Introduction to Computer Music

Week Three Instruments

UPDATE: Replacing ear training binaries with versions in presentation mode. Please redownload from these links rather than bookmarks.

A little later than promised, but here are the Week Three example instruments for Max. I have built compiled versions of the ear training tool for both PC and Mac. 

Instrument Archive:

Ear Training tool for PC:

Ear Training tool for Mac:

Week Two Materials

 

After a break for Halloween, we will be continuing the course tomorrow, Monday, November 7 @ 6:30 PM. As always, the course is taught at Black Lodge Research in Redmond.

Here's what we'll be covering:

• Listening: Stria by John Chowning
• Review: Rhythmic Dictation
• Sight Reading/Ear Training: Recognizing and Singing Intervals
• Synthesis: Additive and Vector Synthesis; Timbre and harmonic series; Beginning Envelopes
• Instruments: Basic MIDI control ; Additive Synthesis; Vector Synthesis

Since the shared Powerpoint slides were less than optimal cross-platform during the first class, the slides have been prepared directly for the web. Click here for week two's slides.

Week One's slides have been similarly prepared and are available here. Here are this week's audio exercises and instruments (for Max/MSP):

A Live Meeting link for this class is available through the discussion list -- click here to join.

Subdividing Rhythms

Musicians use the term "subdividing" to describe how they count more complex rhythms. Calculate the least common unit of duration and keep track of the beat in those terms.

By counting 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &, you now have eight notes for a measure of 4/4. A quarter note would take up 2 of those, a dotted quarter gets 3, a half note gets 4, etc.

You can pre-mark the subdivision to aid in counting (above). The largest lines represent the beat, which each smaller unit marking the sub-division on the beat. Essentially, you're pre-calculating the subdivision so you don't have to compute it on the fly.

Week One Materials

The first class meets on Monday, October 17 from 6:30 - 9pm.

Here are the slides for the evening. Note that the audio doesn't play in embedded Powerpoint slides. All of the dictation materials are taken from the exercises attached below -- you can use those to practice.

 

Below the Audio materials below are performances of the music notated in the PDF document -- the numbers correspond. You can use those for both sight-reading and dictation practice. Also included are the instruments used during the lesson.