MUS 154

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History of Electronic Music

(aka “Composition and Performance of Instrumental Music with Electronics”)



Spring 2011

Mondays, 3:15-5:05 p.m., Knoll 217 (CCRMA Classroom)

Instructor: Bruno Ruviaro (ruviaro at stanford dot edu)

Teaching Assistant: Leah Reid (leahreid at stanford dot edu)



Listening sessions schedule

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What is electroacoustic music? How did it all begin? Acousmatic, computer music, algorithmic composition, tape music, glitch, electronic, musique concrète, noise, laptop music, DJs, organized sound... This course will provide a brief historical survey of electroacoustic music and discuss some of the most salient issues associated with it, from both a compositional and musicological point of view. Topics to be covered include: Definitions of ''musical'' sounds; Schaefferian theory and musique concrète; serialism and elektronische Musik; tape music and computer music in the USA; analysis of electroacoustic music; sampling and intellectual property; algorithmic and computer-aided composition; live-electronics and improvisation. The course does not require previous experience in the field. Classes will be based on discussion of selected listening and reading materials, as well as hands-on electroacoustic fun with sounds.




Week 1 (March 28, 2011)



What is a ''musical'' sound? What happened with ''musical sounds'' in the 20th century? Russolo, Varèse, Cage. Composing inside and outside the sound. New sounds and new grammars. Early electronic instruments (Telharmonium, Theremin). [Check out the slides from lecture]

Clara Rockmore plays the Theremin - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSzTPGlNa5

- “The Victor Theremin: an absolutely new unique musical instrument anyone can play” (Theremin brochure from the 1930s):

http://ftldesign.com/Theremin/

Luigi Russolo:

- The Art of Noises (1913) - http://www.russolo.nl/manifest_english.html

- http://www.russolo.nl/manifest_italiano.html

- The Intonarumori - http://www.ubu.com/sound/russolo_l.html

Edgard Varèse:

- Ionisation (1929-31) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TStutMsLX2s

- Poème Electronique (1957-8) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQKyYmU2tPg

John Cage:

- Imaginary Landscape No. 1 (1939), for two variable-speed phono turntables, frequency recordings, muted piano, and cymbal (CCRMA

Collection)

- John Cage talking - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcHnL7aS64Y&feature=related

- John Cage on a TV show (1960) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSulycqZH-U&feature=related

- 4'33'' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HypmW4Yd7SY



Week 2 (April 4, 2011)



How does one listen? What are “sound objects?” What is “reduced listening” and the “acousmatic situation?” Musique Concrète vs. Elektronische Musik. GRM and the Acousmonium. Pierre Schaeffer, Christian Marclay, François Bayle, Robert Henke, Pierre Henry and DJ Spooky. Turntablism and “Avant-Turntablism.” [check out the slides from this lecture]

Articles:

- Great 2-page summary of topics covered in the first two classes (from the “Audio Culture” book) - http://bit.ly/i7EOT2

- Chadabe article - http://www.arts-electric.org/stories/2006/060205_grm.html

Pierre Schaeffer:

- Literature on Schaeffer - http://www.leonardo.info/isast/spec.projects/schaeffer/schaefferindex.html

- Solfege de l'objet sonore CD 1, Tracks 1-11 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWMA_iRQSFg

- Solfege de l'objet sonore CD 2, Tracks 27-37 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZDRlpAr6Hs

- Étude aux Chemins de Fer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9pOq8u6-bA

Christian Marclay:

- Documentary video on Marclay - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yqM3dAqTzs

François Bayle:

- François Bayle (interesting sounds as the page loads) - http://www.magison.org/

Bernard Parmegiani:

- Bernard Parmegiani - http://www.parmegiani.fr/

INA – GRM - http://www.ina-entreprise.com/entreprise/activites/recherches-musicales/index.html

Acousmonium:

- Hans-Joachim Roedelius performing in 2008 - http://vimeo.com/9622673

DJ Spooky - Rhythm Science - http://www.rhythmscience.com/

Grandmaster Flash - official website - http://www.grandmasterflash.com/



Week 3 (April 11, 2011)


Tape music from the 50's onward! Elektronische Musik. Early Tape Music Studios. Analog Synthesizers. Stockhausen, Doctor Who, Max Matthews, Wendy Carlos, Isao Tomita and Morton Subotnick. [check out the slides from this lecture]

Stockhausen:

- Official website - http://www.stockhausen.org/

- Excerpt of a Stockhausen lecture on “sounds” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIPVc2Jvd0w

- Stockhausen on TV (interview) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrzi4YNhvig&feature=related

Max Mathews

- Demonstrating his Radio Baton - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZOzUVD4oLg

