to me. Just before calling the interviewee, I would set up recording equipment in my home studio (which is also my bedroom and my office) to capture my voice. Next, I would video call the interviewee and help them set up the recording equipment on their end. Generally, this took 10-20 minutes. After that, we would begin the interview proper with some introductory questions. I would ask the interviewee about their life, their work, their passions, and their connection to storytelling. This would lead into the interviewee telling a story, or sometimes a handful of stories, while I asked the occasional question. More questions followed the story’s conclusion, after which point, we would wrap up the interview.

Once the interview was over, the interviewee would save the audio files on the flash drive, pack up the recording equipment, and return it to me. After disinfecting the equipment, I would then take the recordings of both the interviewee and myself and edit them together, matching up the timing of the conversation. Then, I would once again disinfect the equipment before sending it to the next interviewee.

While the format was similar between interviews, the topics were many and varied. All of the storytellers I worked with on this project come from different Nate Sahr 23 backgrounds and had different stories to tell. Peter Koudelka laid out the story of his tumultuous relationship with his mother, and all the twists and turns it has taken over the years. Lexie Tillery told a handful of short stories about experiencing discrimination based on race or gender. Tom Hodson told two sets of stories on two different days. One day, he traced his career as a journalist, lawyer, judge, and a fellow at the

Supreme Court. His story the next day was darker; he talked about experiencing sexual abuse as a child and the devastating impact of male child sexual abuse.

Jack Wright told a tragic story of a coal miner he heard while working on a project that captured the music of Appalachian coal mining culture. Dr. Pillay talked about growing up in South Africa during apartheid and about his career as a psychologist and professor. Duane McDiarmid told one story about walking in on his father having an affair, and one story about traveling across Australia with his sister as a teenager. Eva

Kinneary talked about her deceased mother and told several short stories about her.

There were many complications throughout this process. During Peter Kudelka’s interview, I forgot to record my audio and we ended up redoing everything. Jack

Wright’s interview had tons of ugly background noise, and it is likely unusable. During my first meeting with Dr. Pillay, we couldn’t get the equipment to work at all. Luckily, he was gracious enough to reschedule, and after some troubleshooting things went smoothly. Eva Kinneary and I had to reschedule our meeting after I forgot to include an important cable when I shipped her the mobile recording bundle.

The interview I had planned with Ilene Evans was especially stressful. After shipping the equipment to her office in West Virginia, the mobile recording bundle seemingly disappeared. Despite looking throughout her whole office building and asking Nate Sahr 24 around at other building on the same street, Ilene Evans could not locate the package. It seemed, at that point, that the equipment had been stolen. I filed a claim with FedEx, and

HTC graciously provided me with funds to replace the equipment so I could continue with my creative project. I chose not to reschedule the interview with Ilene Evans.

Thankfully, nearly a month after these events, the missing package was found and returned to me. While this was a genuinely wonderful surprise, the whole situation was still extremely stressful.

Thanks, in part, to these many challenges and complications, completing all these interviews took nearly the entirety of the fall semester. The final thing I accomplished before the end of the semester was a thorough analysis of each interview. Over the course of two weeks, I listened back to each interview in full, taking notes on content, theme, and tone. Throughout this process, I noted any connection I could identify between the various stories. In doing all of this, I began to consider what content I would use to form my initial work.

I continued thinking about this until I returned to my project in January of 2021.

At this point, I had two story ideas from all the interviews that seemed especially strong.

My first idea focused on one story: Duane McDermid’s account of exploring Australia as a teenager. I found this story extremely entertaining and compelling, so I wanted to highlight it and use it for one work. My second idea combined aspects of multiple stories together, using them to form a distinct narrative. Four of the storytellers I interviewed discussed their mothers either briefly or at length, and my plan was to synthesize all of their stories into a work about the relationship between people and their mothers. Nate Sahr 25

After some discussion with my advisor, I decided to focus on the Australia story first. The motherhood idea would require the extra step of synthesizing a narrative from multiple stories, while the Australia idea would be simpler to work with since it was only one story. This would allow me to focus more on experimenting with form, which is the core goal of this creative project.

Once I picked a story to work with, the first thing I did was edit the vocals. The initial telling of the Australia story spanned over 1.5 hours, but it was meandering and included several long, superfluous tangents. I removed much of this in my initial edit, cutting the audio down to around 23 minutes (image 4). Later, I would perform another edit. This would remove some further content, but mainly focused on cutting silence and filler words such as “umm,” “uhhh,” and “you know” from the audio. The final piece will be 17.5 minutes long.

