Professor
Miller Puckette;
858-534-4823;
msp@ucsd.edu;
https://www.msp.ucsd.edu/
Meets in Mandeville (0326) room B202, Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:35-10:55. This
is in the Mandeville basement, two floors down from the main floor; stairs and
elevator are in a passageway through the center of the building.
Office hours: CRCA (Building 408) Room 7, Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:15-12:00.
Teaching assistant: Momilani Ramstrum (momilani@ramstrum.com); office hours by appointment.
This course is an introduction to the rich tradition of electronic "art music" from the year 1948 to the present. Lectures are Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:25-10:45. Additional discussion sessions are led by the teaching assistant. Reading assignments are from the course reader available from UCSD Soft Reserves (in the student center.) Listening materials are available through the Music Library's DARP system..
There are two in-class tests, a final exam, and three one-page writing assignments; details will be given in class.
TOPICS
Sept. 21, 26, 28. Music, sound, and modernism
Listening assignment:
Pierre Boulez, Piano Sonata no. 1, part 2 (1946; 4:30)
Iannis Xenakis, PH Concrète (1958; 2:42)
James Tenney, Collage #1 (1963; 3:22)
Mario Davidovsky, Synchronism #9 for violin and tape (1988; 8:46)
Trevor Wishart, Vox, no. 5 (1986; 6:02)
Heinrich Taube, Gloriette for John Cage (1994; 4:07)
John Cage, Williams Mix (4:13)
Marc Ainger, Shatter (1998; 8:00)
Charles Dodge, Any Resemblance is Purely Coincidental (1979; 7:56)
Jonathan Harvey, Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco (1979; 9:00)
Oct. 3, 5. Musique Concrète
Listening assignment:
Pierre Schaeffer, Etude aux chemins de Fer (1948; 2:50)
Pierre Schaeffer, Etude Pathétique (1948; 4:00)
Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henri, Bidule en Ut (1950; 1:51)
Vladimir Ussachevsky, Sonic Contours (1952; 7:20)
Iannis Xenakis, Diamorphoses (1957; 6:53)
Luciano Berio, Thema (Ommagio a Joyce) (1958; 6:12)
Luciano Berio, Momenti (1960; 7:10)
Francois Bayle, L'oiseau-chanteur (1963; 1:19)
Pierre Schaeffer, Etude aux Sons Animés (1950/71; 4:11)
Reading assignment:
1. Paul Griffiths, A Guide to Electronic Music.
Thames and Hudson, 1979, pp. 7-16.
2. David Ernst, The Evolution of Electronic Music. Schirmer, 1977,
pp. 4-22.
3. Pierre Couprie, "Three analysis models for l'Oiseau moqueur,"
from Organised Sound 4/1, pp. 1999, pp. 3-13.
Oct. 10, 12, 17. Early electronic music
Listening assignment:
Edgard Varèse, Integrales (10:25)
Edgard Varèse, Poème Eléctronique (1958; 7:56)
Karlheinz Stockhausen, Study II (1954; 3:01)
Karlheinz Stockhausen, Kontakte (1954; 34:37)
Reading assignment:
4. Barry Schraeder, Introduction to electro-acoustic music.
Prentice-Hall, 1982, 75-96,
5. Nouritza Matossian, "The Philips Pavilion,"
in Xenakis, Pro/Am Resources, Inc, 1986, pp. 109-118.
6. Karlheinz Stockhausen, Stockhausen on music.
Kampmann, 1989, pp. 88-111.
Writing assignment #1 due Oct. 10.
First in-class test Oct. 17.
Oct. 19. Synthesizers
Listening assignment:
Milton Babbitt, Phonemena (4:12)
Morton Subotnick, The Wild Bull, part B (1968; 15:01)
Walter Carlos, Brandenburg Concerto, no. 3, third movement (4:42)
Laurie Spiegel, Appalachian Grove 1 (1974; 5:20)
Reading assignment:
7. Allen Strange, Electronic music.
William C. Brown, 1972, pp. 126-143.
