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Music 109/209N + MAT 276N Special topics in Composing Electronic Music: A New Aesthetic

Letter grade, Wed 3-5 PM, Room Music 2215, Instructor: Curtis Roads University of California, Santa Barbara, Office: 2203 Elings, telephone 893-2932, [email protected]

______Week 1 29 Sept Composition in the electronic medium On the composition of Half-life Handout: “The path to Half-life” (2004) Curtis Roads Listening Half-life (1998) Curtis Roads Assignments 1. Mid-term project: Realize a 4-minute 4-channel study in Studio Varèse that integrates microphone-recorded material with synthetic sounds. Due week 7.

Final project: 2. Prepare a 5-7-minute 8-channel study in Studio Varèse along with a 6-page documentation that describes your aesthetic goals,techniques used, and the structure of the composition. Due final class. ______Week 2 6 Oct The nature of sound Sound material Listening Touche pas (2008) Curtis Roads ______Week 3 13 Oct Transformation of sound Articulating space Listening Never (2010) Curtis Roads Capture ephemère (1967) Bernard Parmegiani ______Week 4 20 Oct The process of rhythm Handout: “The art of articulation: the of Horacio Vaggione” (2005) Curtis Roads Listening Harrison Variations (2002) Horacio Vaggione ______Week 5 27 Oct Pitch in electronic music Listening Purity (1994) Curtis Roads ______Week 6 3 Nov Articulating space Listening Glasharfe (2006) Ludger Brümmer Modulude (work in progress) Curtis Roads ______Week 7 10 Nov Multiscale organization I Presentation of student mid-term projects ______Week 8 17 Nov Multiscale organization II Decyphering Stockhausen’s Listening Kontakte (1960) ______CREATE LECTURE: 17 Nov 2010, 5 PM, MUSIC 2215, Ron Sword on microtonal guitar music ______CREATE CONCERT 17 Nov 2010, 8 PM, Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall Featured: Microtonal guitarist and luthier Ron Sword, also Ephemera (2010) by Yutaka Makino ______Week 9 24 Nov Generative strategies Aesthetics of electronic music composition Listening Swaying to See (1995) Natasha Barrett ______Week 10 1 Dec DEAD WEEK, NO CLASS ______Week 11 8 Dec Presentation of student final projects + documentation ______