Electronic Music
Instructor
Dr. Mark Snyder
msnyder3@ju.edu
Fine Arts 207
(904) 256-7665
Office Hours M 2:30-4:00 PM, TR 2:30-4:30 PM, and by appointment.
Readings
Schrader, Barry (1982). Introduction to Electroacoustic Music. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
(This is out of print but the pdf lives on Blackboard)
Additional Materials
- High Quality Headphones
- Memory Stick or Hard Drive for storing projects
Course Goals
Students taking this course will:
- Explore the history of electronic music.
- Create compositions using techniques that span the history of electronic music.
- Learn about composers, instruments, trends & techniques in electronic music
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Identify and describe the different types of synthesis.
- Recognize Compositional styles of important periods and composers.
- Record and edit digital audio for creative purposes.
Class Participation & Attendance
Education is partially experiential and therefore class attendance is critical. This course is lecture/discussion, listening, applied techniques and a great deal of project based learning.
Absences and Excuses
Each student is directly responsible for absences and for making up missed work.
Assignment Descriptions
Homework
In addition to the readings and lab work, there are 10 graded homework assignments for Electronic Music. These consist of drafts that demonstrate your progress on the project. You will post these on http://electronicmusic.marksnyder.org each week and your posts will include evidence and integration of course readings. You will also be required to comment on each others drafts and projects.
Projects
There are 3 Projects that will demonstrate what you have learned about the techniques and aesthetics of electronic music. These will be completed and uploaded to the blog for grading and then published for class critique.
Concerts
In addition to having your first project programmed at this year’s Electroacoustic Barn Dance, you will be required to produce a concerts this semester as a class. The times will be agreed upon in class by the students and will be held in Terry Concert Hall or the Black Box Theater. This is an experiential component and their is no grade per se since some of you may not be able to make it due to class or work conflicts. All students are expected to create a bio, program notes and help with making the programs, posters and publicity.
Tests
There are 3 tests that cover class lectures, techniques and the readings.
Critiques
Students are expected to participate in the critiques of the projects that occur when these projects are played in class. Failure to do so will lower the grade of your project. Critiques are designed to offer insights, suggestions for improvement, support to encourage you to improve your work.
In addition to the above requirements, participation will be measured against the following criteria:
-
- Contribute original thoughts or ideas to the critiques.
- Give relevant reasons to validate points.
- Demonstrate openness to divergent points of view.
- Be respectful of the perceptions of others.
- Integrate material from previous units to formulate ideas and generate dialogue.
Assessments
The Projects will be graded by timeliness and the fulfillment of the requirements as well, but grades of A and B will be reserved for students going above and beyond the requirements and overall quality. Blog post and comments will be graded on completion, details provided about the work and how it was influenced by the reading and when they are turned in.
Expectations
Students will be expected to spend an average of 6 hours per week in the lab working with the software and creating music. All work will be completed and turned in on time. Readings need to be completed before that week of class, not during.
Schedule
January 9 & 11: Introduction to the course
This Unit will introduce you to what we will be doing in the course and we will go on our first sound walk.
