Course Description
Summary
In this class, we’ll examine changing concepts of musical time in the emerging field of sound art, a hybrid form that can be described as sculpting with sound. We will focus on the approach of pioneering composers who pushed the envelope of musical notions of time such as Xenakis, Amacher, Young, and Scelsi, with special emphasis on sonic texture and shape, and how narrative notions of time have transformed into architectural or object-related sonic structures. Each week we will focus on a different work, with a communal listening session and post-listening discussion. We will also look at related graphic scores as well as visual artists who may have impacted the thinking of these composers and sound artists. Students will be expected to create various types of "transcriptions" of specific works from week to week, including written and visual analyses, as well as sonic compositions. As a final project, students will choose one work to focus on with an in-depth transcription.
