Electronic and Electroacoustic Music

College Majors Music Major
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<p>Great post kmcmom. I guess all that equipment wouldn’t work on a desert island, so I like the locked room :)</p>

<p>There do seem to be grad programs that appreciate applicants from all places on the spectrum of pure composition to technology/engineering etc. But many schools so have separate programs, as Mills does, for composition (including electroacoustic) and for electronic/music tech., so a choice needs to be made. I do think some cross pollination is wonderful.</p>

<p>For future reference, if my daughter was a little more of a techie, she would be looking at Brown’s MEME program (PhD, no terminal master’s) or Dartmouth’s digital music program (fully funded master’s, some focus on neuroscience as well) though there are many places to go that would be equally good.</p>

<p>Some programs also throw in visual arts, film, interdisciplinary installations and so on. My daughter loves art history. Cal Arts and School of Chicago Art Institute would have been interesting, as well as Brown’s MEME. And Bard’s MFA in music/sound in which you also work with artists.</p>

<p>UCSD seems to be one of the most known programs for those interested in composing in a certain aesthetic (Oberlin grads often go there or Harvard) and also has a good electroacoustic training.</p>

<p>There are many many programs in Europe, including IRCAM, and also summer programs. </p>

<p>When students come on this forum to ask about programs, I would like to refer them to these posts by musictechdad and kmcmom, or I will even copy and paste them if I have the techie skills to do that! </p>

<p>p.s. I was just looking at the Banff Centre and some other residencies. I think another effect of academic composers and commercial techies working with the same equipment and in some cases intersecting in creative work, is that more university and conservatory programs, and residencies like Banff, now include influences from the rock/pop world. In fact, the electric guitar seems to be the instrumental background of some prominent composition professors, too. Also Bang on a Can and the “downtown” element. Princeton is one place we noticed this, but there are many others.</p>

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<p>My editing isn’t working, still. meand “do” not “so.”</p>

<p>KMCMom, I really enjoy reading about your “hungry” son and love his attitude that he went to school to learn things he didn’t already know. He sounds like someone who will take risks and follow the beat of his own drummer rather than do what is expected, or what will bring him external approval. I think some time off from academia is a great thing and hope to hear what he is up to after a year or so.</p>

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<p>From Spirit Manager: [San</a> Francisco Electronic Music Festival](<a href=“http://www.sfemf.org/]San”>http://www.sfemf.org/)</p>

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<p><a href=“Playing it Unsafe: Dan Trueman's Journey - YouTube”>Playing it Unsafe: Dan Trueman's Journey - YouTube;

<p>Trueman from Princeton: laptop instruments/orchestra</p>

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<p>Here’s a great (if long) video with an overview of “composers in the lab,” that explains some of what musictechdad and kmcmom discuss:
[McGill</a> Podcasts » A Composer in the Lab](<a href=“http://podcasts.mcgill.ca/music/a-composer-in-the-lab/]McGill”>http://podcasts.mcgill.ca/music/a-composer-in-the-lab/)</p>

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<p>I’d like to revive this for 2014, and ask for comments about distinctive features of the labs that have been established over the past few years at various schools, and the strengths/weaknesses of those schools’ respective music programs for students interested in electronic music composition, as well as digital arts and the science of sound. </p>

<p>It seems like there is a very wide range of options, but it’s hard to get a handle on how robust the programs are. Some schools offer, in addition to conventional music composition majors, programs that combine electronic music and digital arts (Brown’s MEME, Washington’s DXArts program). Some others offer programs that study the science of sound (Stanford’s CCRMA and its Music, Science, and Technology major, and Berkeley’s CNMAT). And several others have electronic labs and creative spaces (Princeton’s Sound Lab, Yale’s YalMusT, Cornell’s CEMC, Harvard’s HUSEAC). </p>

<p>I’m sure I’m omitting some other of equal importance, but that’s my question - what are the relevant, generalizable differences among these and similar labs/programs, for someone who is musical at his core, but also interested in other arts and in the physical sciences? </p>

<p>Of course please also feel free to add to and revise the above groupings. This is a niche area and frankly we are still trying to get up to speed even as our DS becomes immersed in it, so I do not mean to slight any program by omission. </p>

<p>The only other thing I would add is that we are not looking for conservatory programs - he has learned a few instruments and still enjoys playing a few of them, but it’s clear (at least for now) that his focus is electronic music, in a liberal arts context. </p>