- Max Mathews in Bell Labs - http://www.personal.psu.edu/meb26/INART55/bell_labs.html

- News clip from 1986 about computer music (with demonstrations)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_15ZQL82P4M&feature=related

TARDIS Sound (Doctor Who) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRsfKK34SFY&feature=fvwrel

Wendy Carlos - http://www.wendycarlos.com/

Isao Tomita - http://www.isaotomita.net/

Moog Synthesizer - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moog_synthesizer

- Demonstration of Moog Synthesizer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY2AeD0Tn4Y

Buchla - http://www.buchla.com/

Computer Music Research and Study:

- Ircam - http://www.ircam.fr

- CCRMA - http://www.ccrma.stanford.edu

- Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center - http://www.columbia.edu/acis/history/cpemc.html

- Select list of other Studios and Music Centers - http://ems.music.uiuc.edu/resources.html

Suggested Listening: (listen in your CCRMA account listening folder or see the links below)

- Karlheinz Stockhausen – Studie II (1954) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXqvBvOXV3U

- Karlheinz Stockhausen – Klavierstuck II (1952) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVPlE6yHcoE

- Gyorgi Ligeti – Glissandi (1957) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWgxCHjcdZA

- Henri Pousseur – Scambi (1957) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa60ulswxgw

- Mario Davidovsky – Electronic Study No. 3 (In Memoriam Edgard Varèse) (1965) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8fNPzjuopI

- Morton Subotnick – Silver Apples of the Moon (1986) (live) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pTSEHDhijA

- Jean-Claude Risset – Songes (1979) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fSKk4OqZp0

- John Chowning – Turenas (1972)

- John Chowning – Stria (1977) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=988jPjs1gao


Week 4 (April 18, 2011)

Electronic music and the human voice. Max Mathews, Luciano Berio, Steve Reich, Alvin Lucier, Glenn Gould, Charles Dodge, Joan La Barbara, Kraftwerk, Paul Lansky, Laetitia Sonami, Eric B. & Rakim, Paul De Marinis, Bob Ostertag, Robert Ashley, Jaap Blonk, Aphex Twin, Cher, Trevor Wishart, and The Lappetites. [check out the slides from this lecture]

Singing Computers:

- HAL 9000 sings Daisy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px0c4Tgg6gg&feature=related

- First computer to sing Daisy Bell in 1961 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41U78QP8nBk

- Max Mathews on TV (1986), computer sings opera - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_15ZQL82P4M

More on Synthesizers - Stanley Jordan on TV (1986) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysLpf74VzUE&feature=related

Charles Dodge - describing the origin of Speech Songs - http://www.furious.com/perfect/ohm/dodge.html

Joan La Barbara - http://www.joanlabarbara.com/

Auto-Tune Abuse in Pop Music – 10 Examples- http://www.hometracked.com/2008/02/05/auto-tune-abuse-in-pop-music-10-examples/

Bob Ostertag “Sooner or Later” (1991) - http://www.bobostertag.com/music-recordings-soonerorlater.htm

The Lappetites - http://lappetites.com/history.html

RoxorloopsBelgian beatboxer Roxorloops demonstrating at a convention in 2008 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dq4LWB4b-s

Suggested Listening:

- Georges Aperghis – Récitations - http://www.ubu.com/sound/aperghis.html

- Jaap Blonk - http://www.lyrikline.org/index.php?id=162&L=1&author=jb01&show=Poems&poemId=859&cHash=735fb61b95

- Kraftwerk - Die Roboter (1978) - vocoder vocals - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5XkKceOvwY

- Cher – Believe (1998), first popular hit using Auto-Tune as a vocal effect - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbXiECmCZ94

- Alvin Lucier - I am sitting in a room - http://www.lovely.com/titles/cd1013.html

- Eric B. & Rakim - Paid in full - [official channel] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7t8eoA_1jQ

- [no ad] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySxGyt3rh94

- Schoolly D - PSK, What Does It Mean? - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQc4A-XBzBY



Week 5 (April 25, 2011)

Genre: How are genres created, and why? House, techno and glitch. “Serious” versus “entertainment” music. Russolo and the Futurists. Babbitt, Ostertag, Oval, Aphex Twin, Ikeda and Pan Sonic. [check out the slides from this lecture]

Pump Up the Volume” (BBC documentary, 2001)

- Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcpWFiriv3w&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

- Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtSmjnumwew&feature=related

- Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIqU1LTliPM&feature=related

Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music - http://techno.org/electronic-music-guide/

Articles:

- Who Cares If You Listen?” (1958), by Milton Babbitt - http://courses.unt.edu/jklein/files/babbitt.pdf

- Why Computer Music Sucks” by Bob Ostertag (1996?) - http://bobostertag.com/writings-articles-computer-music-sucks.htm

- Music as Software” by Oval (Markus Popp) (2002) - http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct02/articles/oval.asp

Aphex Twin - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphex_Twin

Ryoji Ikeda - http://www.ryojiikeda.com/archive/recordings/

Pan Sonic - http://acousmata.com/post/93511800/rahina-ii-mayhem-ii



Week 6 (May 2, 2011)

Analysis, transcription and notation of electronic music. Discussion of Babbitt's “Who Cares If You Listen?” and Ostertag's “Why Computer Music Sucks.”