Image 4: An early edit of Duane's vocals using Pro Tools

After editing the interview, the next step was to add the musical elements to the work. This step of the process was very daunting due to the project’s novelty and unique nature. I had never crafted a songcast before, and I had very few concrete reference Nate Sahr 26 points for what a songcast might sound like. Most of the media I had identified during research only suggested directions to explore, rather than emulate a songcast. Soon after starting to work on the musical components of this songcast, it became clear that I would likely only finish one work before graduation. The work I was doing was very experimental and simply took more time than we initially predicted.

Regardless, I pressed forward working on the music. I began by mentally separating the interview out into different narrative sections. This way, I was able to focus on smaller parts and avoid getting overwhelmed by the scope of the work.

Additionally, this helped me create dynamics throughout the work, as the emotions and energy of each narrative section was emphasized. At this stage, I was focused on generating ideas rather than evaluating them. I knew that once I had all my initial ideas combined and working together, I would be in a better spot to evaluate, revise, and generate further ideas if necessary (image 5).

Image 5: A draft of the music and vocals made using Pro Tools Nate Sahr 27

I continued in this cycle of creation and revision over the course of about 5 weeks.

During this period, another unforeseen complication presented itself. In the narrative of my work, Duane McDiarmid and his sister, as teenagers, are traveling with an Australian of a similar age. Eventually, then encounter a family of Aboriginal people in need of some help. Duane and company give the Aboriginal family a ride to an Aboriginal tribe gathering, where Duane, his sister, and their friend are welcomed as family. They spend time with the Aboriginal tribe, live with them, and learn about their culture and customs.

For this section of the story, I wanted to create music that was heavily inspired by

Aboriginal music. Specifically, I wanted to emulate Aboriginal music using modern instruments, such as synthesizers, to represent the modern teenagers exsiting in this

Aboriginal space. However, the dangers of cultural appropriation made me wary of this proposition. Professor Novak and I decided I should consult some experts on Aboriginal culture to see if using Aboriginal inspired music in this way would be appropriate and respectful.

Through Professor Novak’s connections, I was able to get into contact with Paul

Taylor. Paul is not Aboriginal, but he has spent years both living with and advocating for

Aboriginal peoples. Paul agreed to meet with me, but first he directed me towards the

Yubulyawan Dreaming Project website. This website, which Paul was deeply involved in creating, aims to preserve and promote the Aboriginal cultural heritage (Taylor).

Through this resource, I was able to educate myself on many aspects of

Aboriginal culture, not just the music. The Dreaming, a complex idea, lies at the center of

Aboriginal beliefs and culture. The Dreaming refers to their creation event, where the ancestral beings traveled through the world and shaped it, but the Dreaming also refers to Nate Sahr 28 the reflections of that creation event in the world around us. The Dreaming is both these things simultaneously, as it is not fixed in time. The Dreaming is specific to the land, and it is different depending on where you are. Law refers to the ways we ought to treat and take care of the world around us, and Country refers to the land and everything in it. Each of these concepts is far more complex than I’ve presented, and they are all inseparably connected in an intricate and beautiful way (Egan). I recommend visiting the

Yubulyawan Dreaming Project website for a deeper look at Aboriginal culture.

After looking into these concepts on my own, I met with Paul Taylor. He was able to educate me even further on Aboriginal music and culture, and he helped me evaluate my project in relation to these things. This meeting was very encouraging. Paul affirmed that emulating Aboriginal music in the way I planned would be appropriate and even good. Aside from copying specific songs or works by Aboriginal people, which I never planned to do, there were no aspects of Aboriginal music that were off limits due to religious or cultural beliefs. Furthermore, Paul suggested a few elements I could consider adding to this section of music, including chanting, foot stomping, and guttural vocals.

Simply put, this interview with Paul gave me a wealth of information I could use to improve my project.

Eventually, after meeting with Paul and making more revisions, I finally completed a full draft of my work. Other than production, I could identify no more changes I wanted to make. Before moving on, however, I wanted to consult with others, specifically people who had not yet heard any drafts, and get their feedback. I reached out to my peers in the Media HTC cohort, and Adam Spelic, Meredith Wammes, and Nate

Pommering all listened to my songcast and gave me feedback. Additionally, Professor Nate Sahr 29

Novak reached out to some other media professors, and one of them, Eric Williams, also gave me feedback.

Most of the feedback I received was positive, and there were only a few minor changes I wanted to make before continuing. I quickly addressed these issues before moving on to the production phase of my project. While creating my drafts, I used recording methods that are much easier than standard recording methods, but they also produce lower quality recordings. This allowed me to focus on creating, but it also required that I re-record many of the instruments before mixing and mastering the work.

Beyond re-recording, I also had to edit many of the audio tracks for things like timing issues and pitch issues.

