{"id":8702,"date":"2020-10-06T09:38:24","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T07:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icem-www.folkwang-uni.de\/icem-web\/?page_id=8702"},"modified":"2026-01-16T09:39:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T08:39:21","slug":"electronic-composition-icem","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/icem-www.folkwang-uni.de\/icem-web\/electronic-composition-icem\/","title":{"rendered":"Electronic Composition @ ICEM"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Michael Edwards<\/a>, Professor of Electronic Composition<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"ICEM's<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What is electronic composition?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jump to main points summary<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all it’s a course of study which is part of the Integrative Composition<\/a> portfolio at ICEM: a four-year Bachelors or two-year Masters course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More generally, perhaps the more relevant question at this juncture is: what isn’t electronic composition? OK, that’s a little facetious but technologies developed out of and for electronic composition are found in many genres of music practised today, even in those where the casual listener wouldn’t immediately think of electronic composition. For example, the use of sequencers and Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) in the production of pop and film music; DJ software and hardware in dance clubs; virtual orchestras achieved through advanced sampling techniques; physical modelling and other synthesis techniques in keyboard performances of various genres; music notation software and score emulation in instrumental composition; and algorithmic composition techniques, with or without Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning, for jingles and elsewhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Eliane<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

OK, but what is it really?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally viewed, electronic composition focuses on the creation of sound itself via electronic means, i.e., synthesis\/sampling\/processing, both as a compositional act and as the final tonal artefact. Electronic compositions can and should be understood from a historical perspective\u2014in the tradition of Pierre Schaeffer\u2019s musique concrete<\/a> as well as the electronic music of Koenig<\/a>, Xenakis<\/a>, Radigue<\/a> or Stockhausen<\/a>, or indeed the computer music<\/a> of the USA from the 1960s onwards\u2014but continues to develop and expand. It includes various new approaches, many of them hybrid, bespoke, and influenced by fields outside of music itself, including but not limited to gaming, computer science, and electronic engineering. The field of live electronics forms a central link between electronic and instrumental composition and is impossible to overlook in the contemporary musical landscape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n