Undergraduate Course: Creative Music Technology (MUSI08057)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 2 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Creative Music Technology explores creative engagements with digital musical technologies, particularly composing with audio files, sampling, and creating and patching digital synthesisers. |
| Course description |
In this course, you will engage with the creative potential of digital technologies. The focus is on working with recorded audio (that you may make yourself, or that you may sample from elsewhere), and on designing sound from scratch with synthesis processes. Alongside your own creative investigations of these technologies, you will explore the history of these practices, and existing musical work that engages with specific technologies.
In addition to weekly 1-hour lectures, there will be weekly tutorial sessions in smaller groups.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
It is RECOMMENDED that students have passed
Sound Recording (MUSI08054)
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | Students will be given the given a list of apps that they may purchase (at their own costs) for use with their own IOS or Android smartphone in the practical sync sessions. Participation using smartphones is not mandatory but recommended. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 11,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 11,
Formative Assessment Hours 1,
Summative Assessment Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
172 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
This course comprises of 2 assessment components.
Creative sound work (1¿30¿2 minutes), 20%, due in the second third of the semester.
Substantial creative sound work (3¿5 minutes + 2000 words) 80%, due towards the end of the semester.
The creative sound work will consist of processed samples of a length, to be submitted as a wav or mp3 file, accompanied by a short 500-word report
The substantial creative sound work will explore techniques learnt in class, submitted as a wav or mp3, and accompanied by a written report of 1,400 words. (80%). |
| Feedback |
Formative Feedback:
Feedback is given verbally at weekly tutorials.
Summative Feedback:
Written feedback on summative assessment will be given, as per University regulations. Feedback on the first assignment will be given in advance of submission of the second.
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Creatively engage with recorded audio to develop new sound pieces.
- Creatively engage with a range of audio processing techniques.
- Understand and build modular synthesis patches for compositional purposes.
- Discuss and engage with aesthetic concerns relating to musical technologies.
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Reading List
Butler M. 2014. Playing with Something that Runs. Oxford University Press.
Duhautpas F and Solomos M. 2014. ¿Hildegard Westerkamp and the Ecology of Sound as Experience. Notes on Beneath the Forest Floor¿, The Journal of Acoustic Ecology vol. 13 no. 1.
Harkins P. 2010. ¿Appropriation, Additive Approaches and Accidents: The sampler as a compositional tool and recording dislocation¿, Journal of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, 1(1), 1-19
Norman K. 1996. ¿Real-World Music as Composed Listening¿, Contemporary Music Review, Vol 15, No 1-2
Reynolds S. 2010. ¿Ghosts of Futures Past: Sampling, Hauntology and Mash-ups Simon Reynolds¿, in Retromania: Pop Culture¿s Addiction to Its Own Past, Faber and Faber.
Rodgers T. 2010. Pink Noises, Duke University Press, 2010. (see particularly the chapters on Eliane Radigue, Jessica Rylan, Pamela Z and Pauline Oliveros)
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
The University has identified several groups of abilities that should be developed as part of the University of Edinburgh training experience, and to enhance your employability as a graduate. These abilities take your skill-base beyond academic knowledge. They relate to this course in a number of specific ways, as outlined below.
Enquiry and lifelong learning
All components of the course provide this to some degree but your lectures, in particular, provide an important framework upon which you can build these attributes. This University considers itself to be a research-led institution and you will be exposed to cutting edge information. In this course, you will be shown how to develop your own music technology, and more importantly, the ability to develop your skills by yourself during the course and beyond the course, so that you can continue to explore and develop creative avenues.
Aspiration and personal development
The course should provide you with the tools to begin to explore your own creative projects through an engagement with contemporary music technologies. Although we can only go so far with this course, the course can be a window into a world, that you can explore. The foundations we lay can help you develop a self reliance in practical matters such as recording, editing, mixing, producing and mastering, in thinking about devising your own musical applications, and more generally in creatively engaging with digital technologies.
Research and enquiry
The practical skills you learn on this course are enhanced by encouraging further reading of books, online resources, research papers, and tutorials. The practical project will allow you to research and explore your chosen topic for yourself, and to find your way among the many resources available on the topic.
Personal and intellectual autonomy
By reading and engaging with materials for the submissions, you will learn to develop your own creative approach, the ability to solve your own problems, and to seek help when necessary from a variety of sources.
Personal effectiveness
The ability to organise and summarise your thoughts and material in a flexible and accessible way is a core feature required for personal effectiveness. Planning, time management and reflection are central to this. By providing you with a timetable where key submission dates are highlighted, we encourage you to develop your effectiveness throughout this course. These same skills extend to other courses and also to your overall ability to maximise your achievement while studying at this University.
Communication
It is important that you develop skills to interact constructively with others and convey knowledgeable and balanced views. In the practical classes you will be encouraged to share ideas and insights with other students, to seek help and provide help where necessary.
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| Additional Class Delivery Information |
11x weekly 2-hour sessions (a mixture of lectures and practical sessions), plus dedicated tutorial slots on even-numbered weeks that focus exclusively on hands on practical work. |
| Keywords | Music Technology; Electroacoustic Composition; Recording; Sound Processing |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr Roderick Buchanan-Dunlop
Tel: (0131 6)51 4320
Email: Roderick.Buchanan-Dunlop@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Rowan Paton
Tel:
Email: rpaton5@ed.ac.uk |
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