Csounding in Glasgow
Centre for Music Technology - University of Glasgow
The Centre for Music Technology of Glasgow University is one of the leading centres of its kind in Europe. Glasgow hosts one of the largest and fastest computer networks using ATM technology in the UK, entirely for computer music applications.
Csound is extensively used in Glasgow for a wide range of purposes, including composition, research and teaching. Csound is the main tool of the Sound Synthesis and Composition Systems (SS&CS) course offered to final year students of the University's B.Eng. with Music (Bachelor of Engineering) degree. The aim of the SS&CS course is to present the fundamentals of the design of computer-based synthesisers. On the completion of the course, students will have gained familiarity with a variety of sound synthesis techniques and will have completed a number of assigned projects.
One of these projects involves the composition of a short electroacoustic music study entirely made with Csound. For this assignment, students must show evidence that they are able to design original instruments and that they understand the theory behind the synthesis techniques used. All sounds of the pieces must be synthesised; i.e., sampled sounds are not allowed.
It is with pleasure that we introduce readers to samples of work produced by our students during 1996/97 academic year. It is our intention to share our experience with other schools and universities that also use Csound as an educational tool. We rarely have the opportunity to share with our colleagues the motivations, methods and results of a Csound-based (or any other software synthesis system) course at an undergraduate level. We would hope that a forum for discussion and exchange of experience could be established between educators using Csound worldwide.
Before you hear and read about our students' work, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that these students are not taking a degree in music and none of them have had training in electroacoustic music composition. As far as this course is concerned, the only exposure these students have had to electroacoustic music composition amounts to a couple of composition workshops and a few listening sessions, in which they were asked to identify which types of synthesis techniques would be used to create the sounds listened to.
Five students out of a group of a group of twenty were invited to present their work here:
Download Student Compositions: Glasgow.zip
The diversity of approaches to synthesis techniques and Csound, plus the ability to express ideas in a written report were the main criteria for selection.