K509 — Computer Music Seminar:  Policies

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Prof. John Gibson   [email]

Weekly Assignments

There will be a series of weekly assignments designed to familiarize you with the tools and techniques discussed in class. I expect you to complete your assignments by the next Thursday. Before that class, you should put your work in a folder bearing your name, and drag it into the K509 Drop Box on the MAC302 computer. (I’ll show you where the Drop Box is during class.) Please be sure to include any necessary sound files, subpatches, externals, etc. If you’re working at home or in the Library, you can bring your assignment on a flash drive and drag it into the Drop Box after we play it.

Depending on class size, some or all of your work will be played and discussed in class. It is a great time-saver to have your work ready to go on the studio Mac (as described above), rather than transferring it from servers, email, hard drives, etc. We will not have time to log in and out of accounts on the 302 computer looking for your work.

Credit will be deducted for late assignments. The expectation is that you will go beyond the bare minimum and show some creative initiative when doing the assignments. Work done on assignments can easily be incorporated into the final project. You are highly encouraged to experiment, once the basic requirements have been fulfilled.

Since this is one of the last classes that most of you will take in this subject, it’s a good opportunity to develop your ability to work out technical problems on your own. I’m here to help you, of course, but please try to figure things out for yourself first.

In-class Presentations

This is a graduate seminar, so you are required to make an oral presentation to the class on one of the topics we study. These will take place normally on a Tuesday. Start the class with an overview of the topic and as clear an explanation of the theory and technique as possible. Supply specific examples of the technique — your own sound, with a software demonstration, and music by others.

You should create a slide (or similar) presentation to help you get your points across. Don’t put too many ideas on one slide, and use graphs, photos, etc. to illustrate your points. Try to avoid reading your slides while presenting. Think of this as practice for teaching a class on a job interview. One of the hard things about teaching technical topics with a computer is juggling the software demands (e.g., switching between PowerPoint and Max) while talking sensibly. Might as well get used to it now, rather than later, when it matters more how you perform.

You are encouraged to go beyond what is found in the readings, by looking up other sources of information in the library or online.

Presentations should last around 40 minutes. The non-presenting students are expected to have done the reading prior to the class in which the topic is covered. You should be prepared to suffer obnoxious interruptions from me, asking you questions about the material.

IMPORTANT: At least a week before your presentation, you should arrange to meet with me to discuss ideas for your approach. Do the reading before meeting with me. Don’t leave this until it’s too late.

Final Project

A final project, consisting of a composition of appropriate length and technical sophistication, will take the place of the final exam. The composition should exemplify some of the tools and techniques covered in class and give evidence of your artistry. We will have an informal performance/presentation of all the final projects during the assigned exam time.

Grading Policy

Here are the grade weights.
Pop quizzes (drop your lowest score) 15%
Weekly assignments 40%
In-class presentation, class participation 15%
Final Project 30%

Incompletes will be granted only as per University policy.

Catastrophic loss of materials for assignments or the final project is not an acceptable excuse!

So back up your data! Keep copies on several different media, in several different locations.

Attendance Policy

More than two unexcused absences, or being consistently late, will result in a substantially lower grade. Specifically, each unexcused absence over two lowers your grade by one grade increment (e.g., from A to A-, or A- to B+).

Being late is especially disruptive in this class because you might have to climb over other students to get to a chair in our small class room. We usually have to stop class to wait for this and will spend the time glaring at you.

Absences will be considered excused only in the following cases.

  1. Illness, verified by a note from a health care provider who is not a relative
  2. Family emergency
  3. Religious holiday
  4. School-sanctioned event, for which excuse letters are written
  5. Professional conflict (cleared in advance with the instructor)
  6. 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.

Reading

Readings will be taken from articles on E-Reserve: http://ereserves.indiana.edu/eres/coursepass.aspx?cid=7410.
You need a password from me to access this.

Books to know about...

Ballora, Mark. Essentials of Music Technology (2003)
Chadabe, Joel. Electric Sound: The Past and Promise of Electronic Music (1996)
Cook, Perry R. Real Sound Synthesis for Interactive Applications (2002) [IU eresource version here]
Dodge, Charles and Thomas A. Jerse. Computer Music: Synthesis, Composition, and Performance (2nd ed., 1997)
Moore, F. R. Elements of Computer Music (1990)
Puckette, Miller. The Theory and Technique of Electronic Music (2007) [online version here]
Roads, Curtis. The Computer Music Tutorial (1996)
Roads, Curtis. Microsound (2004)
Winkler, Todd. Composing Interactive Music: Techniques and Ideas Using Max (2001)

©2011, John Gibson, Jeffrey Hass