DIGITAL AUDIO AND MUSIC SYLLABUS MART 680CC
(Introduction to Music and Computers)

Cañada College, taught at Sequoia High School

Professor: David Meckler, Ph.D.

office hrs: TBA, room 3-242 

Email:

Voice-mail: (650) 306-3439

The course is an introduction to basic concepts used in making music with computers.  This includes digital audio and MIDI.  Fundamentals of digital audio theory and basic concepts of song creation, such as rhythm and meter, simple chords and form, are covered.  The instructional method will primarily be in class lecture followed with hands-on computer-based exercises. 

Required texts: 

Sonar 6 Power!: The Comprehensive Guide by Scott R. Garrigus.  Additional materials will be posted on the course website, http://www.smccd.net/accounts/mecklerd/DAM/DAM.htm

Grading and Assignments

Attendance is absolutely vital.   It is your responsibility to drop the class if you miss more than 6 class meetings.

Assignments, projects and exams, 90%; final, 10%.   Most assignments and projects will be done in class.  Assignments will include worksheets and short musical projects.  Longer projects will grow out of shorter projects, and material can be reused to make larger projects.  Simple exams on terminology may be used.  There will be a comprehensive final examination. 

Schedule

Class meetings on Tuesdays will generally be used to introduce concepts and these concepts will be explored in a lab setting on Thursday class meetings. 

Each of the following topics will get one to two weeks of coverage:

Some introductions

basic acoustics -- sine waves and all that

ourselves -- introducing our musical tastes and interests

digital audio from waveforms to file formats

basic components of songs

rhythm and meter

rhythmic accompaniments

chord progressions

song forms

composing with MIDI

using and creating samples

production effects (reverb, panning, etc.)

some ideas about lyrics

putting it all together in a song project

Academic Integrity = Personal Integrity

I particularly encourage working together in this class.  HOWEVER, you must do you own work for graded assignments unless specified. Severe penalties, outlined in the Student Handbook, will be used in case of cheating or copied work without proper attribution. Plagiarism on weekly assignments, composition projects or tests will lower the final grade by one letter and the grade for the assignment will be zero; cheating on the final exam will result in an F in the course.