In May and June, millions of public radio listeners around the country will hear the stories behind historic recordings, as told by students in the Honors course Inside the Words and Music.

These student scripts were produced for the Sound Beat radio program, which spotlights recordings in the SU Library’s Belfer Audio Archive—one of the largest sound archives in the country. Sound Beat produces daily 90-second episodes that are distributed to public radio stations nationwide.

Last fall, students in the course Inside the Words and Music, taught by writer/musician Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers, worked with the Sound Beat staff to research a song of their choice—including seminal recordings by such artists as Bessie Smith, Blind Willie Johnson, Hank Williams, and the Weavers. The students then wrote scripts about the life and times of these recordings and the musicians who wrote/performed the songs.

Sound Beat producer Jim O’Connor selected scripts written by 12 students for the show: Jill Comoletti, Emily Procopio, Maggie Cregan, Hasmik Djoulakian, Meg Lane, Kelsey Francella, Jacqueline Attia, Dan Stack, Andrew Frasier, Alexis Lisser, Megala Sankrith, and Courtney Malloy. Starting May 12, the students’ episodes will air on public radio stations, and they will also be available on the Sound Beat website: www.soundbeat.org.

In the fall of 2014, students in Inside the Words and Music will once again explore the vast Belfer Audio Archive in search of the great stories behind great recordings.