BEAT RESEARCH
Music Art and Culture in the Age of Hip-Hop
Course Description and School Policies
Wednesdays
3:00-8:00
Tower 306
Occasionally SIM or DMC Sound Studios
Massachusetts College of Art And Design
Instructor: Antony Flackett
Syllabus:
Week 1 — January 21
OLD SCHOOL
Introduction to Beat Research
Watch and discuss: Hip-Hop Evolution (Darby Wheeler, 2016)
Excerpts from: Wild Style (Charlie Ahern.1982) and Scenes from Rockers (Ted Bafaloukas, 1978)
Playground rhythms - Jump Rope Handclapping Chants
*Assignment 1 — Due the following class (Jan. 28th)
Present a clip of a favorite piece of electronic music to the class and explain why you chose it.
Make a sequenced loop using the Citizen DJ App - from the Library of Congress
Note: Everyone should have headphones for homework and class
Week 2 — January 28th
ETHICS OF SAMPLING
Hip-hop's Golden Age & the sampling dilemma
Presentation of favorite track & sequenced loop
Watch and discuss: Copyright Criminals (Benjamin Franzen, Kembrew McLeod
2010)
Some resources for samples Building beats Toolbox Archive.org FreeSound Cornell Archives
Week 3 — Feb 4th
APPLIED TECHNIQUES
Intro
to making loops in Audacity and bringing them into Live
Introduction to Ableton Live
*Assignment 2 — Due in 2 weeks (Feb. 18th)
Make a one-minute track with an assigned break beat and sample music source.
NO CLASS FEB 11th FOR MAJORS OPEN HOUSE
Week 4 — February 18th
Presentation
of one minute remix tracks
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Intro to the Sound Studio and
Signing out Controllers with Eric Freeman
Discuss
different ways to present pre-recorded music
Introduction to Effects and using
Midi channels in Live
Andrew Huang sampling Kitchen Pot and Falling Piano
Arranging Electronic Music , Sample Breakdown Video , Library Beats , There I Ruined It
*Assignment 3 —Due
in 3 weeks (March 11th)
Create a piece of music using only sounds that you recorded yourself
Week 5 — Febrary 25th
WHEELS OF STEEL
watch and discuss scenes
from "Scratch" (Doug Pray, 2001)
go to the SIM sound Studio to learn scatching hands on
NO CLASS ON MARCH 4th (Spring Break)
Week 6— MARCH 11th
Present found-sound
pieces
STYLES UPON STYLES
Identifying modern styles of electronic music:
Drum and Bass/Ragga-Jungle, Bhangra, Juke, Baltimore Breaks, Funk Carioca, Dubstep, Bounce Dilla Beats etc.
Rapping Deconstructed (Vox 2016)
Assignment 4 — Due in 2 weeks (March25)
Open Assigment - create a finished piece of electronic music - can be based on previous assignments
Week 7 — March 18th
INTERACTIVITY
Spinning music and ideas live and through
the web
AraabMuzik, Reggie Watts, tUnE-yArDs, Dan Deacon, Hifana, Cabide DJ , Elise Trouw , Tash Sultana ,Gnarly.Music,
SupaMan, Edan, Imogen Heap, Infinite Wheel, Absolute
Machines, Superdraw, Rock-afire
Explosion, MNDMTH , Radio Garden ,
Shred series, Switch Angel, WebSynths, Bubblesoap Suzanne Ciani ,Kid
Koala, Filastine and Nova , Patatap , TJIW , Hélène Vogelsinger
Introduction to performing and looping with Live and simple looping pedals
Week 8 — March 25th
Presentation of open assignments
MUSIC AND IMAGE
Music
Video vs.Video Music vs. Visual
Music
Watch and discuss: Oskar Fischinger, Mary
Ellen Bute, Fleischer Studios, Busby Berkely- ,MTV Rewind,Michel Gondry Zbigniew Rybczyński,,Soundies, Ernie
Kovacs,Joshua Light Show, Ken Brown, Promo
Videos, Sidney Laverents, EBN, Tracy+the Plastics, I am Kawehi, Eclectic Method, Lasse Gjertsen,Thru-You, Pogo, Tucker, Apartment Vid, BeardyMan, Simon Penrucker, SNL Music Intro, Eddie D, Autotune the
News, Andrew Huang, Zebbler Swede Mason , MonoNeon, The Kiffnes, Animal accompaniment on instagram, 1981 ,
Introduction to video
editing with Live
*Assignment 5 — Due in 2 weeks (April 8th)
Produce music video, prepare a live performance or create any other project that involves more than just audio
Week 9 – April 1st
Discuss concepts for final projects
ELECTRONICS AND SAMPLING IN THE ART WORLD
Innovators from outside the hip-hop world
Elsa Von Freytag-Loringhoven, Marcel Duchamp, Leon Theremin ,Christian Marclay, John Cage, Stockhausen, CATcerto , Jean Jacques Perrey Raymond Scott, Nam June Paik, Martin Arnold, Rammellzee Steve Reich, Fenslerfilms, machinima, Bob Moog ,Museum Mixtape ,Harvey Birdman, Decolonizing Electrionic Music, Laurie Anderson, Gabriel Prokofiev, Wendy Carlos, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Conlon Nancarrow, Pamela Z, DJ Spooky Delia Derbyshire , Silver Apples , Pamelia Stickney , Victoria Shen ,
Week 10 — April
8th
WATCH OUT NOW
Presentations of videos
and/or live performances
*Assignment 6 — due in 1 week (April 8th)
Bring in written proposal for final project
Week 11 — April
15th
IN FULL EFFECT
Discuss concepts for final projects
Art catchup, screenings and critique
Discuss concepts for final projects
VISITING ARTIST - LARISA MANN (aka Dj Ripley)
*Assignment 7— Final project
due in 3 weeks May 6th
Week 12 — April
22nd
SHOW AND PROVE
more catch up and critique at the start of class
Week 13 — April
29th
WORK IT OUT
PRESENTATIONS OF FINALS CLOSE TO COMPLETION
Week 14 — MAY 6th
YES YES YA'LL
Gather projects and make order for cable show
Tony’s Choice Wednesdays 8:00pm / Fridays 8:30am and Saturdays 9:00pm
On Cambridge Community TV's Channel 8
http://www.cctvcambridge.org/channel-8
MAY 13th
AND YA DON'T STOP
Off-campus show at the New Alliance Gallery in Somerville starting at 7pm