Course Details
Course offered Winter 2026
HONORS 211 A: Seattle Sounds (A&H, DIV, W)
HONORS 211 A: Seattle Sounds (A&H, DIV, W)
SLN ?
Office: Suzzallo Library 370A, Box 352900
Phone: 206 616-1210
Email: vallier@uw.edu
Credits: 5
Limit: 35 students
This class is an interdisciplinary mix, one that blends elements of ethnomusicology and digital humanities. Each week we delve into different eras of Seattle music history: Coast Salish peoples and white settlers, music of the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition, Jackson Street Jazz with Quincy Jones and Ernestine Anderson, experimentation of John Cage, Louie Louie and the garage rock of The Sonics, Jimi Hendrix, Heart, Nirvana, Shabazz Palaces, and more. As part of this exploration we critically examine the contexts within which these musics were made, performed, and consumed. Students will be asked to contribute to the development of a Seattle music history app, as well as make recommendations for the ongoing growth of the Seattle Sounds Archiving and Preservation Project (SSAPP), a collection of local music recordings held by the UW Ethnomusicology Archives.