Creating the Digital Age of Theater and Music 1983-2010

 
IS157s  Creating the Digital Age of Theater and Music, 1983-2010   

The year 1983 saw the release of the Yamaha DX-7, the first commercially successful all-digital synthesizer as well as the first feature film with completely digital special effects (Last Starfighter). Time Magazine's January 3, 1983 cover featured the computer as "the machine of the year". This cluster gives students the opportunity to express their creativity, learn the fundamentals of design and abstraction, and take their first steps into the technical knowledge required to make their own contributions to the merging of digital technology and the creative arts. See Computer Science 157, Music 157, and Theater and Dance 157 for course descriptions. Satisfies the Arts and Quantitative Reasoning distribution requirements. Twelve credit hours.  HALLSTROM, MAXWELL, THURSTON


 
Python Code

CS157  Digital Media - An introduction to computational thinking in the context of digital media. Computational thinking is the basis for describing processes that can be automated on a computer, including image and sound creation, manipulation, and analysis. Using the Python language, students will learn how to write algorithms, manipulate information, and design programs to make computers useful tools for creative expression. Through lectures, short homeworks, and weekly programming projects and write-ups, they will learn about abstraction, how to divide and organize a process into appropriate components, how to describe processes in a computer language, and how to analyze and understand the behavior of their programs. Part of the three-course Integrated Studies 157 cluster, "Creating the Digital Age of Theater and Music, 1983-2010." Prerequisite: Concurrent enrollment in Music 157 and Theater and Dance 157. Four credit hours.  Q.  MAXWELL

 
 
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MU157  Music in the Digital Age - Examines trends and techniques in digital music composition from 1983 to the present with an emphasis on avant-garde works involving interactive multimedia. Students will learn to critically assess a wide range of music that integrates digital technology and to analyze it based on its structure as distinct from its representational meaning. Hands-on compositional exercises will introduce students to software tools for manipulating sounds and images, creating interactive multimedia performances. Culminates in a group project that will synthesize work in all three components of the cluster. Part of the three-course Integrated Studies 157 cluster, "Creating the Digital Age of Theater and Music, 1983-2010." Prerequisite: Concurrent enrollment in Computer Science 157 and Theater and Dance 157. Four credit hours.  A.  HALLSTROM

 
 
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TD157  Live Performance in the Digital Age - Explores the impact of digital innovation on live performance. The incorporation of computer-driven digital media in theater and dance events provides new information streams and redefines the performance context for an audience. Students explore computation-based, interactive theater and dance through critical analyses of digital age performances, individual research assignments, and collective creation of performance works using a digitally-equipped performance venue. Part of the three-course Integrated Studies 157 cluster, "Creating the Digital Age of Theater and Music, 1983-2010." Prerequisite: Concurrent enrollment in Computer Science 157 and Music 157. Four credit hours.  A.  THURSTON