Once all my final recordings and edits were consolidated, I mixed and mastered the track by skillfully manipulating the audio with various processing tools including equalizers, compression, and more. Using these tools, I imbued the work with additional emotional impact, a crisp and professional sound quality, a sense of cohesion between all the tracks, and many other small but helpful changes. My aim with mixing and mastering this work specifically was to enhance the adventurous, happy feeling that the story and music already evoked in the listener.

Currently, the work is accessible on SoundCloud via a private link

(https://bit.ly/2RWA4tT), but this is a temporary measure. I plant to publish this work more officially and professionally in the near future by packaging it as a podcast and uploading it to all the major podcasting platforms. This future version will also include an intro, outro, and credits surrounding the piece. While creatively I sought to make a hybrid of songs and podcasts, the economic systems tied to both songs and podcasts mean that it Nate Sahr 30 will be far easier to both distribute and monetize my work by labeling it as either a song or a podcast. Of these two options, the podcasting system will offer a better experience for listeners and more monetary potential for me. As I create new songcasts, I will publish them in a serial fashion as a podcast on all major podcast streaming platforms.

Evaluating my Songcast

In creating my songcast, I aimed to create something new and different by synthesizing songs and podcasts into a hybrid medium. However, in many ways this aim was just a tool. My higher goal in creating my songcast was to create something compelling and moving; creating works in this space between podcasts and songs was a means to this end. Since this project had two different goals, it makes sense to evaluate them separately.

First, for the goal of creating something new and different by synthesizing songs and podcasts into a hybrid medium, I deem my project a moderate success. While I was searching for existing works that resembled songcasts, I only found one, “Giorgio by

Moroder,” that reflected the structure my songcast uses (Daft Punk). However, my songcast differs even from “Giorgio by Moroder” in that it uses both music and spoken narrative throughout the entire piece.

Upon starting this project, one of the metrics for success in this area that I imagined was whether or not a listener would struggle to identify the work as a song or podcast. I believe many listeners would hesitate to name my work either a song or a podcast, so in this way it seems a success. However, the work seems to lean the way of Nate Sahr 31 podcasts to me. I hypothesize that if you forced said listeners to choose between song or podcast, a majority would choose podcast.

My work utilizes all the most compelling elements of songs and podcasts I identified in my initial research: storytelling, music, and parasocial relationships. The work also leverages modes of storytelling from both parent mediums; the spoken narrative and the musical one work together and intertwine. Despite all of this, my work feels more like a podcast with a musical score than a distinct hybrid of songs and podcasts. While this is still unique, it is not exactly what I aimed for in making this songcast.

I believe my initial research may have been flawed, as the work lacks some distinct song-like qualities that I failed to identify. The vast majority of songs, especially lyrical songs, use similar paradigms of structure. The back and forth between choruses that repeat information and verses that present new information creates a very unique and distinctly songlike mode of storytelling. Additionally, most lyrical songs include melodic vocals. In fact, vocals are usually one of the loudest and most prominent aspects in the mix of a song. The use of singing is incredibly important to lyrical songs. Both of these aspects of the song, structure and singing, may help the songcast find a more balanced position between songs and podcasts, or they may swing songcasts over to feeling more like a song. I do believe they are worth experimenting with, however.

In this way, my creative project was a moderate success. However, when evaluated by my second goal, to create something compelling and moving, this project was a great success. Or rather, it was subjectively a great success; I do not have any definitive data to support this claim. Despite this, I feel confident that this work Nate Sahr 32 emotionally moves listeners. The story I started with is incredibly compelling and entertaining, and the unique form I’ve placed it in creates a novel and interesting mode of listening to that story.

Conclusion

This creative project was not a means of prolific creation, but it was a means of prolific information. After all the complications and slowdowns, I was only able to create one work over the course of this creative project. However, the process of creating that work was a veritable fountain of helpful information. All of my successes and all of my failures together form a foundation of work that I, or other creatives, can use to more successfully and more prolifically create songcasts or other works that combine aspects of songs and aspects of podcasts.

I now have a collection of valuable assets I can build upon in the future, including all my unused interviews, my completed initial work, and the structures and process laid out in this paper. Beyond simply completing a songcast, which holds its own value, I have established the potential for compelling works in the space between songs and podcasts. In this way, the end of my creative project serves as the beginning of a greater body of unique, compelling, and innovative work.

Songcasts utilize the greatest strengths of both podcasts and music. By combining music, parasocial relationships, and multiple forms of storytelling, songcasts incorporate the compelling nature of both parent mediums while simultaneously providing an innovative and unique listening experience. This combination, familiar components arranged in a different way, is potent; there is incredible potential to use songcasts to Nate Sahr 33 express new ideas, ask new questions, and explore new spaces. Artists and creators, including myself, will inevitably realize this potential, tap into it, and pull from it all sorts of yet undiscovered beauty for all to experience. Nate Sahr 34

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