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 weekly assignments by the next Tuesday. Before that class, you must put your work in a folder bearing your name, and drag it into the K509 Drop Box. (I’ll show you where this is during class.)

Depending on class size, some or all of your work will be played or 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, other drives, etc. 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. Typically, this will be a chapter, or part of a chapter, from the Dodge book, perhaps supplemented by additional materials.

In part, the quality of this course for your classmates depends on you making your best effort to summarize accurately and explain clearly the theories and techniques discussed in the book. You should have a 2-4 page handout to help in your presentation, but you should avoid merely quoting Dodge verbatim. Some concepts and entire chapters may be very complex. In this case, you should find other sources in the library and/or online to aid in your understanding of the material prior to presenting it. Presentations should last around 40 minutes. The non-presenting students are expected to have read the chapter prior to the class in which it is presented.

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.

Grading Policy

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

Required text: Dodge, Charles and Thomas A. Jerse. Computer Music: Synthesis, Composition, and Performance (2nd ed.). Schirmer Books, 1997 [ISBN-10: 0028646827, ISBN-13: 978-0028646824].

Make sure you get the second edition, 1997, not the 1985 edition!

Look for this on the net; you should be able to find it used somewhere. If money is really tight (and when isn’t it?), consider going in with a few of your fellow students to buy a copy. As a last resort, there is a copy on Permanent Reserve (Hass) in the Music Library.

A few readings will be taken from articles on E-Reserve: http://ereserves.indiana.edu/eres/coursepass.aspx?cid=5468.
You need a password from me to access this.

Additional 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)
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)

©2009, Jeffrey Hass, John Gibson