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4000 Level Sound Course Descriptions
SOUND 4000
Independent Study: Sound
Undergraduate Projects gives the student the opportunity to
explore a specific problem in the student’s area of concentration,
carried out independently but with a faculty adviser. A schedule of
conferences is usually established at the beginning of the semester.
Instructor signature required for registration. Open to students at
junior level and above.
SOUND 4002
Midi Sequencing
This course introduces the MIDI communications interface which allows
computers to store, replay, edit, and generate performance data for
synthesizers, samplers, and recorded digital audio. The basic principles
of the MIDI protocol and its use in a sound studio is presented. The
course covers techniques for organizing, manipulating, and synchronizing
sound events as MIDI data in a sequencer. Advanced applications include
synthesizer voice editing, MIDI to voltage control, and creating software
programs to generate and process MIDI events in real time. The course
also examines the impact of MIDI on contemporary experimental electronic
composition and interactive performance. Specific compositional approaches
which utilize the capabilities of MIDI are explored through examples
and student projects. Prerequisite: SOUND 2001 and SOUND 3000.
SOUND 4003
Sound Projects
Students pursue individual projects which are determined through group
discussions and individual meetings. Discussions will include areas
of general interest, critical listening, and discussion of current sound-art
and music, and issues specifically related to student projects. Student
works will be critiqued in class. Students will be given access to only
those studios that they have already used in previous sound courses.
Prerequisite: SOUND 3000.
SOUND 4004
Instrument Construction
Through lectures, presentations, listening, and construction this course
surveys traditional and folk instruments of many cultures, mostly non-Western.
In addition, some theory of how sound propagates from materials and
shapes is explored. Students build instruments initially from readily
available materials of the instructor’s choosing (bamboo flutes,
percussion instruments, wind chimes, etc.). The form final projects
take is chosen by students and may include performing instruments, sound
sculptures, simple electro-acoustic devices, etc. Instrument craftspeople
may visit the class. Students may be required to make field trips to
material suppliers and instrument factories and schools to inspire their
individual projects.
SOUND 4005
Advanced Sound Composition
This course is a continuation of SOUND 3005. Compositional problems
are introduced on the formal level. Instead of composing single, 90-second
sections, as in Introduction to Sound Composition, students compose
sequences of sections. New material introduced in this course includes
the creation of identifiable relationships across larger amounts of
time, modes of transition, and characteristic features of important
structural points such as beginnings and endings. Recorded examples
of entire compositions are analyzed in class for their large-scale organization.
Students must complete three multi-sectional pieces of increasing complexity
during the semester. Prerequisite: SOUND 3005.
SOUND 4006
Advanced Digital Sampling and Recording
In the spirit of contemporary Musique Concrete, this course
examines purely sonic motivations and techniques for the transformation
of digital sound objects. Notions of deriving a transformative process
from the particular nature of a sound guides the production from analysis
through the generation of a particular compositional approach. Representational
and non-representational sound appropriation, digital collage, and digital
signal processing and transformation are some of the issues explored
through individual compositional projects. Prerequisite: SOUND 2001
and SOUND 3000.
SOUND 4007
Digital Signal Processing
This course covers techniques for processing digital audio on a computer
as a means to edit, transform, and synthesize sound. The theory involved
in each process will be explained in detail in terms of acoustical phenomena
along with practical demonstrations and assignments. This course provides
an introduction to computer music which is a large part of experimental
audio art history. Most of the strategies covered in the class were
developed by pioneers of computer music and their students. Some of
the artists studied in the class include: John Chowning, Charles Dodge,
Larry Polansky, and Jean-Claude Risset. Prerequisite: SOUND 2001 and
SOUND 3000.
SOUND 4008
Max/MSP Intensive Workshop
This course will be a production class in the digital audio programming
environment Max/MSP. Students will learn how to use this graphically-oriented
system hands-on to develop such things as algorithmic compositions,
live performance tools, interactive audio installations, and more. The
course will cover beginning, intermediate, and advanced methods of using
Max/MSP with a focus on each student completing a final project relative
to their individual interest. Prerequisite: SOUND 3000.
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