Electroacoustic Music Studies Network
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CHEARS ver.2.0
Combination and Integration of EARS2 by Zhang Ruibo (Mungo)
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Part 1of4: Previously, back to 2011 in New York: From EARS to CHEARS
1）Terminology section based on EAR&EARS2 is the core of CHEARS, e.g. Computer Music. In this page, if you find Computer Music Tutorial (CMT) in Bibliography, by clicking on it you will be directed to this book.
2）Bibliography (Chinese and English) section is related closely to Terminology section e.g. Computer Music Tutorial (CMT). In this page, "Computer Music" among the Keywords is acting as an interchange link. If you click on it, you will be directed to this terminology.
3) Lecture section is beyond EARS&EARS2 for compensating the lacking of bibliography in Chinese, e.g. Synthesis and performance in SuperCollider (also available at homepage), which is designed originally for CHEARS.info by James Harkins in April, 2014. In this page, you can take Synthesis Techniques as an interchange link going to the Terminology section, you can also take Electronic Music Interactive v2 going to the Bibliography section, or take Max/MSP Summer Workshop (Intermediate) going to another lecture.
Of course, there are more information available in the Reader and Message system related to Bibliography and Lecture respectively. For example, in the Reader for Electronic Music Interactive v2 has the link for this online tutorial; in the Message for Max/MSP Summer Workshop (Intermediate) contains full-text agenda for this workshop. If you are interested in clicking the lecturer, Graham Booth, you will have two more Max/MSP workshops available to you: one is Max/MSP Summer Workshop (Beginners), the other is Max/MSP Advanced Course.
4) Concert section is relatively younger than previous three sections, including both Works and Concerts, e.g. "Heng" for Live Khoomei and Industrial Noise and VJ (2012) is a new piece that has been performed in several concerts, such as Special Concert for Shenyang Conservatory of Music/DMU in Leicester, 2012 and Creation of Sounds (Selected from Calling for Scores) in Shanghai, 2013.
Audio and Video demo on CHEARS.info: Sound Cloud page, Youtube page and more...
After the expansion with Concert section, it increases the more possible connections within CHEARS.info. In the page of "Heng", we take "Zhao Zhongye (one of the composers)" as interchage link that will lead us to more information, such as Indeterminacy in Terminology section and Critical Listening Skills for Audio Professionals in Bibliography section. And then, let's take "Mixed Work (one terminology under the Genres)" as an interchange link in the page of "Heng", there are two entries on Comments. If we click on "Tianyang" (username), that will lead us to his contribution. WHAT IS THAT?
5) Actually, this is the fifth element (original to CHEARS.info) that is bringing the previous four sections even closer to each other, so-called "Community".
5.1) Comments for Terminology section focus on translation problems from translators.
5.2) Readers for Bibliography section has excerption from articles and books.
5.3) Messages for Lectuer section focus on contents for workshops and master classes.
5.4) Critics for Concert section is consists of two types:one is for entire concert (Critics to Concerts); the other one is for single work (Critics to Works).
In Tianyang's Contribution, we can take "Visual Representation" as an interchange link back to Terminology section, this time please pay attention to the differences between EARS vs. EARS2. In this page, any hyperlink in any section, such Comments, Readers, Messages, Critics to Concerts and Critics to Works, could be a interchange link and leading to Terminology, Bibliography, Lecture and Concert section respectively, as long as there is one entry is available. Let's take mungo's Contribution (myself) as an example!
The End of Part One! (Back to Top)
Part 2of4: In part 1, it only shows the one possible way to present the connection among the five sections in CHEARS. There are so many other possible connections in it. So, Let's take care of some numbers:
1) Terminology Section
1.1) 688 Terminology in total (EARS&EARS2, as well as CMT), 40 completed from 2006 to 2008. Most of them was completed by myself. 80 more completed from 2009 to 2013. Numbers of the translator group gets expanded to 23. For each of translators (except me), at least get 1 terminology completed, at most gets 30.
1.2) 40 more completed from 2013 to 2014. I have been proofreading for my students who are in my class for Computer Music Theory (MUST TAKE). It means the translation of EARS&EARS2 on CHEARS has been moved a big step forward to the peer-reviewed evel, which are consists of Translator, Proofreader and Consultant. However, that will be a very long way to go! For example, only 165 Terminology are completed out of 688; One Third out of 165 are completed and 40 out of 165 get proofread by myself.
2) 40 in Bibliography. Most of time, NOT searching, BUT waiting for the qualified Articles and Books, or Translated Articles and Books, as well as Others (e.g. online tutorials). So, A new kind was added as a type, "Unpublished" in Bibliography section, e.g. Critical Listening Skills for Audio Professionals. It initiates a plan for articles and books in English that are already well known (or used as textbooks at academic institutions), which are intending to be translated into Chinese.
