Syllabus
Home Introduction Grading Reading Computing Resources Software Resources Syllabus Assignments

 

Here is a broad overview of computer music research (as presented in class).  Those topics that are italicized are ones that we will cover in reasonable depth in this class.

  1. What is sound?
    (Digital Audio: Representations of sound in a computer)
    bullet Digitization
    bulletNyquist sampling theorem
    bulletAlisasing, filtering, etc.
    bulletFile formats (.aiff, .wav, .snd, .mp3, etc)
    bulletCompression
  2. What is music?
    (Representations of music in a computer)
    bulletScales, chords, etc.
    bulletMIDI, MusiXML, etc.
    bullet Non-standard representations.
    bulletComputer music languages
  3. What makes a clarinet sound like a clarinet?
    (Spectrum analysis)
    bulletFourier Transform and FFT
    bulletWavelets
    bulletTime-varying analysis
  4. What makes Mozart sound like Mozart?
    (Music analysis)
    bulletStatistical modeling
    bulletMachine learning
    bulletConventional analysis (Schenkerian, etc.)
  5. How do we create an artificial clarinet? (or piano, or clari-phone, or saxa-net…)
    (Synthesis)
    bulletAdditive synthesis
    bulletSubtractive synthesis
    bulletFM synthesis
    bulletGranular synthesis
    bulletPhysical modeling
    bulletAcoustics (reverberation, etc)
  6. How do we create artificial music?
    (Algorithmic music)
    bulletChaos and fractals
    bullet Probabilistic methods (Cope, “recombinant music”, EMI)
    bulletAd-hoc algorithms
    bulletMusic-theory-based algorithms (e.g. species counterpoint)
    bulletAI techniques
    bulletSoundscape vs. discrete
    bulletSimulating performance (articulation, etc)
        -- for existing or computer-generated compositions
    bulletAutomatic accompaniment
    bullet Improvisation (whether real-time or not)
  7. Miscellany
    bulletElectronic interfaces (including conducting)
    bulletReal-time issues in performance or synthesis
    bulletMusic information retrieval (cataloguing and searching music)
        -- see songtapper.com
    bulletNotation (reading scores, printing, editing, etc)
    bulletSampling techniques

 

The course will be organized into four modules:

  1. Sound and Digital Audio
  2. Synthesis (HasSound and csound)
  3. Music representation
  4. Algorithmic Music (Haskore and MAX/MSP)

 

Date Topic Reading
Sept 7 Overview of computer music field  
Sept 12 Sound, Acoustics, and digital audio Ch 1 & 23 of text, and
Blair School of Music course
Sept 14 Digital audio and spectrum analysis Appendix (Fourier Analysis)
Sept 19 Haskell Turorial (Part I) See Reading
Sept 21 Haskell Tutorial (Part II) See Reading
Sept 26 Haskore and HasSound overview TBA