Compositional Concepts and Techniques (439-0-1)

Topic

Aesthetics for Composers

Instructors

Jay Alan Yim
847/467-2030
jaymar@northwestern.edu
Office Hours: By appointment

Meeting Info

RCMA 1-180: Tues, Thurs 12:30PM - 1:50PM

Overview of class

The class will survey and discuss aesthetic positions of the 20th and 21st centuries and examine their impact on contemporary music and sound art. A selection of texts that have influenced cultural production and reception will be read, by writers such as Borges, Higgins, Said, Morton, Foucault, Baudrillard, Jameson, Deleuze & Guattari, DeLanda, and others. A central part of the course discussion will be to interrogate the ways that these ideas support, oppose, and elaborate upon each other, and in particular, to observe how the perspectives presented by these writers have served as fodder for contemporary sonic praxes, and ultimately to construct the recently minted traditions that undergird our own sound-making as we enter the second quarter of the 21st Century. We will also be exploring non-linear connections and the conceptual framework of the grid and its utility in assisting those non-linear connections.

Registration Requirements

Permission numbers are not needed. Freshmen up to doctoral students are welcome. Students must be capable of reading essays and other texts, discussing the content of those texts, and writing short responses (7-10 sentences, on average) to those texts, and to the responses of other students in the class.

Learning Objectives

Students will have encountered a range of critical texts by important authors.

Teaching Method

Students read assigned essays and other texts, discuss the content of those texts in class, and wrie short responses (7-10 sentences, on average) to those texts, and to the responses of other students in the class.

Evaluation Method

Class participation is a crucial part of the course activities, and taken together with the written responses will comprise each student's cumulative grade.

Class Materials (Required)

All reading materials will be distributed via Canvas.