Interestingly, Electronic and Experimental Music 4th (fourth) Edition will be very useful for Chinese musicians as an English text-book, but only mentioning about China in one paragraphy on P.147!
3) 81 in Lectures. Besides the original workshop (available at homepage) for CHEARS: Synthesis and performance in SuperCollider designed by James Harkins in April 2014; there are two more very important series masterclass held in 2013 and 2014, one is Music, Technology and Innovation Research Centre - Digital Culture Series delivered by Prof. Leigh Landy in 10 days, the other is Studio Marc Battier Masters Class For Electroacoustic Music delivered in 6 days. All of the contents is available at Messages under the two lectures!
4) 47 Works in 29 Concerts, Visages Painting of Peking Opera shows the general idea about this section. More details ( such as program notes) for each piece in the concert are available through the hyperlink in Works at below of this page. At the bottom, Critics for Concerts will have some opinions from newspapers, or specialists and audiences.
5) Community
5.1) 132 in Comments since 2008, on Comment ID187 has a very clear point of view for the Chinese counterpart for EAR and EARS2.
EARS: 电子声学资源库 or EARS资源库
EARS2: 电子声学*教育*资源库 or EARS2*教育*资源库
5.2) 58 in Readers since 2009, on Reader ID45, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51 contains the essential knowledge for interactive programming, which was one of my class taught in Shenyang Conservatory of Music.
5.3) 78 in Messages since 2010, From Message ID76 to 89 covers the knowledge for the whole master class for Digital Culture Series.
5.4) Only 7 in Critics since 2013, Critics ID3 and Critics ID4 are already on the newspaper based on Shenyang Conservatory of Music in 2012 and 2013 respectively!
The End of Part Two! (Back to Top)
Section 3of4: Three years ago, there are three questions from Marc:
1) Has there been a critical mass of researchers working with CHEARS throughout China?
2) Is here a sufficient number of composers and teachers working with CHEARS throughout China?
3) Is CHEARS still a research project or has it found a substantial following in China?
Though there are more entries in CHEARS.info and there are more people invovled to CHEARS obviously as substantial followings, the other two question are becoming more difficult to be answered than three years ago. I realize a more serious problem: do we have "critial mass of researchers" and "sufficient number of composers and teachers" in Electroacoustic Music area?
No, we do NOT have. However, we have "critial mass of researchers" who are working in Musicology Dept. and Composition Dept. to get Electroacoustic Music "Blocked" since their knowledge about EA music is extremely limited. We also have "sufficient number of composers and teachers" who are working in commercial music to get young students "seduced" away from EA music since their narrow-minded has been set extremely to "money".
In the book of Thom Holmes, Electronic and Experimental Music 4th (fourth) Edition, it mentions about several Chinese composers who have tried their best to present EA music as a successful art form, but not enough to raise it to academic level in the perspective of musicology or a new discipline in terms of Music and Technology.
At the moment, there are many students who attend Chinese conservatories, some due to their high virtuosity; others due to their being focused more on a practical as opposed to a theoretical education. Regardless of their interest, it appears that traditional forces in most conservatories are worried about music technology and, in particular, electroacoustic music growing too quickly. This situation is complicated by the fact that there are many young people potentially interested in the field who have not been traditionally trained and, therefore, are unable to get into the conservatory, or at least on a path that leads towards a study in our field. Clearly some other countries have found ways of dealing with this but until this clash between the potential interest of students regardless of background on the one hand is able to be made open through relevant entrance procedures and their being welcomed by staff in various fields, we shall continue to be underrepresented.
In this circumstances, a pedagocial system should have been applied: EARS2 Framework and Compose With Sound (CWS) software is one of the solutions!
- EARS2 homepage on CHEARS.info (mainly for translation purpose)
- Compose With Sound (CWS) software (no more cracked applications for students)
- From the View of Structure:
创作/Chuang4 Zuo4/CREATE
学习/Xue2 Xi2/LEARN - From the View of Levels (click hyperlinks at See Also for each page at below)
初学/Chu1 Xue2/Beginner
中级/Zhong1 Ji2/Intermidate
深入/Shen1 Ru2/Advanced
The End of Part Three! (Back to Top)
Section 4of4: “Chinese Composer Case Studies” (available at CHEARS.info homepage) takes on the Chinese cultural adoption of the EARS2 contents. It will be more specific usage of the concept in Chinese cultural/compositional context. The questionnaire and the draft list (change from time to time) of musicians is available at CHEARS.info homepage or Composer Case Studies page in bilingual.