Building Musical Instruments

In Building Musical Instruments, we will study and create expressive musical sound by building electronic instruments. Using sonic goals as inspiration for design features, we will build contact microphones, basic synthesizers, digital controllers, and physical enclosures, and we will consider the ways in which these distinct objects can unite to form a musical performance system. Topics include: musical listening and design, resonance of different materials, soldering, breadboarding, reading a basic schematic diagram, creating an enclosure, and expressive interaction with instruments. Override codes required; interested students must attend first day and complete questionnaire, only after which will override codes be distributed.