| Overview | Materials | Grading | Syllabus | Resources/Fun |
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New Media Opera, MUSI 743 | ||||
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New
Media Opera
Graduate Seminar on Voice, Opera/Theater, Multimedia and New Technology
Matthew Burtner, Assistant Professor
mburtner@virginia.edu
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~cmb4f
http://www.burtner.net/
Virginia Center for Computer
Music
McIntire Department of Music
University of Virginia
Course website: http://www.people.virginia.edu/~cmb4f/743/743.html
Course
Information
MUSI 743, New Media Opera (3 credits)
Wednesday, 5-7pm, S008
office hours: Tuesday 3-5pm, OCH 201, and by appointment
Course
Overview
MUSI 743, New Media Opera, examines theories of vocal embodiment through electroacoustic
music and multimedia. Through technology the voice is extended and contextualized
by media. Each technological medium appropriates the voice differently, creating
multiple readings of body, emotion and intellectual constructs.Opera historically
represents the idiom with the most potential for a full presentation of the
multifaceted qualities of voice. New technologies, however, challenge the traditional
approach to opera by introducing media itself as a partner for the voice, perhaps
a voice of its own. Film, radio, the internet, television, and fixed media such
as CD, CD-ROM, multichannel tape, etc have expanded the possible modalities
of the operatic stage. Even the concert stage itself has expanded to embrace
virtual spaces through video and multichannel audio. In order to avoid confusion,
it may be helpful to define the term “opera” in “new media
opera” more generally, as a work involving voice through multimedia. What
are the implications of this broadening definition of opera? How have composers
dealt with voice in the technological age? What is opera now? These are some
questions we will address.
The class is structured in the form of a critical viewing/dialogue with original
creative work as its focus. We will study compositions spanning a range of media,
examining the use of voice through new media and the implications arising from
this. We will confront new technologies directly through hands-on use of software
for interactive sound and video production. There will be “short projects”
examining different areas of voice and media, and one large project. These projects
may take a variety of forms, including writings, compositions, research and/or
analysis depending on the interest of the student. The unfolding of a linear
approach to voice in the syllabus is juxtaposed with listening/viewing/discussions
that may involve a less constrained evolution. For example, we may not wait
until week nine to discuss the videographic voice or study works using video.
The syllabus serves rather as a guide for areas of concentrated dialog and short
projects.
Image above: Ellaborate multimedia set design by Ludovico Burnacini for the production of Antonio Cesti’s "Il Pomo D’Oro" (The Golden Apple) in Vienna, 1668.
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Composing for Voice by Paul Barker |
Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality Ed. by Randal Packer and Ken Jordan |
Equipment and other course texts:
Audio and
interactive video software available on the VCCM computers:
see Dave Topper about getting a code for the VCCM topper@virginia.edu
DAT machines on reserve in Music Library
see Dave Topper about getting a code for the VCCM topper@virginia.edu
Video Processing software (Final Cut, etc.) and hardware available in the Robertson
Media Center
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/clemons/RMC/
Isadora Software Manual:http://www.troikatronix.com/izzy-download.html
Jitter Software Manual: http://www.cycling74.com/products/dldoc.html
MUSI
743> Grading
Attendance and Participation %40
Short Projects %25 (5%
each)
Voices
in Garrett Hall %10
Concert production, preparation
Final Project %25
"New Media Short Opera"
1/14 Opening discussion on new media opera --
“Old media opera” looks at itself: "Ghosts of Versailes,"
John Corigliano
Richard Wagner, Outlines for the Artwork of the Future (in Multimedia)
1/21 The Embodied Voice: the grain and physics of the voice
Paul Barker The Voice Today: An Evaluation and How the Voice Works: A Composers
Perspective
Roland Barthes, The Grain of the Voice (in On record: rock, pop, and the written
word / Frith, Simon. (1990) ML3470 .O5 1990
Philip Glass and Robert Wilson Opera “Einstein on the Beach”
1/28 Composing for voice
notations
Short Project 1: vocalizations (one note, one breath)
Georges Aperghis "Recitations"
Luciano Berio "Sequenza III"
Cathy Berberian "Stripsody"
preparation for Troika Ranch trip
Troika Ranch, "Future of Memory"