Gyorgy Ligeti's Artikulation (with listening score) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71hNl_skTZQ

Amon Tobin:

- Amon Tobin's ISAM album, with track by track commentary - http://soundcloud.com/amon-tobin/sets/isam

- Amon Tobin demonstrates how he generated sounds for his album ISAM - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbJwyTkCJk0&feature=player_embedded#at=157

Software:

- Acousmographe (software developed at GRM) - http://www.ina-entreprise.com/entreprise/activites/recherches-musicales/acousmographe.html

- Interactive Aural Analysis (software), by Michael Clarke (including interactive analysis shown in class) - http://www-old.hud.ac.uk/mh/music/sybil/index.htm

- Sonic Visualizer (software) - http://www.sonicvisualiser.org/

Articles on Analysis:

- Interactive Aural Analysis (paper), by Michael Clarke - http://www-old.hud.ac.uk/mh/music/sybil/index.htm

- Wordless Functional Analysis, by Hans Keller - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wordless_Functional_Analysis

Vjing:

- wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VJing

Week 7 (May 9, 2011)

Plunderphonics, Samples, Creative Commons and Intellectual Property. DJ Spooky, Lessig, Kreidler and more!

Sampling:

- The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXNzMVLqIHg

- Whosampled.com - http://www.whosampled.com/

- Gilbert O'Sullivan and Biz Markie case - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_P-v1BVQn8&feature=related

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OebqNsNRBtU

Variations PodcastsJon Leidecker - http://rwm.macba.cat/en/variations_tag/

Lawrence Lessig:

- website - http://lessig.org/

- TED talk - http://www.ted.com/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.html

Creative Commons:

- website - http://creativecommons.org/

- licenses - http://goo.gl/rq4Id

Intellectual Property Myths - http://goo.gl/6mHSP

Working Definitions - http://goo.gl/27akY

Plunderphonics:

- http://www.plunderphonics.com/

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plunderphonics

- Plunderphonics CD story - http://goo.gl/jlTzw

Materials and readings:

- “Composer Pays for Piece of Silence” (Cage, Batt) - http://goo.gl/bmJjc

- “Levi's Turns to Suing its Rivals” - http://goo.gl/x4ofa

- Text remix on musical borrowing and intellectual property - http://goo.gl/16zbQ

- Practical Perspectives (comparison table – in progress, unfinished) - http://goo.gl/XBRbx

Negativland:

- http://www.negativland.com/less

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negativland

Grey Album (Danger Mouse) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grey_Album

DJ Spooky on Remix Culture - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMENA6XgGIo&feature=related

Copy this class (Julie Russo, Art department at Stanford) - http://edu.j-l-r.org/pg/groups/29998/remix-copy-this-class/

Johannes Kreidler (70200 samples in 30 seconds) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG1Zn_6wDRo

REMIX manifesto (movie) - http://ripremix.com/

HitRecord.org - http://hitrecord.org/reel

People Like Us - http://www.peoplelikeus.org/

Droplift Project - http://www.droplift.org/

Week 8 (May 16, 2011)

Student presentation discussion.

Software:

- Spear - http://www.klingbeil.com/spear/

- Praat - http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/

Laptop orchestras and Scaeffer's definition of musical instrument (paper) - https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~ruviaro/texts/Ruviaro_2011_From_Schaeffer_to_LOrks_Paper.pdf

Slides to accompany the paper above - http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~ruviaro/texts/Ruviaro_2011_From_Schaeffer_to_LOrks_Slides.zip

Live Performance in the Age of Supercomputing” (by Robert Henke, aka Monolake):

- Part 1 - http://www.monolake.de/interviews/supercomputing.html

- Part 2 - http://www.monolake.de/interviews/hitchhiker.html

Telematic Music: Six Perspectives - http://www.bitstorm.org/gameoflife/

Game of Life (Cellular Automata example) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway%27s_Game_of_Life


Week 9 (May 23, 2011)

Student presentations!

Music 154 Podcasts, 2011: https://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/154-spring-2011/podcasts/