Dr. Smucker will present on ludomusicology as part of the Academic Showcase during Stetson President Roellke’s Inauguration Weekend. The Academic Showcase will take place on Friday, November 5 from 1:00-5:00 p.m. at the Marshall and Vera Lea Rinker Welcome Center, and virtually online (more information is available at https://www.stetson.edu/other/inauguration/academic-showcase.php). 

Dr. Smucker will be joined by two Stetson Music Students as part of the presentation, described here:

This 45-minute presentation explores the field of ludomusicology, which is broadly defined as the study of “music at play” but is often associated with the study of music and sounds in video games. This presentation has three parts. In the first I answer the question, “what is ludomusicology?” by briefly outlining the evolution of the field. Additionally, I show its interdisciplinarity and relevancy for today’s liberal arts education through multiple examples of music in games. In Part 2, two Stetson students, Juliana Bolaño (BME ’22) and Enrique Collazo (BME ’22) reflect on their involvement with ludomusicological research and what it means to them personally, generationally, and more broadly in society. In Part 3, I present some of my current research in progress, titled “Currencies, Values, and Exchanges of Game Sounds,” which examines how game sounds might generate value for different classes of society, and suggest a music-theoretical framework for the analysis of game sounds.