Course Syllabus

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Computer Music Composition and Production
Music 151 / Music 215A
Winter Quarter 2022
Tuesday and Thursday, 12:30-1:50 pm
Music Collaboration Laboratory, AITRC 190
University of California, Irvine

Professor Christopher Dobrian, dobrian@uci.edu
Teaching Assistant Willie Fastenow, wfasteno@uci.edu

For the first two weeks of the quarter, the class will meet via Zoom.
https://uci.zoom.us/j/92954825791

Course Description:

Study of the composition and production of music made uniquely possible by the computer, including usage of prevalent digital music technology, techniques of digital signal processing, and computer control of synthesizers and audio processors.

Course Requirements:

  • Participation in at least 90% of all class meetings.
  • Active and informed participation in discussions of reading and listening assignments.
  • Timely completion of short electronic/computer music composition etudes, as assigned.
  • Presentation of a final project of computer music experimentation involving algorithmic composition/performance.

Topics:

  • Fundamentals of acoustics and digital audio
  • Recording techniques and recording studio usage
  • Techniques of digital audio processing and production
  • Analog and digital sound synthesis
  • Analysis and conception of electroacoustic music composition
  • Computer control of synthesizers and sound processors
  • Sound spatialization
  • Algorithmic composition
  • Computer-mediated performance

In-Class Activities:

  • Lectures on selected topics in electronic and digital music production
  • Analysis and discussion of assigned readings and listenings
  • Demonstrations of UCI equipment and facilities
  • Presentations of student composition assignments and projects

Grading:

Grading for the course will be based on timely completion of all the course requirements. Since every assignment is considered a vital part of the educational experience of the course, serious and high quality work is expected at all times. Grading will be based on:

  • Participation in class discussions
  • Assigned composition etudes
  • Final project and presentation
  • (Potential extra credit for additional research and documentation)

Late assignments—except for the final project and presentation—will be accepted for up to one week after the due date, with a 10% grade reduction.

Related events:

  • Saturday January 15, 8:00 pm, Experimental Media Performance Laboratory (xMPL), CAC 1101
    Gassmann Electronic Music Series concert: Listen to the Motion
    featuring Mari Kimura and Aiyun Huang
  • Tuesday January 25, AITR 190, 3:30 pm
    ICIT Colloquium lecture by Matt Sargent
    on his works for instruments and computer
  • [Canceled] Tuesday February 8, AITR 190, 12:30 pm
    Gassmann Electronic Music Series lecture by Matt Schumaker
    on the subject of computer-generated melodies
  • Tuesday February 8, AITR 190, 3:30 pm
    ICIT Colloquium lecture by  Matt Schumaker
    on his own research and creative work in computer music
  • Tuesday February 15, AITR Room 190, 3:30 pm
    ICIT Colloquium presentation by Nicole Mitchell and Teerath Majumder
    on their spatialized audio installation using the Dolby Atmos system

Academic Honesty:

Collaboration between students in this course is strongly encouraged. Students are urged to exchange ideas, opinions, and information constantly, and to help each other with the composition and performance of their technical exercises and creative projects. Each student is, however, responsible for producing her/his own unique fulfillment of each assignment.

Plagiarism of any kind is in direct violation of University policy on Academic Honesty, and penalties for plagiarism can be severe. You are expected to attribute due credit to the originator of any words, music, programming code, or other ideas that you incorporate into your own work. Any borrowed work of others must be cited in proper academic bibliographic fashion, giving credit to its original author. Any borrowed computer programming code must be cited in inline commentary in the code, and in any documentation written about the code, giving credit to its original author.

Disability:

If you have a disability that inhibits you from performing any of the stated requirements of this course, as approved and documented by the UCI Disability Services Center, please ensure that the professor is thoroughly aware of the matter as early in the term as possible.

Links
Examples
Assignments
Discussions

This page was last modified December 13, 2021 by
Christopher Dobrian, dobrian@uci.edu

Course Summary:

Date Details Due