Computer Music II: Sound Art

We did it! Thanks for a fun class!
Some pics from experiments and final projects

The Class

For the purposes of this class "sound art" is simply art with a substantial sonic component that is presented in a context or venue that's not traditionally musical. We'll explore a broad range of historical and contemporary sound art, and will learn to use a variety of accessible sound art tools and techniques.

Traditional musical venues provide a variety of resources that imply certain kinds of sonic activities: known and stable acoustics, a captive audience, relatively fixed duration, lack of thunderstorms, the possibility of precise gustures and close listening, etc. But what happens when the acoustics are unknown, or change over time, or your audience wanders in and out, or your piece lasts for a month, outside, in a blizzard, or the local ambient sounds are mysterious and compelling? Let's find out!

There are four main components to the class:

Discussions covering historical and contemporary sound art from numerous disciplines, forms, styles, and movements, and the work of individual artists. Occasional short readings will be assigned to accompany the discussions.
Short research reports on student-selected topics related to the discussions.
Lectures and hands-on experiments with the elements of sound art: speakers, electricity, circuits, microphones, physics, etc. These lectures and hands-on experiments are "live" -- we'll be learning and doing together, looking things up, building experiments and mechanisms. Be prepared to participate every day.
Art projects created by individual students or collaborative groups, including several small studies and one ambitious final project.

We will also have visits from a number of guest artists during the term.

The Schedule

The class meets every Tuesday evening from 5:10-8pm. I get very grumpy if students are late. Please be on time. Prentis Hall is a 10-15 minute walk from main campus.

The online lecture notes/schedule are here. Schedule subject to change based on number of students in the class, the group's interests, and random noise.

The Grades

Grading is as follows:

attendance: 25%
presentations: 25%
final project: 50%

Come to class, do the presentations, do the final project, and you have an A. Don't do all of that, and you don't have an A. Grading is purely mechanical, and does not involve the evaluation of your work. This grading policy is designed to encourage you to stretch out and take chances with your work, as the "success" of your pieces is not related to your grade in the class.

The Studio Access

Taking this class gives you access to the equipment in Prentis studios 313 (disklavier) and 324 (electronics workbench, video editing, analog synths), and 803 Dodge (disklavier). To reserve a room use the signup sheet at:

http://music.columbia.edu/cmc/signup

The username and password will be given to you on the first day of class.

The End

(Have some fun!)