Projects in Electronic Music: Policies

K406/K506 — Projects in Electronic Music: Policies

Prof. John Gibson [email]

Why is there no syllabus?

The main focus of the class is on individual projects and private lessons, culminating in a completed piece by the end of the semester. The weekly class meeting is likely to have students who are enrolled in the class for the first time and students who may have taken it 5 or 6 times in the past. A narrative syllabus that works for the first-time student will not work for the others. Therefore, the topics of the weekly meetings focus on items of common interest — listening and discussion of new music, interaction with related art forms, new software or hardware in the studio, guest speakers from a variety of related disciplines, or common concerns that arise in the lessons. Please feel free to suggest topics you would like to see covered.

The following class policies are enumerated for the worst-case scenarios. They sound (and are) quite negative, but I don't anticipate most of you will be affected by them. Despite what the guilty-before-proven-innocent tone below might imply, you should know that I try to maintain as positive a creative environment as possible. The policies are in print as official class documentation, should any dispute over grading and policy come up in the future, and as a way to convey the expectations for a successful experience.

Lesson Policy

All students are expected to schedule a lesson at least every two weeks. We will start with a basic schedule for the semester. But because some students require more lessons, and schedules can change from week to week, we will confirm the schedule, and make any changes necessary, during each Thursday class meeting. You are responsible for scheduling a lesson within the two-week time frame.

You should not cancel a lesson except in cases of documented illness (i.e., note from Health Center or doctor) or family emergency. Otherwise, cancellation of a lesson will result in an unexcused absence. Habitual lateness to lessons will result in an unexcused absence.

You are responsible for coming to each lesson prepared with music. Most of you will have at least 12 hours of studio time between lessons, so I expect that you will complete 12 hours of work for each lesson. If you miss a studio time, or if technical difficulties make it impossible for you to accomplish 12 hours of work, I expect that you will use extra sign-up time to complete the work. If your assigned studio time becomes regularly unusable, I expect you to request a new time.

Here’s what we’re trying to avoid: a situation in which a student who does little or no work during the semester, and has nothing to show for lessons, burns the midnight oil at the end of the semester to produce a piece that has not previously been heard or discussed. This bypasses most of the educational experience this particular class has to offer, and therefore such a student will receive a lower grade than they otherwise would have.

Attendance Policy

More than two unexcused absences (class or lesson), or being consistently late, will result in a substantially lower grade.

Absences will be considered excused only in the following cases.

Illness, verified by a note from a health care provider who is not a relative
Family emergency
Religious holiday
School-sanctioned event, for which excuse letters are written
Professional conflict (cleared in advance with the instructor)
Travel for a job interview

In all these cases, please notify me by email before the missed class begins, unless there’s a good reason why that’s not possible.

There is no way to make up for unexcused absences. I do not offer extra credit assignments.

Course Work

As mentioned above, you are to complete a piece by the end of the semester. In addition, you will give one in-class presentation about a relevant topic that interests you, determined in consultation with the instructor.

Also, there will be a weekly listening journal. See submission instructions on the [journal] page.

We will spend some of the class time listening to music you’ve already made, as well as your piece-in-progress for this class.

Grades

Here are the grade weights.

Consistent lesson preparation 35%

Music produced during the semester 35%

In-class presentation 10%

Journal, class participation 20%

Incompletes will be granted only as per University policy.

Data Protection

The most important thing to do when working with computers is to protect your data. Please do not trust that the hard drives in our computers will hold your data safely: we have had disk failures in the past.

So back up your data!

Catastrophic loss of materials is not an acceptable excuse for having no work to show!

Be sure to have at least three copies of your work on different media, in different locations, at all times.

Also, develop the habit of saving in sequential versions. In other words, make a series of copies that reflect your progress on the project — for example, “my project Sept-10,” “my project Sept-11,” etc.

Access to Help

For technical questions or possible broken equipment/software, please email me right away with a description of the problem that is as detailed as possible.

For composition or technical issues, I try to provide as much individual help as possible, since I understand this is a difficult subject to master. I ask, however, that you double-check manuals and your procedures before contacting me. But I am here to help, so ask away, or ask for an additional lesson.

Consistent lesson preparation	35%
Music produced during the semester	35%
In-class presentation	10%
Journal, class participation	20%