Dec 2012
Beauty in Ignorance
06/12/12 17:58
The belief that only experienced or “academic” composers can create thought-provoking, intellectually stimulating, creative music is so very very wrong.
I’ve spent the last 3 months as instructor of an introductory electroacoustic composition course. The majority of my students, at the start of the semester, had never heard of GarageBand let alone reverb plug-ins or automation data. Next week, they present their work to a panel of graduate composers and, as I review their final products, I am simply stunned at the enormity of their creativity, ingenuity, and individualism.
Our semester consisted of the creation of three major projects: an electronic piece with live acoustic accompaniment in which the students could only use audio material, a popular style format song in which students could only use MIDI data for the accompanying track (with live vocals), and a movie trailer in which students could utilize the compilation of their skills from the previous projects.
My instruction very determinately lacked specific direction in an attempt to force my students to think creatively from a blank slate. Naturally, many felt lost without a nicely tailored checklist of what exactly would get them an “A”. However, on the far side of that frustration, we found such beauty.
At the end of our semester journey together, this is what I’ve found...
One student who didn’t know how to export songs from iTunes created a gently flowing, layered electroacoustic piece for piano and electronics that employs various reverbs as a melodic and harmonic element.
Another who very determinately insisted that she hated my initial “exposure” examples by JacobTV and Dennis DeSantis, now wants to continue into another semester of study pursuing further knowledge of electroacoustic composition.
And many more...
So many examples of these students with just one semester of any compositional experience producing beautiful and creative work, listening to many new musics with new ears, and seeking out other opportunities to expand their electroacoustic capabilities. It may be called ignorance, but I call it innocent inspiration.
I’ve spent the last 3 months as instructor of an introductory electroacoustic composition course. The majority of my students, at the start of the semester, had never heard of GarageBand let alone reverb plug-ins or automation data. Next week, they present their work to a panel of graduate composers and, as I review their final products, I am simply stunned at the enormity of their creativity, ingenuity, and individualism.
Our semester consisted of the creation of three major projects: an electronic piece with live acoustic accompaniment in which the students could only use audio material, a popular style format song in which students could only use MIDI data for the accompanying track (with live vocals), and a movie trailer in which students could utilize the compilation of their skills from the previous projects.
My instruction very determinately lacked specific direction in an attempt to force my students to think creatively from a blank slate. Naturally, many felt lost without a nicely tailored checklist of what exactly would get them an “A”. However, on the far side of that frustration, we found such beauty.
At the end of our semester journey together, this is what I’ve found...
One student who didn’t know how to export songs from iTunes created a gently flowing, layered electroacoustic piece for piano and electronics that employs various reverbs as a melodic and harmonic element.
Another who very determinately insisted that she hated my initial “exposure” examples by JacobTV and Dennis DeSantis, now wants to continue into another semester of study pursuing further knowledge of electroacoustic composition.
And many more...
So many examples of these students with just one semester of any compositional experience producing beautiful and creative work, listening to many new musics with new ears, and seeking out other opportunities to expand their electroacoustic capabilities. It may be called ignorance, but I call it innocent inspiration.
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