Academic year 2015-16
Electronic Music Workshop
| Degree: | Code: | Type: |
| Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science | 21494 | Optional subject |
| Bachelor's Degree in Telematics Engineering | 22595 | Optional subject |
| Bachelor's Degree in Audiovisual Systems Engineering | 21630 | Optional subject |
| ECTS credits: | 4 | Workload: | 100 hours | Trimester: | 3rd |
| Department: | Dept. of Information and Communication Technologies |
| Coordinator: | Sergi Jordà |
| Teaching staff: | Sergi Jordà, Ángel Faraldo, Daniel Gómez |
| Language: | Catalan, Spanish, English |
| Timetable: | |
| Building: | Communication campus - Poblenou |
This is an optional course offered in the 4th year of the degree of Engineering in Audiovisual Systems. As a workshop, this is a highly practical course in which students are asked to put in practice many of the concepts learnt in other previous audio and music related courses, in particular the ones studied in th 4th year Audiovisual Systems' course, "Real Time Audio Processing" (1st trimester), of which "Taller de Música Electrònica" (3rd trimester) could be considered the follow-up. If the former focuses more - as its name suggests - in the processing of audio, now we will use and expand some of the techniques and tools learnt there, to focus more in musical creation.
To attain this aim, the course feature both a theoretical part and a practical part.
The theoretical part combines historical and aesthetic aspects, not typically studied along the career, with more technical ones, always around the electronic music concept.
For the practical part, the chosen development language is Pure Data (or Pd), a graphical programming language that facilitates enormously the creation of real-time audio and music applications and that favors experimentation. Given that this language will already have been introduced in the "Processing of Audio in time Real" course, the current course is only recommended for 4th year Audiovisual Systems student's or for students that have already acquired a certain knowledge of this programming language.
This course requires that students have a certain knowledge of computer programming in general, and in the Pure Data language in particular. Some knowledge in signal/audio processing is also required. For these reasons it is very recommended that students have completed the course in Real Time Audio Processing (4th AV). Musical knowledge (of any kind) is not strictly necessary, but is recommended, as well as a particular interest in musical creation.
Competences to work in the course as the indicated in the plan of studies of the degree.
| Transversal Competences | Specific Competences |
|---|---|
|
Instrumental G1. Capacity of analysis and synthesis G2. Capacity of organization and planning G3. Capacity to apply the knowledges to the analysis of situations and the resolution of problems G4. Skill in the search and the management of the information G5. Skill in the prisoner of Interpersonal decisions G8. Capacity of work in team Systemic G11. Capacity to apply with flexibility and creativity the knowledge acquired adapting it to new contexts and situations G12. Capacity to progress in the processes of formation and learning of autonomous and continuous way |
1. Know the history, the basic principles and the possibilities of the electronic musician. |
For successfully passing the course, it is necessary to surpass the minimum level required for each of the competences developed in it. Given that the majority of these competences are worked and evaluated continuously in the classroom), assistance to class is considered indispensable. It is also essential that the student shows an active attitude for taking advantage of the course. This means that the student has to be critical with the aspects treated, doing his or her own reflections and keeping at all times interest and curiosity for the material presented.
The course is passed by having a minimum of 5 points in the final note. This final note will be calculated according to the activities and percentages shown in the following table (left). Given that the course is very much centered around a project, the students that have assisted and taken part actively in the classes, and that have correctly accomplished all other tasks, will not have to take the final exam. In that case, the weight for each of these activities is indicated on the second table (right).