2/4 Troika Ranch at UMBC Field Trip, 8pm
2/11 Michael Slon, guest
working with voiced text
Opera discussion by Slon, works TBA
Short Project 2: text composition (songs without words, words without songs)
(additional readings)
Antonin Artaud, Pour en finir avec le jugement de dieu
William Burroughs The Future of the Novel (in Multimedia)
Paul Barker Voice/Text/Music
Allen S. Weiss Radio, Death, and the Devil: Artaud's "Pour en Finir Avec
le Judgement de Dieu" (in Kahn, Wireless Imagination)
John Adams, Nixon in China
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2/15 (Sunday) Technosonics IV
guest composers Greg Boyle and Anna Rubin
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2/17 (Tuesday) Christian Marclay and People Like Us
guest composer Christian Marclay
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2/18 Eighth Blackbird at University of Richmond with Joan Tower and Michael Torke
2/25 Bang on a Can
at University of Richmond with Terry Riley
2/18 - 2/25 - 3/3 Dance/Theater/Movement
Paul Barker The Singer and the Actor
Short Project 3: a moving voiced body
Tom Johnson "Failing" (CD 03586)
Tom Johnson "Four Note Opera" (M1503 .J556 F7 1973)
Nam Jun Paik "Cybernated Art and Art and Satellite" (in "Multimedia")
Janet Murray "Agency" (in "Multimedia")
Helmut Lachenmann "Das Madchen mit den Schwefelholzern"
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3/10 – Spring Break
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3/17 Most Significant Bytes
3/17-3/24 The Voice
in Computer Music
Short Project 4: electroacoustic voice (environmental context or extended voice)
F.T. Marinetti et al, "The Futurist Cinema" (in "Multimedia")
Lazlo Moholy-Nagy, "Theater, Circus, Variety" (in "Multimedia")
Robert Ashley, "Perfect Lives" and "Improvement" operas
for television
Peter Greenway, "Robert Ashley" VHS
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3/24 – Preparation for Garrett Hall Concert
3/25 – The
Voices in Garrett Hall Concert Performance of New Media Opera
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3/31 – 4/7 – 4/14 Multimedia and Voice, Image and Body
" The Cave," Steve Reich
"The Greeting," Bill Viola
Bill Viola "Will There by Condominiums in Data Space?" (in "Multimedia")
Steve Reich "Videotape and the Composer and The Cave" (in Reich "Writings
on Music")
Lynn Hershman "The Fantasy Beyond Control"
4/14 Multimedia and Voice: The Virtual Body, Voiced
Laurie Anderson "Puppet Motel"
"Virtopera" and "Honoria in Ciberspazio"
Alan Kay and Adele Goldbert "Personal Dynamic Media" (in Multimedia)
Char Davies "Changing Space: Virtual Reality as an Arena of Embodied Being"
Tod Machover, "Brain Opera"
Short Project 5: multimedia voice
4/21 Final Discussion
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4/22 New Music Ensemble Concert
Guest composer, Curtis Bahn
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4/28 Digitalis Concert
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Final projects due
4/28/04
Papers and written notes may be submitted up to 5/5.
MUSI 743> Resources or just for fun
International Phonetic Alphabet chard: http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA/fullchart.html
Honoria in Ciberspazio:
http://www.cyberopera.org/redesign/home/index.shtml
The first internet opera
Virtopera: http://www.cold-genius.com/virtopera/sponsoren/sponsoren.htm
Brain Opera: http://brainop.media.mit.edu/performances/main.html
Lachenmann's Das Madchen mit den Schwefelholzern review http://www.festspielfreunde.at/english/frames/ef_200112_08.htm
Multimedia Reference Library: http://www.ebooks4free.net/ArtLiterature.htm
Antonin Artaud "Pour finir avec le jugement de dieu:" http://www.ubu.com/sound/artaud.html
Ubuweb Visual Concrete Sound: http://www.ubu.com/
Lynn Hershmann's website: http://www.lynnhershman.com/
Bill Viola excerpts: http://www.dia.org/exhibitions/BillViola/pages/science.html
David Rokeby's Multimedia resource guide: http://homepage.mac.com/davidrokeby/interactive.html
Google's computer graphics directory: http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Visual_Arts/Computer_Graphics/Galleries/?il=1
Joshua Davis' amazing open source Flash site: http://www.levitated.net/
Cycling74 Max/MSP/Jitter (get ready to cough up the big bucks): http://www.cycling74.com/products/maxmsp.html
Repercussion, Flash instrumental modeling for multimedia applications: http://www.carladiana.com/repercussion/
SoundToys. Play, play, play!http://www.soundtoys.net/
"Processing" is a context for exploring the emerging conceptual space enabled by electronic media: http://www.proce55ing.net/
Vocal Chords in motion! http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/linguistics/faciliti/demos/vocalfolds/vocalfolds.htm
Anatomy of the voice: http://www.sandiegovoice.org/anatomy.html