MUSIC 6440

FutureSound

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2021-2022.

FutureSounds is a course that will serve as a multidisciplinary cross-arts lab for students interested in composition but who do not necessarily have specific training in music. The course emphasizes the dialogue between past and future by considering new music written for old and newly constructed instruments. With a focus on Cornell's extensive collection of historical instruments (from krumhorns to clavichords to Moog synthesizers), as well as a collection of newly built 13- and 17-tet fretted instruments, the course will be split into three strands: 1) in the Seminar, students will develop critical approaches to alternative tuning systems, notation, performance practice,  sound color, as well as relevant musical figures/works/collaborations (i.e. Harry Partch, Bjork/John Cavatorta, Liam Byrne, and others); 2) in the Keyboard Lab students will work to develop an automatic mechanism to modify and extend the sound world of the piano; 3) in the Performance Lab, students will test drive their developing pieces. FutureSounds culminates in the ReSounds MicroFestival, a public showcase for new works created throughout the semester.

When Offered Spring.

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