COMPUTER MUSIC COMPOSITION AND PRODUCTION
Course Syllabus

University of California, Irvine
Fall 2016

Music 215A, Fall 2016
Thursday 12:30-3:20 pm
Music Collaboration Laboratory, AITRC 190
University of California, Irvine

Professor Christopher Dobrian
Music and Media 211, x7288
dobrian@uci.edu

Office hours by appointment.

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 meeting times.
• Informed participation in discussions of reading and listening assignments.
• Completion of short electronic/computer music composition etudes, as assigned.
• Presentation of a final project of computer music experimentation involving algorithmic composition/performance.

Topics:

• Acoustics and electroacoustics
• Recording techniques
• Digital audio processing and production techniques
• Analog and digital sound synthesis
• Computer control of synthesizers and sound processors
• Sound spatialization
• Analysis and conception of electroacoustic music composition
• Algorithmic composition
• Computer-mediated performance

Activities:

• Discussion of assigned readings
• Analysis of assigned listenings
• Lectures on selected topics in electronic and digital music production
• 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:

1. Participation in class discussions,
2. Assigned composition etudes,
3. Final project and presentation, and
4. Potential extra credit for additional research and documentation.

Important Dates:

• Friday October 21, 1:00 pm, workshop by visiting artist Pamela Z
• Friday October 21, 8:00 pm, concert by visiting artist Pamela Z
• Thursday, December 1, last day of class, final presentations

Regarding Academic Integrity:

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 ideas, words, programming code, or other ideas that you incorporate into your own work. Any borrowed text 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.

Christopher Dobrian
September 16, 2016
dobrian@uci.edu