Institutional Presentation

The oldest undergraduate programme in electronic and computer music in the USA, offering degrees since 1969, has recently undergone a major shift in emphasis, and a major revision of its curriculum. Oberlin Conservatory of Music is one of the world’s leading conservatories of music, recognised for the strength of its offerings in classical music, particularly in instrumental music. The emphasis of the Technology in Music & Related Arts Department (TIMARA) has always been more than just music, and it has attempted to support multiple disciplines within the electronic arts. As of this academic year, students are able to define a wide variety of pathways through courses in digital media, composition, music technologies, performance technologies, computer science, and theory and history courses in music, art, dance, and theatre. This presentation highlights the new directions available within the programme, and discusses the development of an undergraduate programme that accelerates its students through the maze of technologies now available, whilst placing an emphasis on aesthetic, cultural, and compositional practice.

• Richard Povall, US, is a multidisciplinary composer, researcher, and educator, currently Associate Professor of Computer Music and New Media and Chair of the Technology in Music and Related Arts (TIMARA) department at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music (Ohio, USA). Visiting Researcher, Exeter College of Art & Design (UK). From 1995 – 1997 he was also Research Fellow/Senior Lecturer in New Performance Media at Dartington College of Arts in the UK, and is currently a Research Associate at the University of Plymouth. His recent work concentrates on small-scale and solo work using a variety of interactive media, and on new uses of interactive technology in performance environments. He divides his time between the US and the UK, and is published by Frog Peak Music (USA).