| Contribution of each of the activities in the final note (with Exam) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Contribution of each of the activities in the final note (without Exam) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
The following table synthesizes all this information
| Activity | Labs and exercises | Project presentation (WIP) | Final Project | Exam |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Contribution (the first value corresponds with exam; the second without) |
40% [60%] |
10% [10%] |
20% [30%] | 30% [0] |
|
Evaluation Criteria |
Per aprovar aquestes pràctiques cal lliurar-les acabades d’acord a les consignes que es donaran a les sessions pràctiques i de seminari | Per aprovar la presentació és necessari obtenir una nota superior o igual a 5. Es valorarà els continguts i la forma de la presentació oral, així com el document que la acompanyi | Per aprovar el treball final és necessari obtenir una nota superior o igual a 5 | Per aprovar l'examen és necessari obtenir una nota superior o igual a 5 |
| Minimum Requirements for passing the course | Assistència i participació activa en les sessions. Lliurament de les pràctiques acabades. En cas contrari, l’estudiant haurà de realitzar un examen final | És condició indispensable aprovar aquest treball (>=5) per poder fer mitja. En cas contrari, l’estudiant haurà de realitzar un examen final | És condició indispensable aprovar el treball (>=5) per poder fer mitja. | En cas de realitzar l’examen, és condició indispensable obtenir una nota superior o igual a 4 en l’examen per poder fer mitja |
| Minimum Requirements for recovery | Not recoverable | Not recoverable | Per presentar-se a recuperació es necessari haver presentat totes les pràctiques del curs. En cas de no haver lliurat alguna de les activitats, l’alumne no podrà utilitzar el període de recuperació | |
| Recovery activity | Correcció del treball presentat o elaboració d’un nou treball | Examen teòric | ||
| Minimum Requirements for passing the course(recovery) | Aprovar el treball amb una qualificació mínima de 5 sobre 10 | Aprovar l’examen teòric amb una qualificació mínima de 5 sobre 10 |
Theory block (historical concepts, technical and aesthetic)
Practice Block (Pd programming)
This course combines combines lectures given by the professors, with individual and group work by the students in smaller group sessions. In particular, the work has been organized in the following manner:
Theoretical lectures: given by the professors in theory classes, and addressing each of the subjects covered in the course. Students are expected to participate making questions and comments.
Seminar and practical sessions on the computer: these are sessions done in reduced groups (2 groups of practices/seminars), in which the students work individually or in groups, depending of the activities posed by the teachers. The activities posed in the seminars are of diverse character and allow to practice, review and develop actively the questions worked on the theoretical classes. To prepare these seminars, students will have to develop some required exercises, which will be implemented in groups of two or three students.
Practical final project: After the compulsory practices, the students will have to develop a small practical project, employing the knowledges and the tools studied during the course. This activity will be developed in groups of two or three students. These projects will submitted once finished the classes, in the period of examinations, but previously, in the last week of class, students will have to present orally the project to the class, as a Work in Progress (WIP). If this presentation and the subject of the project are considered satisfactory, and if the students have submitted also satisfactorily all the exercises, they will not have to take the final examination.
Final examination: A written evaluation that may combine test type questions, theoretical subjects to develop, as well as small problems of programming . Given that this course has an important practical weight, the students that have satisfied all the other tasks will be able to remain freed of examination.
Dedication of the students
The course has 4 credits ECTS that correspond to 100 hours of work of the student, of which 36 are in class. These 36 hours are divided in lectures (18 hours), and practical sessions and seminars (18 hours). The following tables detail this aspect, together with the dear dedication of the students out of class, for each one of the blocks to be evaluated.
| Hours in class | Hours out of class | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Content Blocks | Whole group | half group | |||
|
Preparation Practice 1 |
|
4 |
8 |
||
| Preparation Practice 2 | 4 | 8 | |||
| Preparation Practice 3 | 4 | 8 | |||
| Lectures | 14 | ||||
| Final project | 4 | 6 | 32 | ||
|
Exam |
|
|
8 |
||
|
Total: |
18 |
18 |
64 |
Total: 100
|
|
Classes will be taugth mostly in Spanish, but most of the documentation will be in English.
Basic bibliography
• Jordà, S. Guía de programación en PD , available on-line at http://www.tecn.upf.es/%7Esjorda/PD/IntroduccionPD3.pdf
• Pure Data Floss Manual , available on-line at http://en.flossmanuals.net/puredata
• Puckette , M . Theory and Techniques of Electronic Music , available on-line at http://crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/techniques/latest/book.pdf