Assignments:
Read Schrader: pp. 1-15
January 16 & 18: Early History & Musique Concrète
The Great Opening up of Music to All Sounds
Assignments:
Read Schrader: pp. 16-38
Start working on Mini-Project I
Start listening to the musical examples for Exam I
Blog post with your sounds/critiques
January 23 & 25: Early History & Musique Concrète (continued)
Expansion of the Tape Music Idea
Physical Properties & Human Perception of Sound as a Waveform Phenomenon
Assignments:
Read Huber Chapter 2
Continue working on Mini-Project I
Continue listening to the musical examples for Exam I
Project I Draft/Critiques blog post
January 30 and February 1: Early History & Musique Concrète (continued)
Out of the Studios
Organized Sound, the Art of Noise, and the Origins of Electronic Music Esthetics
Assignments:
Read Schrader: pp. 39-58
Continue working on Mini-Project I
Continue listening to the musical examples for Exam I
Project I Draft 2/Critiques blog post
February 6 & 8: Early History & Musique Concrète Review
Section Review and Test
Assignments:
Review and Prepare for the Exam
Project I is due and will be performed at the Electroacoustic Barn Dance
February 13 & 15: Basic Principles of Electronic Sound Synthesis/Early Electronic Instruments
Early Electronic Music Instruments & Early Electronic Studio Tape Music
Assignments:
Start working on Mini-Project II
Start listening to the musical examples for Exam II
Blog post Festival Review
February 20 & 22: Basic Principles of Electronic Sound Synthesis/Early Electronic Instruments (continued)
Pioneers of Analog Synthesis (Moog, Buchla, etc.); Basic Principles of Sound Synthesis
Assignments:
Read Schrader: pp. 61-69
Continue working on Mini-Project II
Continue listening to the musical examples for Exam II
Project II Draft/Critiques blog post
February 27 & March 1: Basic Principles of Electronic Sound Synthesis/Early Electronic Instruments (continued)
Subtractive & Additive Synthesis
Early “Classics” of Electronic Tape Music, Analog Synthesizers, and the RCA Mark II
Assignments:
Read Schrader: pp. 75-119
Continue working on Mini-Project II
Continue listening to the musical examples for Exam II
Project II Draft 2/Critiques blog post
March 6 & 8: Basic Principles of Electronic Sound Synthesis/Early Electronic Instruments (continued)
More on Electronic Sound Synthesis Techniques
Assignments:
Read Schrader: pp. 122-159
Continue working on Mini-Project II
Continue listening to the musical examples for Exam II
Project II Draft 3/Critiques blog post
March 20 & 22: Basic Principles of Electronic Sound Synthesis/Early Electronic Instruments Review
Section Review and Test
Assignments:
Review and Prepare for the Exam
Project II is due
March 27 & 29: Digital Audio, Digital Sampling, Computer Synthesis Techniques, Other Uses for MIDI
Intro to Digital Audio / Direct Digital Synthesis
Assignments:
Start working on Mini-Project III
Start listening to the musical examples for Exam III
April 3 & 5: Digital Audio, Digital Sampling, Computer Synthesis Techniques, Other Uses for MIDI (continued)
Csound, SuperCollider and Basic FM synthesis
Assignments:
Continue working on Mini-Project III
Continue listening to the musical examples for Exam III
Blog: Festival Review
April 10 & 12: Digital Audio, Digital Sampling, Computer Synthesis Techniques, Other Uses for MIDI (continued)
More Basic FM synthesis, Intro to MIDI: history & origins, technology standards, applications, MIDI controllers
Assignments:
Continue working on Mini-Project III
Continue listening to the musical examples for Exam III
Final Project Draft/Critique blog post
April 17 & 19: Digital Audio, Digital Sampling, Computer Synthesis Techniques, Other Uses for MIDI (continued)
More Digital Audio (granular synthesis, analysis, and re-synthesis, etc.)
Early “Classics” of Direct Digital Synthesis, Computer Music, & recent live/electronic music
Assignments:
Section Review
Continue working on Mini-Project III
Continue listening to the musical examples for Exam III
Final Project Draft 2/Critique blog post
April 24: Final Exam & Project
Grading
| Homework/Critiques/Drafts | 20% |
| Projects | 20% |
| Exam I | 20% |
| Exam II | 20% |
| Final Exam | 20% |
Academic Honesty
Students at JU are expected to adhere to the highest standards of academic honesty. Refer to the information on academic integrity and misconduct found in the online JU catalog, p.101. Academic dishonesty will be handled appropriately by the instructor.
Student Support Services
Students at JU are expected to adhere to the highest standards of academic honesty. Refer to the information on academic integrity and misconduct found in the online 2015-16 JU catalog, p.101. Academic dishonesty will be handled appropriately by the instructor.
