History of Media and Technology: Sound, the Minority Report -- Radical Music of the Past 100 Years

Closeup of knobs, dials and wires on an analog synthesizer.

Up close with a prototype Serge Modular Synthesizer. (Photo courtesy of Wayne Marshall.)

Instructor(s)

MIT Course Number

CMS.876

As Taught In

Spring 2006

Level

Graduate

Cite This Course

Course Description

Course Features

Course Description

This course looks at the history of avant-garde and electronic music from the early twentieth century to the present. The class is organized as a theory and production seminar for which students may either produce audio/multimedia projects or a research paper. It engages music scholarship, cultural criticism, studio production, and multi-media development, such as recent software, sound design for film and games, and sound installation. Sound as a media tool for communication and sound as a form of artistic expression are subjects under discussion. The artists' work reviewed in the course includes selections from audio innovators such as the Italian Futurists, Edgard Varèse, John Cage, King Tubby, Brian Eno, Steve Reich, Afrika Bambaataa, Kraftwerk, Merzbow, Aphex Twin, Rza, Björk, and others.

Related Content

Beth Coleman. CMS.876 History of Media and Technology: Sound, the Minority Report -- Radical Music of the Past 100 Years. Spring 2006. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare, https://ocw.mit.edu. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.


For more information about using these materials and the Creative Commons license, see our Terms of Use.


Close