Music at Oberlin
Summer 1996


The Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College announces the Workshops in Electronic and Computer Music

July 14-21 1996
July 21-28 1996

Gary Lee Nelson, Director

The Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College invites you to participate in the tenth annual series of workshops in electronic and computer music. The workshops are designed for high school and college students, teachers, professional musicians, and hobbyists. These workshops are for anyone who wants to enrich their understanding of new music media.

Former students have gone on to colleges and universities around the United States. Many of them have entered the TIMARA Department at Oberlin to major in electronic and computer music. Others have used what they learned with us to further professional careers in music. Professors from other colleges used the Oberlin workshops as the basis for establishing electronic music studios and curricula at their home institutions.

Daily lectures and demonstrations will introduce you to each topic. Supervised laboratories will guide you through hands-on experience with new technology. Listening and discussion sessions will expand your familiarity with the literature of electronic music. We will give special attention to the esthetic issues raised by this new way of making music.

Original creative work is a special focus for the workshops. Generous blocks of time will be available for your own work in Oberlin's electronic and computer music complex. Students and faculty will listen to your works in progress and share reactions, suggestions, and criticisms. At the end of each week there will be an informal concert to present your music to the public.

The two workshops are progressive and the program provides continuity with minimal overlap from week to week. In previous years, students have found it beneficial to attend both weeks. Students who wish to participate for one week only must enroll for the first week. In the second workshop we build on the skills you acquire in the first.

Although you will have access the TIMARA studios, you may want to bring some of your own equipment and software. We will help you learn more about it.

The workshops are Macintosh based and the topics we cover include:

One hour of college credit is available for each week at no additional cost. Credits will be granted only to participants who are currently enrolled in a college or university or who have already graduated.


WEEK 1

JULY 14-21

In the first week we will introduce you to a variety of synthesizers. We will demonstrate their operation and programming. Instruments in the TIMARA studios include Ensoniq SQ-80 cross-wave synthesizers and Kurzweil K2000 samplers. Yamaha DX/TX frequency modulation synthesizers and Yamaha SY music workstations are also on hand. Additional instruments will be available on loan from major synthesizer manufacturers.

We will study common sound synthesis methods (frequency modulation, cross-wave, vector, additive, subtractive). Our approach to this study will be both theoretical and musical. This will make it easier for you to look at new synthesizers. The problem solving techniques that we teach will get you through manuals and into music making more quickly.

For historical perspective, we will look at some classical analog synthesizers. Oberlin has a collection of Moog, Arp, Buchla, and Putney modular systems. Experiments with these instruments will clarify essential principles of acoustics and sound synthesis. Our goal is to increase your understanding of the current integrated digital machines. We want to help you make effective use of the electronic music media.

We will introduce the Apple Macintosh computer as the heart of a music work station. Work stations will be available for individual experiments and creative projects.

We will discuss the principles of MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) along with methods for interconnecting computers and synthesizers in an integrated system.

We will cover elementary recording techniques. You can complete one or more original pieces and leave with your work on tape.

To facilitate making your first piece we will concentrate on some of the simpler sequencing and composition software. This gives you a chance to balance music making with the acquisition of new technical skills. These simpler programs share most of the terminology and concepts of the more complicated software we will look at later in the workshop. A participant concert concludes this first week, Saturday evening, July 20.


WEEK 2

JULY 21-28

In the second week we will focus on more advanced music software for the Apple Macintosh. We will start with voice editing programs for the synthesizers we examined during the first week.

Later, we will survey sequencing programs such as Mark of the Unicorn's Performer and Opcode's Vision. We will look at Coda Software's Finale program for musical notation and Opcode's MAX programming language for developing original music software.

In the second week we will concentrate on making original pieces. To help you with your projects we will show you how to use effects processing. We will study digital delay, reverberation, compression, noise reduction, and equalization. A participant concert concludes the second week, Saturday evening, July 27.


WORKSHOP DIRECTOR

Gary Lee Nelson is a pioneer in the field of computer music. He attended Utrecht University's Institute of Sonology in the Netherlands in 1964 and earned his doctorate in composition at Washington University in Saint Louis. He has taught at Purdue University and Bowling Green State University. Since 1974, he has been a faculty member at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. At Oberlin, Nelson is a Professor of Electronic and Computer Music. He is also chair of the TIMARA Department.

Nelson is internationally recognized in his field. He has worked at the Swedish Radio Electronic Music Studios in Stockholm and at the Institute for Research and Coordination of Acoustics and Music (IRCAM) in Paris. He has been composer in residence and guest researcher at the University of Melbourne, Australia and Taiwan's National Chiao Tung and Soochow Universities. In the fall of 1990 he spent four months in Europe lecturing and performing at universities in England, Scotland, and Holland. Nelson brings a long history of teaching to these workshops. He has taught at summer music camps since the early 1960's including the Allegheny Music Festival, the New England Music Camp, and the National Music Camp (NMC) at Interlochen. At Interlochen Nelson was chair of the composition department. He also founded the NMC Computer Music Studio and established the NMC High School Synthesizer Ensemble. During the summer of 1991 and January 1994 he led intensive workshops in computer music in the Republic of China. These workshops included high school and college composers as well as teachers and other professional musicians.

