Dr. Andrew Schloss
Office: MacLaurin A177 Local: 721-7931
Office hours: Tues 4:30-5:30 pm or by appointment (email to confirm in either case)
email: aschloss at uvic dot ca

----NOTE: All emails to me pertaining to this class must have "MUS 207" in the title----

TA: Bezal Benny
Office: MacLaurin 172
Office hours: Tues, Friday 12:30-1:30 or by appointment
email: bezal.john@gmail.com

Classes: MacLaurin Building A169: Tues, Weds, Fri 11:30 am

Text: The Science of Musical Sound, by John Pierce, coursepack (in bookstore)
(also includes "Communicating with Meaningless Numbers by David Zicarelli)

The Physics of Waves An optional primer on the physics of sound. Assumes knowledge of calculus and some differential equations.

Related courses at UVic in music and technology (not an exhaustive list)

Grading:
papers (1) 20%
quiz (1) 10%
mid-term exam 35%
final project 35%

Policy on Academic Integrity
Undergraduate Grading Scale

This course blends Musical Acoustics, History of Science, an introduction to computer music, and (for some students) an introduction to 20th century music and non-Western music. Issues involving the relationships among technology, culture and society are examined and are important to discussions. There are no prerequisites for this class, but some knowledge of music and/or computers is extremely useful. Note: students enrolled in MU207 are entitled to use the facilities in the Studios for Integrated Media (SIM), in the Fine Arts building across the ring road. In addition, the Media Centre in the library also has music/audio software and hardware.

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A note to remind you to take care of yourself. Do your best to maintain a healthy lifestyle this semester by eating well, exercising, getting enough sleep and taking some time to relax. This will help you achieve your goals and cope with stress. All of us benefit from support during times of struggle. You are not alone.

Counselling Services - Counselling Services can help you make the most of your university experience.They offer free professional, confidential, inclusive support to currently registered UVic students.  

Health Services - University Health Services (UHS) provides a full service primary health clinic for students, and coordinates healthy student and campus initiatives. We encourage students to use UHS as their primary point of health care while at UVic. We are located at the Petersen Health Centre.

Centre for Accessible Learning - The CAL staff are available by appointment to assess specific needs, provide referrals and arrange appropriate accommodations . The sooner you let us know your needs the quicker we can assist you in achieving your learning goals in this course. 

Elders' Voices - The Office of Indigenous Academic and Community Engagement (IACE) has the privilege of assembling a group of Elders from local communities to guide students, staff, faculty and administration in Indigenous ways of knowing and being.___________________________________________________________________

On reserve or available in the library:
The Science of Musical Sound, by John Pierce
Wave Tutorial, by Peter Wolfenden (manuscript)
Current Directions in Computer Music Research, Mathews and Pierce
The Technology of Computer Music, Mathews
Computer Music Journal (CMJ) Strawn, et alia (in stacks, not on reserve)
The Music Machine Curtis Roads
Electric Sound, The Past and Promise of Electronic Music Joel Chadabe (may also be on reserve for MU307)
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn
Spectrum Analysis Tutorial, Jaffe (from Computer Music Journal)
Gravikords, Whirlies and Pyrophones/book & CD Bart Hopkin Ellipsis Arts CD 3530 (pending acquistion by the library)

Schedule (please note that these entries are subject to slight variations):

Week 1 Sept 4            Reading: Chapt. 1
Introduction and Overview; what to expect. The extreme interdisciplinarity of music technology. An informal survey of the class to find relative backgrounds of students in Music, Mathematics, Computer Science, etc. What are digital media? All digital media are approximations of reality -- so what are the advantages? The first music produced on a computer (at AT&T's Bell Labs). What does human evolution have to do with music?

Week 2 Sept 10          Reading: Chapt. 2
Introduction to acoustics. What is sound? (Ambient pressure = 101 kPa). What is the simplest possible sound?
Sinusoids, Hooke's law of 1660, SHM (simple harmonic motion), sinusoids uniquely determined by amplitude, frequency/period and phase, phase cancellation: mathematical (in the computer) vs physical (in the room), phasors/complex sinusoids SHM: Simulation of multiple masses

Week 3 Sept 17           Reading: Chapt. 3
Acoustics cont'd. The vibrating string, harmonics, harmonics vs overtones vs partials, the harmonic series, Nodes, modes, harmonics. Fourier Theory, additive synthesis, recipe for constructing complex waveform, time domain vs. frequency domain (square wave example), sndpeek demo, Fourier demo (java applet)

Week 4 Sept 24            Reading: Chapt. 4
Acoustics cont'd: v = f λ Resonance, constructive and destructive interference, beats. Slinky demo of traveling waves and standing waves. Harmonic series demo with spinning tube vs Max/MSP simulation. Wave behavior (Light vs. Sound): reflection, linear superposition, refraction, diffraction, doppler shift.
video: Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (Available in library: Music and Media Desk -- ML1380 T467)

Week 5 Oct 1          Reading: Appendices A-F
The physics and mathematics of intervals (intervals are ratios!), tuning systems and cents: Just, pythagorean, meantone, and equal temperament. Beats of mistuned consonances.
Bach in equal temperament vs. "well-tempered" on the harpsichord
How to tune a harpsichord in Bach's temperament (as theorized by harpsichordist Bradley Lehman)
La Monte Young -- minimalist, microtonal piano music
Jacob Collier -- using mictronal intervals in a harmonic context.
OPTIONAL MUSIC THEORY CLASS

Week 6 Oct 8         Reading: Chapt. 5, 6
Information Theory, Digital Audio, Sampling, Nyquist and Shannon's Theory. Aliasing (discrete time) and quantization (discrete amplitude). The wheels of the stagecoach in cowboy movies--what exactly happens? The "ideal" lowpass (anti-aliasing filter). A/D and D/A converters. Lossy vs. lossless compression (eg Huffman coding). Perceptual coding (eg mp3 files). How does a computer make music?

