Calculated Sounds – Sequencing, Beat-Making, Live Coding

Workshop | Summer academy of the Max Weber Program, Studienstiftung |Ljubljana | 20.-30. August 2019

“Music is not anchored in emotional regions, but in structure and form. And their notation has to do with calculation, underground with ideas – no different with Beethoven or Brahms than with Stravinsky or Schönberg. (Süddeutsche Zeitung 18./19.8.2018) And we add: …also in contemporary popular and experimental music from Michael Jackson to Algorave. Whereby of course, and here we have to contradict, the anchoring in ’emotional regions’ is just as important as the sound structure. Because calculation, programming, and form are by no means contrary to emotions but can intensify them. In music, rational design and form are virtually the prerequisites for meaningful reception and emotional resonance. The consequences for our current music practice are obvious: computers dominate studio production, samplers, synthesizers, and tablets have long since been added to the established instruments. Almost everything we hear today has gone through digital signal processors as zero and one.

Because of this long tradition of calculation and technology, the interplay of music, program, and code is suitable for the exemplary experience and description of current technology culture (keyword: digitization). The working group will start from the practice of musical design using software and code in order to address questions of current artistic working methods and social discourses. In concrete, experiences and experiments with sequencing (in the consumer sector, for example, “Garage Band”), beat making as a common practice of hip-hop and live coding with “Sonic Pi” will form the core of the daily work. Prerequisites for participation are a notebook (Win or Mac), enjoyment of music and the willingness to engage in music technology and exciting discussions about digital culture.