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 pertaining to this class must have "MUS 207" in the title----

TA: Faustino Lopez
Office hours: 1-2pm Tuesdays or by app't (email for appointment in any case)
email: faustino dot lopez at arts.cornish.edu

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.

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 Laboratory for Extended Media, in the Fine Arts building across the ring road. In addition, the Media Centre in the library also has music/audio software and hardware.
 

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 9              Reading: Chapt. 1
Introduction and Overview; what to expect. An informal survey of the class to find relative backgrounds of students in
Music, Mathematics, Computer Science, etc. What are digital media? Digitization as an approximation of reality–what are the advantages? The first music produced on a computer (at AT&T's Bell Labs). The divestiture of AT&T. What does human evolution have to do with music?

Week 2 Sept 15            Reading: Chapt. 2
Introduction to acoustics. Sinusoids, Hooke's law, SHM (simple harmonic motion)
sinusoids uniquely determined by amplitude, frequency/period and phase, phasors/complex sinusoids
SHM: Simulation of multiple masses

Week 3 Sept 22            Reading: Chapt. 3
Acoustics cont'd. The vibrating string, harmonics, harmonics vs partials, tthe harmonic series, Fourier Theory, additive synthesis, recipe for constructing complex waveform, time domain vs. frequency domain (square wave example), harmonic series demo with spinning tube vs Max/MSP simulation, sndpeek demo

Week 4 Sept 29            Reading: Chapt. 4
Acoustics cont'd: v=fL, Resonance, linear superposition, interference, beats. Slinky demo of traveling waves and standing waves. Wave behavior / Light vs. Sound: reflection, refraction, diffraction, doppler shift. Nodes, modes, normal modes

Week 5 Oct 6            Reading: Appendices A-F
Digital Audio, Sampling, Nyquist and ShannonTheory. Aliasing and quantization. The wheels of the stagecoach in cowboy movies--what exactly happens? The" ideal lowpass" (anti-aliasing filter). How does a computer make music?
OPTIONAL MUSIC THEORY CLASS Oct 9

Week 6 Oct 13         Reading: Chapt. 5, 6
The physics and mathematics of intervals, tuning systems and cents

Week 7 Oct 20           Reading: Chapt. 7
Psychoacoustics: anatomy of the auditory system, the recording chain vs. the ear as a transducer
video: Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey

Week 8 Oct 27          Reading: Chapt. 8, 9, 10
Psychoacoustics cont'd: pitch perception, jnd, localization of sound, critical bands, missing fundamental, Seebeck's siren, JASA CD, ANIMATION: Auditory Transduction
QUIZ October 30 (practice for midterm)

Week 10 Nov 10         Reading: Appendices G, H
READING BREAK
MIDTERM NOVEMBER 13 (AFTER READING BREAK)

Week 11 Nov 17         Reading: Chapt. 12
Visualization of Music, Sonification

Week 12 Nov 24         Reading: Chapt. 11, 14
Annette Brosin guest lecture:  The Twentieth Century (Karlheinz Stockhausen, Igor Stravinsky, et alia)
Recording Technology, MIDI and computer music systems, Pro Tools, etc.
"Intelligent" musical instruments. Software synthesis. Gesture detection. Algorithmic music. Max/MSP/jitter. The radiodrum, the LEAP controller.
The future and the past.

Week 13 Dec 1         Reading: Appendix I
FINAL PROJECTS, in-class demos, posters, through December 2
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.

Laboratory for Extended Media Students have full access to this lab on their own as well.

Demos
sndpeek
Standing waves, resonance, reflected pulses, beats (monaural and binaural), sympathetic vibrations, etc.
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

TACOMA NARROWS BRIDGE (resonance isn't always a good thing!)

Listening examples (some played in class):

Digital Domain Elektra/Asylum Records. Contains Towers of Hanoi, Love in the Asylum, etc.
Max Mathews: Bicycle Built for Two 1961 Werg/ Computer Music Currents Vol 13
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
Tuvan throat singing (harmonic singing), Inuit throat singing (totally different from Tuva)

Videos (selection from list below):

CalTech Resonance documentary
Theremin documentary
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