MUSC 282 & the Music Technology Minor

MUSC 282 – Spring 2025 “Winterim” Session

Jan 2 – 17, 2025 (Final Project due Jan 24, 2025)

MUSC 282 and the Music Technology Minor

All music technology courses offered as “MUSC” use Logic Pro (Mac only) as the teaching/learning environment (this includes MUSC 283, 350, and 383). These courses are taught in the Mac lab in RVB 213 with students having ‘after-hours’ access.

However, this version of MUSC 282 is being offered in an online format as part of the pre-session spring semester. You’ll have “hardware & software flexibility” in completing assignments and projects, All teaching examples will be based in Logic Pro. Please see Logistics for additional information.

Catalog Information About MUSC 282

Introduction to Music Composition and Digital Audio Production

Fundamentals of music composition with attention to creating original music in digital mediums including MIDI and digital audio. Theory and practice in improvisation as related to composition as well as techniques for reworking musical ideas towards creating a finished composition.

ACE SLO7: Use knowledge, theories, or methods appropriate to the arts to understand their context and significance.

An important “concept” in the arts is that of creativity and artistic production. The context for our work in creative thinking in music will focus on composing. An important aspect of the knowledge required to be a successful composer involves music literacy (reading standard and non standard musical notation), as well as a foundation in the perception and manipulation of the elements of music including melody, rhythm, form, timbre, texture, and expression. An ‘expert thinking’ model will be adopted which asks you to do the work of professions in the field – thus you will practice the methods and theories of the work of the composer.

You will create ‘opuses’ – short compositional projects with specific parameters (i.e. create a piece only using percussion, or write a bass riff with an accompanying drum beat). The successful opus demonstrates the knowledge/skill being asked for. You will also create original pieces where the musical parameters are up solely at your discretion. In this way, creative and artistic thinking is assessed in both the formation of the musical problem and its solution.

Because this course focuses on digital music, collection and assessment of your work will be done in an ‘electronic’ manner via sound file formats with embedded metadata/assessment. Playlists of student work will be able to be disseminated quite easily and will be shared with all members of the class as well as some selected works shared with the University community for purposes of course and program assessment.

Reinforcements
Critical Thinking: Music composition will be approached as engaging both critical and creating thinking.

Ethics: Discussion of issues related to intellectual property, copyright, ownership rights in the digital age, and fair-use vs. work for hire issues.