<p>Any thoughts or recommendations on specific programs?</p>
<p>stephmin, this may be a bit off base as I don't fully understand exactly what you're looking for, but it might be worth a try <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/465229-where-go-experimental-electronic-music-composition.html?highlight=electronic+music%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/465229-where-go-experimental-electronic-music-composition.html?highlight=electronic+music</a></p>
<p>Not off base at all! I was purposely vague, and so thank you for the thread - it was a worthwhile read.</p>
<p>I second all the schools mentioned in the above thread, especially Mills for grad school. Another school to check out is Bard College (not the Conservatory.) Richard Teitelbaum is a professor there.</p>
<p>Just stumbled on this at Tulane:</p>
<p>Newcomb</a> Department of Music</p>
<p>Of course, I don't even know what you are talking about in this field - so don't take the link as any sort of recommendation or endorsement!!!!!</p>
<p>Can anyone one give me a BRIEF and no more than moderately technical explanation of electroacoustic muisc??? I'd love to be educated, but not overly challenged by more terms that I'm not familiar with!</p>
<p>Thanks to anyone who attempts to enligthen me!</p>
<p>fiddlestix, I'm as clueless as you are, but I found the original post in the thread link I posted above to at least give a partial explanation of application.</p>
<p>Thanks, Violadad!</p>
<p>I did read that post - but found it confusing. Maybe I should just give in and study the wiki articles completely. Hoping for an easier route, I was wishing someone with experience or particular interest in the field would weigh in - with as many laymen's terms as possible.</p>
<p>Any takers???</p>
<p>I'll give it a shot.</p>
<p>Electroacoustic music combines elements of electrical, electronic and acoustic sound production. Acoustic music starts with the sort most people know well, including human voices, traditional and not-so-traditional musical instruments that rely on creating sounds by means of vibrating strings, reeds, direct modulation of a column of air (brass, some woodwinds), percussion, etc. It may also include items that produce sound in some mechanical fashion that are not normally considered musical instruments, for example percussion kits made from an assortment of found items, buckets, 5-gallon water cooler jugs perhaps partially filled with water, manual typewriters, wind-up alarm clocks or anything that makes noise without the need for electricity.</p>
<p>Electronic music can also come from a variety of sources. Although there were very early curiosities like the Telharmonium (the simple one weighed a mere seven tons and the big one was 200 tons), the development of vacuum tubes and the concept of the feedback-controlled amplifier in the early 20th century made possible reasonable-sized instruments like the ondes Martenot and the Theremin. These used various methods of controlling the pitch and volume of electrical signals that never existed as a mechanical or acoustical waveform until applied to the terminals of a loudspeaker. Then came analog synthesizers of various types that used various electrical waveforms (sine waves, triangle waves, sawtooth waves, noise signals) then filtered them and combined them in a multitude of ways to create a variety of sounds, some imitative of existing instruments and many not. Once semiconductor technology became practical, additional functions were added to the analog synthesizers and digital synthesizers and samplers soon followed, along with an explosion of products for generating, processing, recording and combining sounds in new ways. </p>
<p>Simultaneously, computers were becoming more and more powerful and were used to create sounds under the control of software, at first requiring hours or days to produce a few seconds of sound, but later becoming able to do so in real time. In addition to providing completely new capabilities, software started to imitate older generations of hardware-based electronic instruments, synthesizers, recorders and processors. Computers also provide a means for composers to record and sequence the performance of at least the electronic parts of a piece of electroacoustic music. Combined with the development of interfaces like MIDI, that allow computers to control musical instruments, this permits a degree of complexity and simultaneous coordination of a large number of elements that was previously impractical or outright impossible.</p>
<p>So, electro-acoustic music employs a very large bag of tricks that include all of the above and more. It draws on a vast palette of sounds and gives the composer the ability to create almost anything that he or she can imagine.</p>
<p>In addition to auditory stimuli, other media may be involved including the visual, the olfactory and the tactile. I have not yet seen a composer attempt to combine electroacoustic music with gustatory input, but I suppose it is a matter of time (unless, of course, you want to include restaurants that feature a live singer with an electronic keyboard in this category.)</p>
<p>Thanks Bassdad!! Just what I needed - a non-threatening, non-acronym filled introduction. I can even relate it to my own college experience of the last century - Messiaen and the ondes Martenot and synthesizers. Bit by bit, even such as I will begin to move into the 21st century!!</p>
<p>Sounds like a fascinating area to be exploring. Good luck to all.</p>
<p>In my son's explorations of unheralded or unusual music composition programs he discovered the University of Montana. They seem to have a vibrant and active electroacoustic music scene with biweekly recitals, black box concerts, laptop salons, and a Mountain Computer Music Festival every Fall. It's definitely worth looking into.</p>
<p>Charles Nichols is the head of the program - the degree is Bachelor of Music with a Concentration in Composition and Technology.</p>
<p>Check out LSU.</p>
<p>My husband's finishing up his doctorate in music composition there. His appointment was with the CCT, Center for Computing Technology, which is an odd place for a music guy. He's with a subdivision of the CCT called LCAT, or the Laboratory for Creative Arts and Technology. </p>
<p>Check it out:
LCAT</a> : LSU : Center for Computation & Technology</p>
<p>Dr. Beck was my husband's advisor, and is currently the interim head of the CCT. He does a lot of experimental electroacoustic programming sorts of things.</p>
<p>CCT</a> | Stephen David Beck</p>
<p>
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I have not yet seen a composer attempt to combine electroacoustic music with gustatory input, but I suppose it is a matter of time
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</p>
<p>I'll pass that along. ;)</p>