OpenMusic
This program introduces participants to the graphical interface environment as a composer: discovery and use of the OpenMusic interface, creation of patches with the use of musical editors and algorithmic generation of musical sequences, an introduction to musical formalism, and the use of two types of models used in 20th century music, stochastic or random models used in "spectral" music. Training alternates between theoretical explanations and hands-on exercises on the computer.
Objectives
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to use the main functions of OpenMusic (create and open a workspace, load a library), to create simple patches, to represent and preform musical sequences with tools available in OpenMusic (chord, chord-seq, voice, multi seq, poly, and maquette), to import and generate MIDI files, and formalize simple musical problems. Participants will have acquired the conceptual and technical foundation necessary in computer-assisted composition for use in musical writing.
Public
Composers, musicians, teachers and any person interested in computer-assisted composition.
Prerequisites
Knowledge of music theory, participants must be able to notes and rhythms;
Basic knowledge of mathematics: arithmetic, geometry (triangles, Pythagorean and Thales theories, symmetry, airs), understanding of powers, equations with a variable, statistics, etc;
Mastery of Macintosh computers (OS X).
Educational Resources and Techniques
Classroom equipped with computers with all the necessary software installed, headphones, and MIDI keyboards;
Class Format: Training alternates between presentations, explanations on theory, studying examples to analyze, and hands-on exercises;
Didactic Materials: Video-projected presentations and documents.
Supervision and Assessment
Welcome the first day of training beginning at 9:45am;
Attendance controlled; signature of an attendance sheet required every morning and afternoon;
Assessment of acquired knowledge using a multiple-choice test (30 minutes) taken at the end of training.
A certificate at the end of the program is given to each participant with the results of the exam.
Training Period and Organization
24 hours of training, 10am-1pm & 2:30pm-5:30pm // Tuesday, November 26 – Friday, November 29, 2019
11 students maximum
Program
Tuesday
| Morning | Discovery and use of the OpenMusic interface (Workspace, Listener and patches); Creation of patches, main types of data; Introduction to the formalization and configuration of the musical space; Construction of chords. |
| Afternoon | Different types of musical notation in OpenMusic, proportional notation and metric notation (<chord>, <chord-seq>, <voice>, <multi-seq>, <poly>); Control of different musical configurations; Algorithmic generation of musical sequences, repetition, reversal, symmetries, concatenation, and overlays. From monophony to polyphony. |
Wednesday
| Morning | Iteration, introduction <omloop>; Communication from OpenMusic to other musical notation software (Finale, bach, Live, etc.); Controlling processes from segment curves. |
| Afternoon | Use of sketches, introduction to <maquette>; Abstractions in OM. |
Thursday
| Morning | Audio-MIDI configuration; Preferences and external synthesizers; Microtonality in OM; Introduction to formalization; - Exercises on formalization; - Messiaen’s scales, the use of algebraic representations - Inversion from an axis, the use of geometric representations <omloop> review and a more in-depth look at (<listloop>, <forloop>, <onlistloop>, <while>). |
| Afternoon | Acoustic models for music, micro-tonality and writing; The harmonic series, use of spectral analysis for writing, ring modulation, amplitude modulation, etc. (examples from the work of Tristan Murail - Territoires de l’oubli, Gondwana, Désintégrations, etc.) ; The Esquisse library. |
Friday
| Morning | Stochastic models in music, controlling randomness; The notion of distribution; Distribution of probabilities: examples in the works of Iannis Xenakis (Achorripis, Herma, etc.); The OM-alea Library - Distributions - Random-Walks - Markov chains. |
| Afternoon | <maquette>, further analysis; The resources available in OpenMusic to continue your learning; Assessment of acquired knowledge using a multiple-choice test (30 minutes). |