Oct. 24, 26. Computer music
Listening assignment:
John Chowning, Phoné (1981; 12:33)
James Dashow, Whispers out of Time (1976; 11:17)
Iannis Xenakis, Mycenae-Alpha (9:37)
Charles Dodge, Speech Songs (1972; 7:01)
William Albright, Sphaera (1985; 12:44)
Lansky, Six Fantasies on a poem by Thomas Campion (1979; 22:24)
Reading assignment:
8. Interview with Jean-Claude Risset, from
Curtis Roads, Ed., Composers and the Computer. William Kaufmann, 1985,
pp. 114-133.
9. Charles Dodge, "On Speech Songs ,"
from Max Mathews and John Pierce, eds.,
Current Directions in Computer Music Research, MIT press, 1989,
pp. 9-17.
10. F. Richard Moore, "Dreams of Computer Music---Then and Now,"
Computer Music Journal 20/1 (1996) pp. 25-41
Oct. 31; Nov. 2. Digital Musique Concrete
Listening assignment:
Risset, Sud (1985; 23:56)
Horacio Vaggione, Agon (1998; 8:45)
Cetta, ...que me hiciste mal... (1992; 7:57)
Koonce, Pins (1996; 13:23)
Reading assignment:
11. Trevor Wishart, "The composition of Vox-5," CMJ 12/4 (1988),
pp. 21-27.
Nov. 7, 9. The IRCAM school
Listening assignment:
Philippe Manoury,
La Partition du Ciel et de l'Enfer (1989; 39:39)
Pierre Boulez, Dialogue de l'Ombre Double (1985; 17:42)
Jean-Baptiste Barriere: Chréode 1 (1983; 9:26)
Kaija Saariaho. Noanoa (1991; 9:10)
Risset, Songes (1979; 9:05)
Reading assignment:
12. Georgina Born, "Uncertainty, the Canon, and Dissident Musics," from
Rationalizing Culture, University of California Press, 1995,
pp. 164-179.
Writing assignment #2 due Nov. 7.
Second in-class test Nov. 9.
Nov. 14, 16, 21. Modernism and Postmodernism
Listening assignment:
John Cage, Daughters of the lonesome isle (9:57)
John Cage, Radio Music (1956; 6:14)
Steve Reich, Come Out (1966; 12:54)
Pauline Oliveros, Bye Bye Butterfly (1965; 8:10)
Jean-Claude Risset, 8 sketches for piano
(1989; nos. 2, 4, and 8: 1:25, 1:09, 3:29)
Rosenboom, Lineage (1994; 8:29)
Lansky, Idle Chatter (1985; 9:26)
George Lewis, Voyager, no. 1 (3:00)
Reading assignment:
13. George Lewis, "A listener's guide to Voyager,"
Reprinted from Tijdkring (Contemporary
Improvised Music Festival 1995), program book.
Den Haag and Amsterdam:
Stichting Jazz in Nederland/Phoenix Foundation.
14. David Rosenboom, "The performing brain,"
CMJ 14/1 (1990), pp. 48-65.
Nov. 28, 30. Pop music and art music
Listening assignment
Chuck Berry, Sweet 16
Jimi Hendrix, Are You Experienced?
Kraftwerk, Pocket Calculator
Fatboy Slim, Right Here Right Now / The Rockefeller Shank
Caviar, Tangerine Speedo
DJ Spooky, That subliminal Kid Open Circuit
Radiohead, Kid A
John Stevens, Barrage #1
Writing assignment #3 due Nov. 30.
Final exam, week of Dec. 4.
FOR FURTHER READING:
Computer Music Journal
Leonardo Music Journal
Perspectives of New Music
Journal of New Music Research
Proceedings, International Computer Conference
RELATED WEB SITES:
https://www.crca.ucsd.edu/ (UCSD)
https://www.ircam.fr/ (IRCAM, Paris, France)
https://www.computermusic.org
(International Computer Music Association)