Rachel Beckles Willson ( Minor coordinator)

Introduction

Sound is everywhere, shaping how we feel, move, and connect. The minor enables you to engage with this reality, incorporating sound and listening practices into your own work by learning the fundamentals of working with sound (recording and production) while providing insight into the sociocultural, ecological, and political impact of sound.  

You’ll learn through experimentation with listening and sound-making in multiple ways, while investigating how sound and sonic cultures connect/disconnect humans, environments, and more-than-human worlds.  

Following hands-on training at WdKA’s Image and Sound Station, coupled with studying relevant critical theory, you will develop your own project (a sound installation, a soundscape composition, a sound-based social or pedagogical intervention, a podcast radio show, a performance, or something completely new).  

Collaborations with professional partners will bring real-world networks into your laboratory. In short, this program offers the tools, guidance, and freedom to develop professional art and design skills in sound, challenge how we engage with sound in numerous professional spheres, and join Rotterdam’s vibrant scene of sound artists, sound designers and experimental musicians.  

 

Learning Outcomes

• You are able to present advanced knowledge on concepts and terminology associated with sound studies and critically engage with them through practical interdisciplinary projects.
• You are able to produce an original project based on research that relates to sound theory and sounding/listening practices.
• You are able to creatively express your research interests in connection to the terms explored during the course through your artistic gestures.
• You are able to apply these concepts to different contexts around you, from built infrastructures to social environments, from digital infrastructures to communication.
• You are able to integrate valuable skills and insights from your majors within the minor, through individual development but also collaboration across different disciplinary contexts and cultural backgrounds
•  You are able to collaborate with local organizations and institutions, learning different workflows and approaches to the sonic
• You are able to express in writing your position as makers and thinkers, substantiating your choices by highlighting the different steps taken in the process of doing research.

What we expect:

• The minor is open to all students with an interest in working with sonic cultures. It is most suitable for students with a level of independence and self-motivation, along with an open, curious mindset. 

 

What we offer:

•  Field-recording sessions, involving diverse technologies for recording the environment. 
• Group discussion of field recordings and documentation of sonic environments. Class-based skills sessions in documenting sonic environments and organizing/archiving. 
• Guided listening sessions. 
• Introduction to embodied approaches to sounding and listening, collective sonic improvisation sessions.
• Close readings of texts and artworks. 

Deliverables

During the Minor:

• Presentation(s) of research-in-progress
• Creation of a radio show 

Final assessments:

• Practical component consists of an inter-/trans-media event, installation or intervention to demonstrate the different sedimented layers of awareness developed during the Minor.
• Text documenting and discussing the practical component.

APPLICATION PROCESS (KOM)

Are you a student from another educational institution and would you like to follow a minor at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences? If so, you must apply in two steps:

 

Step 1
Register for the minor of your choice via the blue Apply button. You can find this button at the top right of the minor’s page.
Download the learning agreement and complete it.
Submit this learning agreement to the examination board of your study programme.
Once the examination board has granted approval, register for the minor in Step 2 no later than 01-07-2025 at 9:00 a.m.

Step 2
After approval, register via OSIRIS Application of Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences using the link below (first create an account).
https://osiris.hr.nl/osiris_aanmeld_hrprd/Welkom.do?proces=KOM2609&opleiding=MINOR-WDK-VT 00

Part of the application process is uploading the following documents:

• The learning agreement, signed by you and by your institution;
  A scan or photo of your passport or ID card.
   

You will be informed by Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences whether your application has been approved.

In OSIRIS Application, you must also upload the Proof of Paid Tuition Fee (BBC) for the academic year in which you wish to follow the minor. This can be done from 01 May 2026onwards. You can request the BBC from your institution after you have signed or issued an authorization for the payment of the tuition fee for the relevant academic year. You may also choose the option for your institution to send the BBC directly to collegegeld@hr.nl.

You will receive a notification from Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences once your application has been approved.