Course detail

Club Music 1

FaVU-KLHU1Acad. year: 2020/2021

Club music of various genres is an area in which students and graduates of schools focused on fine arts and design surprisingly often excel. In the environment of art faculties, disciplines that are still lagging behind are finally gaining ground today, however, electronic music still remains unwanted (no place at music faculties or academies) orphan. The course offers an introduction to thinking about club music, its history, about how its genres are formed and transformed, what and why is "cool"; but it is mainly focused on practice – it focuses on students' own music production and its development.

Language of instruction

Czech

Number of ECTS credits

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Guarantor

BcA. Ondřej Merta

Department

Department of Audiovisual Technology (KAT)

Learning outcomes of the course unit

Students will get acquainted with HW and SW instruments focused on live electronic music production with regard to their own direction and availability of tools. They will also gain basic experience in the production of DIY tools and a language apparatus for reading the language of electronic instruments. At the same time, they will gain a conceptual, thought-based basis for further autonomous creative development.

Prerequisites

None.

Co-requisites

Not applicable.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Lectures accompanied by practical, audio, or AV demonstrations are then developed in practical exercises accompanied by individual consultations

Assesment methods and criteria linked to learning outcomes

Credit will be given for active participation in seminars and meet semester assignment in the form of presentation of own project or presentation on a topic that will be specified during the semester.

Course curriculum

The syllabus draws the axis of the subjects, where we can move freely, to open, leave topics and return them as needed. It defines broader areas that mark a starting point for practical exercises.

1. What are the genres of club music, its future and context. Fascination with the 20th century as a starting point and feedback loop.
2. Instruments and their roles in terms of use (samplers, synths, drum machines, sequencers, processors, controllers, etc.)
3. Tools in terms of availability. HW (low budget, DIY) and SW (open source, free).
4. Language of musical instruments - terminology, signal flow, etc.
5. Sound construction - shaping, bending, coloring - envelope, LFO, filter, oscillator, modulation, effect.
6. Modular systems - orientation in the topic, problems, practical exercises.

Work placements

Not applicable.

Aims

This course aims to acquaint students with the technological possibilities of club music, its language and historical and social background. It aims to help students find an individual starting point for how to play and continue to search for and develop their own language (speech) with an awareness of its context.

Specification of controlled education, way of implementation and compensation for absences

Compulsory attendance (tolerated absence 50%). Missed classes can be replaced by processing an alternative assignment arising from an individual agreement with the teacher.

Recommended optional programme components

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

COLLINS, Nicolas; Handmade electronic music: the art of hardware hacking; 2006; Taylor & Francis (EN)
ROADS, Curtis; Composing electronic music, a new aesthetic; 2015; Oxford university press (EN)
ROSS, Alex; Zbývá jen hluk, naslouchání dvacátému století; 2011; Argo a Dokořán (CS)

Type of course unit

Lecture

6 hod., optionally

Teacher / Lecturer

BcA. Ondřej Merta

Practical class

18 hod., compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

BcA. Ondřej Merta