Digital audio -- zooming into a time-domain signal, from the overall amplitude envelope down to individual samples (and back again):

Week 7 Oct 15           Reading: Chapt. 7
Psychoacoustics: anatomy of the auditory system, the recording chain vs. the ear as a transducer, the ear as a frequency analyzer (tonotopicity).

Week 8 Oct 22          Reading: Chapt. 8, 9, 10
Listening session: A brief overview of the 20th century.
Psychoacoustics cont'd: pitch perception, jnd, critical bands, Fletcher-Munson equal loudness contours
ANIMATION: Auditory Transduction
Week 9 Oct 29         Reading: Chapt. 13
Missing fundamental (virtual pitch/periodicity pitch), periodic vs aperiodic / harmonic vs inharmonic, Seebeck's siren, localization of sound, JASA CD
(The Twentieth Century (Karlheinz Stockhausen, Igor Stravinsky, et alia)
QUIZ November 1 (practice for midterm)

Week 10 Nov 5         Reading: Appendices G, H
HW1 due Nov 8: Contributions and interactions in music, science and technology
Musique Concrete, Early Electronic Music, Film Music
Review for Midterm

Week 11 Nov 12         Reading: Chapt. 12
READING BREAK More examples/demos of Max/MSP/jitter.

Week 12 Nov 19        Reading: Chapt. 11, 14
MIDTERM NOVEMBER 22 (listening portion)
Recording technology, MIDI and computer music systems, Pro Tools, etc.
"Intelligent" musical instruments. Software synthesis. Gesture detection. Algorithmic music. The radiodrum, the LEAP controller.
Visualization of music, sonification

Week 13 Nov 26       FINAL PROJECTS, in-class demos, posters Reading: Appendix I

Week 14 Dec 3         FINAL PROJECTS, in-class demos, posters, through December 4th
(NOTE: NO CLASS ON DEC 4 —National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women)

Optional class: Basic Music Theory Musical intervals, scales, musical notation, the keyboard.

Studios for Integrated Media All students in MUS 207 have full access to this lab (across the Ring Road in the Fine Arts Bldg).

Demos:

sndpeek 3D waterfall display of spectrum, also oscilloscope and Lissajous
Damped sinusoid (pendulum)
Standing waves, resonance, reflected pulses, beats (monaural and binaural), sympathetic vibrations, etc.
Examples: Tacoma Narrow Bridge, singing in the shower, spilled coffee
Harmonics demo: whirling toy in conjuction w/ MSP patch that matches harmonics (and contrasts w/ ET approx of harmonics)
Music software: Max/MSP/Jitter, Pro Tools
Auditory Demonstrations CD (Acoustical Society), Video: International Computer Music Society ICMA
The radiodrum and physical modelling: Demo

Listening examples (some played in class):

Max Mathews: Bicycle Built for Two 1961 Wergo/ Computer Music Currents Vol 13
Tuvan throat singing (harmonic singing), Inuit throat singing (totally different from Tuva)
Digital Domain Elektra/Asylum Records. Contains Towers of Hanoi, Love in the Asylum, etc.
Any Resemblance is Purely Coincidental, Charles Dodge 1980 Wergo/CMC 11
Flora, Tod Machover 1989 Bridge BCD 9020
Wildlife CDCM/ Centaur
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Well-Tempered Productions
just-more-idle-chatter Paul Lansky CDCM/Centaur CD
wasting (same CD)
Rite of Spring, Stravinsky
Ionization, Varese
Oraison (1937) performed by Ensemble d'Ondes de Montreal -- played on Ondes Martenot (nearly a sine wave)
Quartet for the End of Time, Messiaen
Laurie Anderson
Steve Reich, Drumming, Music for 18 Musicians
David Jaffe, Racing Against Time, Underground Economy
Radiohead/Paul Lansky/guitarist uses Max/MSP and now jitter for live video feeds

Videos (selection from list below):

CalTech Resonance documentary
Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey
Chladni patterns of a vibrating plate
NOVA documentaries
Forbidden Planet: the first all-electronic music sound track
Modulations documentary
Moog documentary
Wildlife performance at Stanford with David Jaffe (Theremin also performed at this concert)
Suite from Seven Wonders at Western Front
MSNBC video at CCRMA
UNI live performance in Cuba
NYU Interactive Arts Performance Series concert with Hilario Durán
DVD of Rhythmic Light, Fred Collopy
Seattle City Hall fiber-optic installation 2005
International Computer Music Association (ICMA) videos
Public Art video: Seattle Public Library
NIME 2005 DVD excerpts
Claudet Shannon: The Bit Player

Tutorials
Kadenze Max/MSP tutorial by Matt Wright....