MUSIC 154F | Spring 2018
Electroacoustic Music Analysis
Rodrigo F. Cádiz
Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics - CCRMA
Center for Latin American Studies - CLAS
Stanford University
Course description
Electroacoustic music is a very particular genre, typically involving a high amount of electronic or computational technology, the main characteristic of which is the incorporation of non-musical sound (sounds whose primary intention is clearly not music) into the musical discourse. These sounds are usually highly transformed or distorted compared to how they occur in nature or they are created entirely on a computer, which means that the sound sources are not easily recognizable by the listeners. Also, this music usually lacks a score or graphical representation, it is often presented solely via an array of loudspeakers, and the performers might use a laptop or a mixing board instead of an acoustical instrument. This kind of music presents several challenges to the listeners and the analysts: How do we listen to such music? How can we understand how it is structured? How it works? and How the musical discourse flows? This course will explore the most important methodologies for analysis of electroacoustic music that have been proposed in the literature. Class meetings include lectures, listening sessions, and student discussions of relevant literature and analysis of works . Assignments include weekly readings, homework, and a final project. |
Course information
When | : | 04/02/2018 - 06/06/2018 Mon, Wed 10:30 AM - 11:20 AM |
Where | : | Knoll317, CCRMA [map] |
Office hours | : | By email to rcadiz@ccrma.stanford.edu |
Syllabus | : | click here |
Pre-requisite | : | Basic musical proficiency is required. Experience with programming, music analysis, or music perception/cognition is desirable. |
What we will do in class | : | Basically, listen to tons of multi-channel cool electroacoustic music and try to understand how they work, and how they make sense to us. |
Schedule
Access pdf files here (requires password)
Monday | 04-02-18 | CLASSROOM |
Introduction to the class. | ||
Wednesday | 04-04-18 | STAGE |
Topics:
|
||
Monday | 04-09-18 | CLASSROOM |
Topics:
|
||
Wednesday | 04-11-18 | CLASSROOM |
Topics:
|
||
Monday | 04-16-18 | CLASSROOM |
Topics:
|
||
Monday | 04-23-18 | CLASSROOM |
Topics:
|
||
Monday | 04-30-18 | CLASSROOM |
Topics:
|
||
Monday | 05-07-18 | CLASSROOM |
Topics:
Chapters from the book Expanding the horizons of electroacoustic music.
|
||
Monday | 05-14-18 | CLASSROOM |
Readings:
|
||
Monday | 05-21-18 | CLASSROOM |
Topics: | ||
Wednesday | 05-30-18 | CLASSROOM |
Review of final projects. | ||
Friday | 06-08-18 | CLASSROOM |
Final project deadline. |
Tools
This class required the usage of software that could render audio spectrograms, ideally with annotation features. Some possible open source options are: |