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Alan van Keeken & Golo Föllmer (Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg)

Teaching (Electro-)Acoustics, Technical Ear Training and Sound Studies with the help of CEMIs: Experiences, Background and Methodology of the ongoing METRONOM project at the MLU Halle-Wittenberg

In Germany, musicology still struggles to provide students with tools, abilities, and knowledge to analyze recorded music past and present, especially if electronic music instruments are involved. The vast majority of teaching does not offer the proper vocabulary, lacks technical means and overlooks the ears as the crucial tool to understand what we hear in terms of techniques of production, electronically mediated performance and technical formation of timbre. As most of the music that affects society today is recorded music and involves the electronic manipulation of sound the portfolio of analyzing tools and the curricula should have been updated a long time ago. As a result, musicology students struggle to get involved with aspects of sound more than on a superficial level. 

This inspired us to start the project METRONOM, funded by the German fund for innovation in higher education teaching (STIL). METRONOM aims to develop basic education in the field of sound and production techniques, consisting of three parts: (1) Technical ear training and basic understanding of sound synthesis (modular, software and otherwise), (2) re-enacting and reverse-engineering of music production and live performance scenarios (in popular and experimental music/sound art), and (3) developing an online-based repository to offer self-learning possibilities for (1) and documentations of re-enactment setups and approaches for (2). 

The project is focused on the “how”: We collect and transform existing knowledge, incorporate scientific learning and teaching methods, and aim to provide students with a lasting audio media and sonic knowledge. Our endeavor follows a dual approach: On the one side, we focus on the timbres and playing styles of commercial electronic instruments as they have been playing a crucial role as genre-defining sonic markers which help to understand popular music and its development better. On the other side, we focus on DIY and media-related approaches to sound synthesis, performance and composition in experimental music since they have been forming a complementary counterpart, opening up new techniques for all strands of music production.

Our talk will present some of the teaching modules and involve the audience. As our project is in an early stage, we hope to profit from discussions and feedback.

Hussein Boon (Westminster University)

The Old, The New, And The Dangerous

The ubiquity of synthesizers in music production raises critical questions about the nature and necessities of synthesizer pedagogy. Joseph Auner said that music has always been technologized. Some artists, like Skrillex, consider voice as a synthesizer and Todd Rundgren’s ‘Born to Synthesize’ used voice and effects to achieve his synthetic thesis. Meanwhile, Suzanne Ciani expressed her love for the machine. Critics like Simon Frith have observed that synthesizers leave no room for individual feel or touch. Therefore, a problem is synthesizers are viewed as a substitute for ability. Music technology manufacturers are often focused on a formal vintage aesthetic suggesting a continuation of traditional value hierarchies, posing a challenge for synthesizer pedagogy to navigate. A question that can be asked is, what are these necessary required abilities, and, importantly, what could this tell us about what to learn? This presentation aims to address three key objectives: 

  1. Advocate for a synthesizer pedagogy that embraces artistic creativity and problem-solving without seeking fixed solutions. Laurie Anderson’s view that art can be “dangerous” even with simple tools like a pencil underscores the potential of minimal resources for profound artistic expression.
  2. The goal should not be to replicate synth sounds, as evidence of a formal past, nor provide solutions to Frith’s complaint.
  3. The absolute necessity to unhinge synthesizers as a tool of music production. 

Whilst punk had its aesthetic three-chord moment, synth-pop contentiously attempted to claim that one finger was sufficient. The problem for a synthesizer pedagogy is that it can be all of these and more. This presentation seeks to explore these dimensions, foregrounding innovation, critical thinking, and artistic freedom in the use of synthesizers.

Nell Wayman (dBs Institute of Sound and Technology – Bristol Campus)

Growing Sounds: Practice research into de-mystifying synthesis through play.

Commercial electronic musical instruments offer an exciting opportunity to engage students and teachers with music technology and self-expression in innovative ways. The implementation of specialist and interdisciplinary learning tools within classroom contexts can be seen as a way to counter the defunding of formal music education as they can offer alternative, potentially more impactful pedagogical approaches to teaching curriculum content for both music and other subjects. 

Current practice-led research into how biodata sonification can encourage children to creatively collaborate with plants and living organisms to explore musical synthesis is being investigated through the development and use of a specifically-designed instrument. The Play-a-Plant is a synthesis controller (currently still in its prototype stage) that is designed to create playful, fun and educational first experiences with synthesis. This instrument translates biodata into pitch and rhythmic triggers, leaving the user free to explore the timbre of the sound and create a ‘voice’ for the plant that is generating the biodata. This exploration into musical synthesis can also be used as an interdisciplinary teaching method as it involves incorporating knowledge from different subjects and can be tailored to meet the specific needs of the teachers and pupils who are using it. This research will be best suited to the pedagogical panel as it directly explores the key topics mentioned within the conference theme. As the design process of the instrument shares many similarities with the research interests of the panel, a meaningful discussion of the theme will be addressed within the presentation which will be separated into two halves: the first exploring the research question and context surrounding it, and the second involving a practical demonstration of the instrument to showcase its possibilities and reasonings behind its development.