The Importance of Sound in Storytelling: An

Interview with Tanya Rodrigue

Written by: Abbie Roux

Department: English (Associate Professor), Writing Intensive Curriculum Coordinator

Growing up, Professor Tanya Rodrigue was always surrounded by sounds. From music,
to just general everyday life. Then, when she gave birth to her first child, she developed an
extremely strange ear disorder. Rodrigue says, “I had super hearing, I could hear things that most
people couldn’t. Like, some of the most intricate little things.” One could say that this may have
been the catalyst in her journey toward soundwriting and audio storytelling.
Tanya Rodrigue is currently an Associate Professor at Salem State University and is
currently teaching several classes, including Audio Storytelling and Advanced Writing in
Honors. Although she is very well established here at Salem State, having worked here for over
ten years, she was not always a professor. She started off as a journalist. She says about her
experience, “I loved being a journalist, but I struggled sometimes with the constraints of
journalistic writing.” She found her passion in teaching shortly after realizing that she couldn’t
work in journalism for the entirety of her life.
At first, Rodrigue started as a digital writing professor, as it was one of the most popular
subjects at the time she began teaching that people wanted to study. From here, her passion
bloomed as she watched her students accomplish fascinating audio projects, and realized that her
teaching actually had an impact on her students. One of the more influential milestones in her
career was when she worked with eight graduate students to create a scholarly article about
sound in 2015. Teaching with sound, and thinking about sound from a different perspective.
This, along with her ear disorder, jump started her interest in working more with sound and audio
storytelling.
Rodrigue notes that one of her proudest accomplishments as a professor thus far is having
written and released her first book titled Soundwriting in December 2022, which she had been
working on for a couple years. The book is virtually a guide for students and teachers alike on
sound studies, sound design and composition, and how to make compelling audio stories. It
touches on many things, from how to produce a good podcast or radio show to what language to
use in order to pull your audience in more.
At times it gets hectic to balance life, as Rodrigue is a mother of two, a dog owner, an
Associate Professor, she does her own audio work, she is an administrator in her department, and
does many other things for her community alongside that. She manages to stay on top of all of
these projects and tasks because she has passion for them.
Rodrigue manages to bring this passion into the classroom, allowing for students to see it
reflected in the work she does with her students in these classes. She searches for the perfect
assignments in order to bring personal connections to her students’ work and finished products.
Frances Gervais, a junior at Salem State University and one of Professor Rodrigue’s current
students, said, “She really makes me want to work on my skills in audio storytelling. It’s so
interesting and I really like her as a professor so far.”
Anyone would be lucky enough to work with Tanya Rodrigue as a student or colleague.
Her ability to formulate assignments to students interests and needs, as well as remain just as
passionate about the subject matter she is teaching now as she was 12 years ago when she
started, speaks volumes about who she is as a professor.

“How awesome is it that you can harness the power of sound and release it in
story?” - Tanya Rodrigue