Recommended Viewing: Robert Ashley "Perfect Lives"

for your viewing pleasure, here's some of robert ashley's 1983 opera for television, "perfect lives".

he created this with pianist blue "gene" tyranny. i can't get enough of the early video synthesis and language play!

7/30 Listening List

On Tuesday, 7/30, we heard the following:

Paul Demarinis “Cincinatti 1830-1850” (1991)
Trevor Wishart “Vox 5” (1990)
Bjork “Where is the Line” (2004)
Maja Ratkje & Jaap Blonk “No Ecliptical Strainers” (2005)
Diamanda Galas “The Litanies of Satan” (1982)
Merzbow “Vanamali and Sharavan” (2011)
Yasunao Tone “Imperfection Theorem of Silence” (2006)
Alva Noto “U_06” (2008)
Alva Noto “Powerpoint” (2008)
Matmos “Lipostudio” (2001)
Ralp “Hydroider” (2009)
David Dunn “The sound of light in trees” (2011)
Alvin Lucier “Music for solo performer” (1965)
James Tenney “For Ann (Rising)” (1969)
Maryanne Amacher “Sound Characters” (1999)

Final Exam (Listening Portion) Study Guide

After much deliberation, I have narrowed the final listening pool down to these 10 pieces:

Laurie Anderson “O Superman” (1981)
Iannis Xenakis “Concret PH” (1958)
Morton Subotnick “Silver Apples of the Moon” (1967)
Eliane Radigue “Kyema (Intermediate States)” (1988)
Wendy Carlos “Two-Part Invention in D Minor” (Bach) (1968)
Robert Ashley “Automatic Writing” (1979)
Charles Dodge “He Destroyed Her Image” (1972)
Max Mathews “Daisy Bell” (1961)
Qubais Reed Ghazala “Silence the Tongues of Prophecy [exerpt]” (1996)
Laurie Spiegel “Appalachian Grove” (1974)

You should be able to recognize and comment on each of these pieces. As with the midterm, partial credit will be given to those who can provide relevant commentary on the pieces. There will only be three pieces selected for this portion of the exam.

Assignment 6

Three of five readings for this weekend, due Tuesday, 7/30 can be found here.
The other two can be found here and here.
For reference, they are:

Charles Dodge- On Speech Songs
Bob Ostertag- On Sooner or Later
Bob Ostertag- Why Computer Music Sucks
Milton Babbitt- Who Cares If You Listen
Kim Cascone- Glitch & the Aesthetics of Failure

7/25 Listening List

On Thursday, 7/25, we heard the following:

David Tudor “Untitled for Toshi Ichiyanagi” (1972)
David Tudor “Rainforest” (1973) 
Qubais Reed Ghazala “Silence the Tongues of Prophecy [exerpt]” (1996)
Steve Reich “Come Out” (1966)
Bob Ostertag “Sooner or Later” (1990)
Dj Rashad & Dj Spinn “XLR8R mix” (2010)
Alvin Lucier “I am Sitting in a Room” (1969)
Robert Ashley “Automatic Writing” (1979)
Robert Ashley “In Sarah Mencken, Christ and Beethoven There Were Men and Women” (1973)
Charles Dodge “He Destroyed Her Image” (1972)
Laurie Anderson “O Superman” (1981)

Extra Credit Assignment

After some thought, I would like to propose an addendum to the grading rubric I published with the syllabus I sent out, if that's ok with you. Here's the original rubric:

Attendance / Reading: 20
Ear Journal: 15
Midterm: 15
Final: 25
Final Project: 25

 In addition to this, I propose the following optional assignment, worth 5% of the total raw score:

Watch Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris . Write a 3 page (double-spaced, 12-pt, standard margins) essay relating it to topics discussed in class. The topic is intentionally left open. You could talk about Artemyev's treatment of diegetic vs non-diegetic sound. You could talk about the sociopolitical context for the production of the film. You could compare / contrast it with another film. You could analyse its representations of the future.

Be sure to include specific references to scenes in the film (representing time in "hh:mm:ss" format, not frames or scene number). Depending on your thesis, you may need to include outside sources. If this is the case, please do not use Wikipedia. Notate your sources using either MLA or Chicago style, and include a Works Cited page, which does not count toward the 3-page minimum. You very well may not need any citations outside of references to the film itself.

 Your work will be graded in terms of originality of thesis, writing style, and clarity of argument.

Email me a pdf of your submission before 11:59 pm on Friday, 8/2/13.

7/23 Listening List

Today, we heard the following:

Eduard Artemyev “Station” (1972)
Daphne Oram “Look at Oramics” (1967)
Morton Subotnick “Silver Apples of the Moon” (1967)
Wendy Carlos “Two-Part Invention in D Minor” (Bach) (1968)
Isao Tomita “Mercury: the Winged Messenger” (Holst) (1976)
Delia Derbyshire & Ron Grainer “Doctor Who Theme” (1963)
Eliane Radigue “Kyema (Intermediate States)” (1988)
Christopher Strachey “God Save the Queen, Baa Baa Black Sheep, In the Mood” (1951)
Newman Guttman “Pitch Variations” (1957)
Max Mathews “Daisy Bell” (1961)
Laurie Spiegel “Appalachian Grove” (1974) 
Mike Post “Doogie Howser Main Theme” (1989)
Jean-Claude Risset “Mutations” (1969)
Iannis Xenakis “S.709” (1992)