Course syllabus for Music engineering: Awareness of sound

Course syllabus adopted 2023-02-14 by Head of Programme (or corresponding).

Overview

  • Swedish nameMusikteknik: ljuduppfattning
  • CodeTRA320
  • Credits7.5 Credits
  • OwnerTRACKS
  • Education cycleSecond-cycle
  • ThemeMTS 7.5 c
  • DepartmentTRACKS
  • GradingTH - Pass with distinction (5), Pass with credit (4), Pass (3), Fail

Course round 1

  • Teaching language English
  • Application code 97151
  • Open for exchange studentsNo

Credit distribution

0123 Project 7.5 c
Grading: TH		0 c0 c3.8 c3.7 c0 c0 c

In programmes

Examiner

Eligibility

General entry requirements for Master's level (second cycle)
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Specific entry requirements

English 6 (or by other approved means with the equivalent proficiency level)
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Course specific prerequisites

In addition to the general requirements to study at advanced level at Chalmers, necessary subject or project specific prerequisite competences (if any) must be fulfilled. Alternatively, the student must obtain the necessary competences during the course. The examiner will formulate and check these prerequisite competences.

The student will only be admitted in agreement with the examiner.

Music engineering projects can span a broad range of topics and competences. It is therefore difficult to make an explicit list of the skills that you should be bringing into the project. It all depends on what you would like to do:
If you would like to investigate technology driven music performance, then it is useful if you have experience with music performance. If you would like to build a musical instrument, it will be useful have either crafting or programming skills. If you would like to investigate the human perception of soundscapes, then it would be favorable if you have some amount of knowledge on this.
We therefore leave it to your personal judgement if you feel qualified for the project that you are envisioning. Both bachelor and master’s students are welcome.

Aim

The aim of the course is to provide a platform to work and solve challenging cross-disciplinary authentic problems from different stakeholders in society such as the academy, industry or public institutions. Additionally, the aim is that students from different educational programs practice working efficiently in global multidisciplinary development teams.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)


Valid for all Tracks courses:
  • critically and creatively identify and/or formulate advanced architectural or engineering problems
  • master problems with open solutions spaces which includes to be able to handle uncertainties and limited information.
  • lead and participate in the development of new products, processes and systems using a holistic approach by following a design process and/or a systematic development process.
  • work in multidisciplinary teams and collaborate in teams with different compositions
  • show insights about cultural differences and to be able to work sensitively with them.
  • show insights about and deal with the impact of architecture and/or engineering solutions in a global, economic, environment and societal context.
  • identify ethical aspects and discuss and judge their consequences in relation to the specific problem
  • orally and in writing explain and discuss information, problems, methods, design/development processes and solutions
  • fulfill project specific learning outcome

Content

Music engineering as we see it relates to anything that has to do with the creation and the perception of sound. Such sounds can be of any type. It can be conventional music, electronic music, contemporary sound art, everyday sounds like animal voices or even traffic noise, and more. It is therefore not necessary to be able to play a musical instrument to participate in a music engineering project.

Music engineering projects can focus on, for example, technical or artistic aspects, material science, health and safety, electronics, composition of sound and music, or they can be investigating human sound perception. More concretely, you can build your own musical instrument, be it acoustic or electronic, you can use artificial intelligence to analyse or create sounds, or you can investigate the human physiological response to different sounds by means of electroencephalography.

Organisation

The course is run by a teaching team.
The main part of the course is a challenge driven project. The challenge may range from being broad societal to profound research driven. The project task is solved in a group. The course is supplemented by on-demand teaching and learning of the skills necessary for the project. The project team will have one university examiner, one or a pole of university supervisors and one or a pole of external co-supervisors if applicable.

Tracks-theme: Health and sports technology

The music engineering course starts with an introductory phase that comprises four compulsory workshops on:

  • Acoustic music instruments. Learn about the basic physics behind acoustic musical instruments, including hands-on experiments with building and playing them.
  • Electronic music instruments. Introduction to sound synthesis and how to control it with physical interfaces.
  • Musique concrète: Music from everyday sounds. Learn how any sound from any acoustic source can be used to create music, as in the genre musique concrète, originating in France in the early 1950s. You will compose a small piece yourself, to be performed in a mini-concert.
  • Human sound and music perception. Introduction to how we perceive sound and music, both low-level phenomena such as pitch and loudness, and more high-level musical phenomena such as timbre and swing.

After the introductory phase is done, projects will be defined, and project teams will be formed. We will put particular emphasis on forming the teams such that they are interdisciplinary and that the members’ skills complement each other. In the end of the course all projects will be presented during a dedicated exhibition/performance event.

Literature

Relevant literature is retrieved and acquired by the students as a part of the project.

Lecture notes. Appropriate literature is acquired by the students as part of the project.

Examination including compulsory elements

To pass the course the following need to be fulfilled
  • At least 3 approved workshops
  • Approved workshop: active participation of 80 % of the time incl. assignments and presentations
  • Full participation in phase 2
  • Attendance of final presentation
  • Approved project work incl. report (phase 2)
  • The project in phase 2 determines the grade
  • Bachelor and master students are graded according to separate standards
  • Report criteria include Overall impression, Content, (structure, language)
  • Originality/creativity
  • Presentation

The course examiner may assess individual students in other ways than what is stated above if there are special reasons for doing so, for example if a student has a decision from Chalmers on educational support due to disability.