Admission requirements:
Students who are interested in electronic music
Description:
Practice Electronic music is perhaps the only music to emerge without a performance practice. Though this is no longer the case, basic issues remain in dispute. Is it possible to make music without reference to the act of performance? We will examine problems of instrumentation, performance and theater.
Theory & Technique
How has being digital changed our relation to traditional music theory? Is there a theory for electronic music? Do we need totally new concepts, or is the break with the past greatly exaggerated? What is the concrete connection between electronic and modern western art music? What are the issues: the man machine interface, the novelty of synthetic sound or the changes wrought by recording and digital media?
Social/Cultural Embedding
Is the purpose of music pleasure? Is listening a solitary activity? Human culture has produced myriad uses and meanings for music from prayer and celebration to synchronization and healing. What should we look for in this diversity towards our invention of music? The paradigm of music creation has been under strain since the invention of recording, now it is cracked. Distinctions like author, score, copy, interpretation, do not always produce clear lines in the mind. Copyright is a legalistic solution applied to an economic problem, but such constructions are in conflict not only with utopian ideals of communication but also with music practice and creative desire. This desire has never long been thwarted in the past so it likely will not in this case.
Study requirements
Students from Leiden have to do an extra assignment to acquire the 5 ECTS
Timetable
First and second term. Wednesday 12.45 – 15.00 hours, conference room. Course takes place at the Royal Conservatory, Juliana van Stolberglaan 1, Den Haag (near The Hague ).
Mode of instruction
Lecture and seminar
Registration
NB: this course is NOT listed in Usis. Students are obliged to register for this course through the application form that can be downloaded via this link.
Contact
Rogier Schneemann
Kees Tazelaar or info@sonology.org.
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Elective courses music and fine arts