<p>Thanks in advance for any and all advice. </p>

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<p>Be sure to add Mills College and CalArts to your list. I think one of the differences between programs will be, as for all composition programs, the aesthetic tastes of the professors and fellow students. </p>

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<p>Is your son currently an undergrad?</p>

<p>Along with Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Brown, Princeton, Mills, Cal Arts, Berkeley, Stanford, Washington as mentioned.</p>

<p>Columbia Has an Electronic Music Center and MFA in Sound Art <a href=“CMC Home - Computer Music Center”>http://music.columbia.edu/cmc/&lt;/a&gt;
Dartmouth has an interesting program: <a href=“http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~digitalarts/”>http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~digitalarts/&lt;/a&gt;
SAIC is an interesting program: <a href=“School of the Art Institute of Chicago - Best Art School & Top Fine Arts College in The US”>http://www.saic.edu/index.html&lt;/a&gt;
Royal Conservatory of the Hague has a sonology program:<a href=“http://www.koncon.nl/en/Departments%20%26%20Study%20Programmes/Sonology/”>http://www.koncon.nl/en/Departments%20%26%20Study%20Programmes/Sonology/&lt;/a&gt; (There is a lot going on in Europe)
University College Cork <a href=“Experimental Sound Practice MA | University College Cork | UCC | Ireland | Postgraduate Degree | Courses <br />”>http://www.ucc.ie/en/cke78/&lt;/a&gt;
McGill has a lot of interesting things going on: <a href=“Programs | Music - McGill University”>Programs | Music - McGill University;
UCSD is a top school for Oberlin and Harvard grads: <a href=“http://musicweb.ucsd.edu/grad/”>http://musicweb.ucsd.edu/grad/&lt;/a&gt;
Bard has an MFA that is intriguing: <a href=“Disciplines”>http://www.bard.edu/mfa/disciplines/&lt;/a&gt;
Northwestern <a href=“http://www.music.northwestern.edu/academics/areas-of-study/composition-and-music-technology.html”>http://www.music.northwestern.edu/academics/areas-of-study/composition-and-music-technology.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>There are obviously, many more. IRCAM in Paris is a center for research into sound and electroacoustic composition. Most conservatories now have electroacoustic programs: NEC, Eastman, Juilliard, Manhattan etc. etc But your son does not want a conservatory…</p>

<p>KMCMom can describe U. of Michigan offerings and someone else has a student at Hartt. NYU might be a fit too. KMCMom knows a lot about technical requirements and skills :)</p>

<p>I think the best way to get into the nuances of each program and the differences among them might be thorough review of websites and conversations/visits with the department at each school. I know my daughter’s priority was to find a relatively free environment where she could do what she wanted without a lot of requirements. Princeton and the Royal Conservatory are examples of programs that offer this. It might be a priority to be able to take classes from different disciplines, such as art history and classical composition or electronic work. Another student might be interested in neuroscience, the brain and music. So first it is good to get clear on the student’s desired focus and then investigate the different programs going from there.</p>

<p>So Wykehamist, if you tell us more about your son’s interest, what he is studying now, and whether he is in high school or college, there are people on here who could discuss programs w/more specifics perhaps.</p>

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<p>Thanks very much for this additional information. I should have clarified - son is a rising sophomore in high school. He started piano young at 6, added guitar and voice, then decided to try tuba becaue it looked funny. That got to be a bit much, so he decided to focus on tuba. He plays that in his high school band, and he’s about to start a music theory class. </p>

<p>His teachers have confirmed that he has very fine pitch perception, and he has always been very curious about sound quality. He started playing with mixing software as soon as he got his hands on my iPad, and quickly moved on to mixing boards and sound machines. He’s posted original work to SoundCloud, and this summer he took courses in digital music composition and music production. </p>

<p>That said, he is still discovering his abilities and interests in other areas, including visual arts, and he’s also very interested in science. Hence our focus, for now at least, on music programs in liberal arts colleges and universities. </p>

<p>On those, if I may come back on both Dartmouth and Columbia - those are examples of schools that seemed to have a few undergraduate courses, but not the same depth of offerings for the undergraduate major as the other school I listed. Please no flaming - I have ties to one and good friends from the other, and so will be happy to stand corrected. But to be clear, the focus of my post is precisely to understand the differences between those kinds of programs, along with other schools such as Cal Arts and McGill, which another poster mentioned - for which, thanks very much, those should definitely be added to our search list! </p>

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<p>Much of what I wrote was geared to a current undergrad :)</p>

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<p>yes, thanks!</p>

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<p>bump . . . anyone else care to weigh in? </p>