Nelson's computer music specialties include real time interactive performance and "hyperinstruments," a term that was coined to give focus to a new way that music is being made in the late 20th century. A hyperinstrument consists of a computer, a set of digital synthesizers, a performance interface, and software for linking them all together. Nelson chooses the MIDI Horn for his solo performances. The MIDI Horn is a digital wind instrument designed and constructed at Oberlin by music engineer, John Talbert. A Macintosh computer, and an array of synthesizers from Yamaha, Roland, and E-mu Systems complete Nelson's concert setup. He has performed more than 200 times around the world since 1987. He will present a recital of his own music On the opening night of the first workshop.


WORKSHOP STAFF

A group of current students and recent graduates of the TIMARA Department will be on hand as studio assistants. They are familiar with the TIMARA Studios as a result of 3-4 years of course work and independent projects. They will help you over the bumps and pitfalls and give you friendly encouragement.

TIMARA Music Engineer, John Talbert and Conservatory Audio Engineer, Michael Schulze will be available for technical assistance and consultation. Both John and Michael have degrees in music. They base their technical knowledge firmly on the art.







THE TIMARA DEPARTMENT

Oberlin established the Technology in Music and Related Arts Department in the early 1970's. The mission was to study the connections between music and the other arts, dance, theater, video, and film. We have offered courses in electronic and computer music since 1968 when the National Science Foundation provided a large startup grant. Oberlin was first to bring music technology to a small undergraduate institution.

In 1987 we established an electronic and computer music curriculum that leads to a Bachelor of Music degree. Students in this major combine traditional musical subjects with the newest methods for music making. Classes in music history and theory, ethnomusicology, and performance give electronic and computer music students perspective for viewing their own music.

Graduates of the TIMARA Department have been successful in graduate study at top schools like, Stanford, Eastman, Princeton, Northwestern, MIT, California Institute for the Arts and the universities of Michigan, Illinois, and Southern California.

Graduates who have chosen a direct path into professional life are working in commercial, theatrical, and new music circles in New York. There are Oberlin people in research for Apple and NeXT computers, OSC and Coda software, as well as Yamaha musical instruments. Marc Canter is founder of MacroMind, the world's leading producer of multimedia software for the Macintosh computer. Greg Hendershott is president of Twelve Tone Systems, a company that develops music software for the IBM PC market. David Amlen is head of Sound on Sound, a major New York recording studio. Charles Harbutt is a senior recording engineer for Sony. Robert Poor is head of research and development for Opcode.


THE TIMARA STUDIOS

In 1989, we opened a new studio complex for the TIMARA Department. This state-of-the-art facility houses equipment for sound synthesis, recording, and computing. This wonderful area provides the setting for teaching, research and composition.

The complex includes four production studios, a room for computer music work stations, faculty and staff offices, a technical workshop, and a 24-track recording studio with a control room adjacent to a large rehearsal space.


THE CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC

Oberlin's Conservatory of Music was founded in 1865, the first in the United States. It is recognized as one of the nations finest music schools. Oberlin is devoted exclusively to undergraduate education and the Conservatory is known around the world for its excellent, comprehensive curriculum. Oberlin has a low student to faculty ratio. Students enjoy a close relationship with their teachers that fosters a fertile learning environment and confidence in professional development.

The Conservatory is housed in an air-conditioned, soundproof complex. It contains 40 studios for private teaching, 10 classrooms, 173 practice rooms, two large rehearsal spaces, and two concert halls. The Conservatory Library is the largest in any undergraduate school in America. The library contains an extensive collection of books, scores, periodicals, and recordings that support the study of electronic and computer music.


ABOUT OBERLIN COLLEGE

Oberlin College is located in a small town in northern Ohio. It is 45 miles southeast of Cleveland and 30 minutes from Cleveland- Hopkins International Airport. Workshop personnel will help participants arrange transportation to and from the airport.

The facilities of Oberlin College are open to summer workshop participants. They include the Allen Memorial Art Museum and the Oberlin College Library. Recreation facilities include indoor swimming pool, Nautilus and free-weight rooms, tennis, squash, and racquetball courts, a gymnasium, bowling lanes, cross country course, and an exercise trail. Oberlin's rural surroundings are excellent for bicycling and jogging.

Oberlin is easily accessible by car, bus, and train. The nearest exit from the Ohio Turnpike, the Greyhound Bus Terminal, and the Amtrak Depot are within 10 miles of Oberlin. For additional information and registration forms write: