MUS 140 - Music and Technology

Course unit(s): 1
Meets GAR: Meets general academic requirement AR.
This course will consider contemporary and historical classical, popular, and experimental genres of music that use twentieth and twenty-first century mechanical, analog, and digital technologies - from the player piano to the laptop orchestra. It will invite students to ask ethical questions about using recorded samples; grapple with philosophies of technology and notation; and explore changing definitions of sound and music. Students will also create original works using the program Ableton Live. Projects will include designing an original ringtone, constructing a soundscape, and an individual final project that, depending on individual interests, might take any of the following forms: writing an EDM song or hip hop track, recording a multi-track solo a cappella recording, building an electronic instrument, or constructing a sound walk.