Description

The Paris Contemporary Music Creation and Critique program offers students interested in sound and music creation intensive exposure to the manifold resources of the IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique). Over 4-weeks, students will be trained in sound synthesis, patching, sound sculpting, and the IRCAM's cutting-edge composition software while also benefiting from the Agora Music Festival that brings together renowned and budding composers and performers from all over the world. This summer program also invites students to expand their knowledge of contemporary critique and theoretical work in music, sound, listening, technology and creation today.

What You'll Learn:

The Paris Contemporary Music Creation and Critique program offers students interested in sound and music creation intensive exposure to the manifold resources of the IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique). Over 4-weeks, students will be trained in sound synthesis, patching, sound sculpting, and the IRCAM's cutting-edge composition software while also benefitting from the Agora Music Festival that brings together renowned and budding composers and performers from all over the world. This summer program also invites students to expand their knowledge of contemporary critique and theoretical work in music, sound, listening, technology and creation today.

Academic Program:

The CIEE Paris Contemporary Music Creation and Critique Program is divided into three tracks: 1) an intensive week-long course in the MAX/MSP music application that helps students do "patch" sound samples and voice modulation, 2) a week-long project that focuses on concerts and events linked to the AGORA festival at the IRCAM, 3) a two-week-long overview class that trains students in other IRCAM composition software with the goal of producing an electronic composition.

Instruction is hands-on, takes place at a teaching lab at the IRCAM, and class size is limited to 10 students. Assessment is continuous for the first phase, will be tied to the production of a reflection paper for the second phase, and will consist of evaluated exercises and a final composition for the third. Throughout the program, structured encounters will be organized to ensure interaction between participating students and IRCAM composers, researchers, visiting performers and scholars.

Academic Culture:

The MAX/MSP and overview classes in the program blend theory and practice. Students are gathered in small groups and do exercises and "patches" designed to bring together topics covered during the sessions. This continual assessment results in a final report given to the students that evaluates her level. Given the overlapping AGORA concert series and the many chances to interact with other composers, the IRCAM offers a true forum for budding new music composers, an exploration that will result in the second week with an essay detailing what was observed, heard.

Participating students have a yearlong membership and full-year subscription to the IRCAM's Forum software data base. Upon completion of the Paris Contemporary Music Creation and Critique Program, students will be able to use these applications to compose at their home university for a full year. Students also have access, onsite, to the extraordinary IRCAM library, with many original contemporary scores, references and recordings.