FF:TIM_M_014 Computer music - Course Information

TIM_M_014 Computer music

Extent and Intensity

0/2/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).

Teacher(s)

Mgr. Petr Haas, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Martin Flašar, Ph.D. (alternate examiner)

Guaranteed by

Mgr. Petr Haas, Ph.D.
Department of Musicology – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Bc. Jitka Leflíková
Supplier department: Department of Musicology – Faculty of Arts

Timetable

Mon 12:00–13:40 N42

Prerequisites

An elementary overview of the development of artificial music in the 20th century is a requirement, but it is not compulsory.

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 50 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 4/50, only registered: 0/50, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/50

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

• Theory of Interactive Media (programme FF, N-INME_) (3)

Course objectives

The aim of the course is to provides a basic overview of the field of computer music. The students will gain a broad view of its history, its present condition, its various forms, the nomenclature and the methods and their transformations in relation to technological development. Attention will be paid primarily to developments in the intersection of computer music and artificial music.

Learning outcomes

Course graduates will be able to describe the basic types of computer music, the main phases of its evolution and their a referential realizations. They will understand the relationship method – algorithm - software, the basic methods of computer music composition, and the nature of the corresponding creative process which is unfolding through communication with a digital machine. They will know the major computer music institutions, the development of exploited technologies and their current trends, and also the influence of the computer and cognitive science upon the computer music methods.

Syllabus

• 1. the term “computer music” and the context of the genesis of computer music; the link to or dependence on technological development, the influence of the post-war avant-garde, the individualisation of methods, the computer and instrumental music
• 2. first demonstration of the use of the computer, basic types of computer music; the beginnings of the “pioneering” phases of development, specialised institutions offering employment, the terms computer generated music, computer assisted composition, digital synthesis, algorithm and method
• 3. the development of computer music technology and the form of the creative process in the pioneering phases; communication with the machine, the composer also acting as the programmer, a piece of software as the formalisation of a method, selective realisations, new types of representations of musical structure
• 4. the end of pioneering computer music, the prototype of the present and new methods of communication with the machine; the computer technology boom, MIDI, visual programming, selective realisations, IRCAM
• 5. contemporary computer assisted composition and the form of the creative process; computer assisted composition as a separate category, paradigm, the term “model” and composition as a “modelling” process
• 6. computer music and computer science; programming as a method and composition as a rule-based system, machine-learning, artificial intelligence and stylistic imitation, conventional types of algorithms from the natural and other sciences, biocomputer music
• 7. computer music, improvisation, composition and the borders of artficial music; the terms computer-assisted improvisation, comprovisation, live coding, cyberculture, hardware hacking
• 8. computer music and the ethos of modernism, democratization of technology and „seize anything”; art as research, pluralism and democratization, new competencies and the user, creation vs. consumption, mimesis and post-production administration, hybrids and the rhizome, discussion

Literature

required literature
• PUCKETTE, Miller. Preface. In The OM composer´s book Vol.1. Carlos Agon – Gérard Assayag – Jean Bresson (ed.). Paris: Editions Delatour France & Ircam, 2008, str. xi - xiv.
• STRAWN, John – SHOCKLEY, Alan. Heslo: Computers and music. In Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press 2007 — 2017.

recommended literature
• SANDRED, Örjan. Approaches to Using Rules as a Composition Method. Contemporary Music Review, 2009, roč. 28, č. 2, str.149 –165.
• The Oxford Handbook of Computer Music. Dean, Roger T. (ed.). Oxford/NY: Oxford University Press 2009, kapitola č. 2, 3, 5 a 18.
• GERZSO, Andrew. Paradigms and Computer Music. Leonardo Music Journal, 1992, roč. 2, č.1, str. 73-79.
• FLAŠAR, Martin, Daniel MATEJ a Michal RATAJ. Electronic music today: Where are we going and what are we doing? 1. vyd. Brno: Janáčkova akademie múzických umění v Brně, 2014. 126 s. ISBN 978-80-7460-071-5.
• COPE, David. Preface. In The OM composer´s book Vol.2. Jean Bresson – Carlos Agon – Gérard Assayag (eds.). Paris: Editions Delatour France & Ircam, 2008, str. ix – xv.
• XENAKIS, Iannis. Formalized Music, thought and mathematic in composition. Kapitola V: Free Stochastic Music by Computer, str. 131-154. Rev. ed. Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1992.
• HAAS, Petr. Počítačem asistovaná kompozice, paradigma a komponování s „modelem“. Opus musicum 2017, č. 1, s. 41-55.
• DAUBRESSE, Eric- ASSAYAG, Gerard. Technology and Creation – The Creative Evolution. Contemporary Music Review, 2000, vol. 19, Part 2, str. 61-80.
• KOENIG, Gottfried Michael. Working with "Project 1". My Experiences with Computer Composition [online].1990.[cit. 2016-12-20]. Online: < http://www.koenigproject.nl/indexe.htm>.

Teaching methods

Lectures, tutorials, class discussion

Assessment methods

The course is completed upon submission of an essay on a topic reflecting the material covered and following the relationship between technology and music, the composer and the machine (minimum 6000 characters including spaces). A text based on the learning gained from the completion of the course presenting the standpoints of the author on the subject, ideally a critical text, is expected. These standpoints are the dominant content of the text, are grounded in the concepts introduced in the course, are supported by arguments and have the nature of elaborated thoughts which flow into a conclusion.

The essays are turned in to the homework vault on the examination date.

Min. 50% attendance is required for completion of the course.

Language of instruction

Czech

Further Comments

The course is taught annually.

• Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  
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