Andrew Horner Newsletter

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
COURSE SHOWCASE
COMP 4441
COMPUTER MUSIC
i
About the
Course
Students’
Work
Students’
Voice
Faculty’s
Voice

ABOUT
THE
COURSE
_____________
COMPUTER
COMP
This experiential project course will
provide students with hands-on
experiences in creating music and
soundtracks with a wide range of
emotional characteristics for a variety of
situations in computer games and videos.
COURSE SETTING: A Creative Outlet
The course is structured as if students
were at an LA film school for sound
designers, and contrasting in style and
content from other HKUST courses, where
the primary focus includes emotional not
just technical control.
This course will provide students with a creative outlet
where they can apply their problem-solving skills in a deep
and engaging way to music. Whether students have music
background or not, this course will provide a chance to
explore music almost like a composer.

MUSIC
4441
COURSE (RE-)DESIGN
EXPERIENTIAL
LEARNING
The laboratory sessions were restructured with
fantasy-adventure lab assignments. Its
inspiration was to set up the course like a Harry
Potter potions class at Hogwarts.
A total of 9 weekly theme-based lab
assignments were designed. Students had a
chance to develop designs for acoustic music
instruments in computer music languages (e.g.
Csound) and radically adapt music to different
situations.
The lecture sessions changed
accordingly to a briefing and
debriefing format that revolved
around the lab assignments.
Students will share their musical creations and learn
from one another, allowing them to dive in and
create music that modulates the moods of listeners.

SHOWCASE
STUDENTS’ WORKS
_____________
Nine
Theme-based
Assignments
#1 Sound Mirror
Mix it with a DELAYED copy
and BLOW the Mirror
Spirits away
#2 Fantastic Beasts
Tell the beastie
LOVE story with sound!
CLICK & ENJOY
students’ works
#4 Minion Superhero
Tell your Minion Superhero
ADVENTURE story
#5 Beauty & the
Beast Heartbeat
Make the pulse of music
into a ROMANTIC heartbeat
#7 White Snake
Heartbreak
Blend with some SUPER-
AGITATED music into a
heartbreak LOVE song
#8 Minion Blastoff
Blast off using the ascending
SHEPARD TONE effect
on MINION BLASTOFF music
Three
Final Project
Options
#1 Inception X
Trailer/Sequel
Make a TRAILER/SEQUEL for
your own musical countdown. Go
DEEP!
#2 Mood Warping
Transform super-familiar
60-sec music into different
CONTRASTING MOODS

#3 Nightmare Ringtones
Come up with an amazingly-
SCARY nightmare ringtone
#6 Alien Breakdance
Transform some CLASSICAL piece
into BREAKDANCE music
MISSION
IMPOSSIBLE
LAB ASSIGNMENTS
#9 Ghost Train!
Use SHEPARD TONE to
depict your GHOST TRAIN’s
eternal journey
SPRING
2018
#3 Music App or
Game or …
Make a way-out
MUSIC APP or GAME

STUDENTS
VOICE
_____________
The most valuable learning experience is…
“Hands-on experiences from the lab;
sharing the lab results of everyone in
class, very motivating!”
“Learning to use Csound, listening
other students lab songs, because
they are funny and usually give
surprising effects”
“The weekly labs, because it gives
me a chance to experiment with the
concepts learnt in class. And
demoing all the labs in class helps
to give feedback and ideas on what
is good and bad.”
“The experimental part of the course is
very interesting. Sometimes I almost
feel like I'm a composer!”

HOW STUDENTS LEARN IN COMP4441
Understand and analyze the themebased
lab assignment guideline.
Look for relevant audio and video clips
Use applications to apply effects and
modify sounds
Attend debriefing sessions
Share how their musical pieces were
created
Collect instructor’s and peer’s feedback
and think deeply of their own work
EXPERIENCE
W hat happened?
(Facts)
REFLECTION
What did I
experience?
(Feelings)
APPLICATION
What do I do
next?
(Future)
CONCEPTUALIZATION
Why did that
happen?
(Findings)
Evaluate how to modify the sound
using different features
Apply in the next lab assignment
Learn some main concepts taught by
the instructor in the briefing sessions
Appreciate peer’s works and
evaluate different sound effects in
class

HOW STUDENTS LEARN IN COMP4441
Understand the theme-based lab assignment
guideline and look for relevant audio and video clips
Use applications to apply effects
and modify sounds
STUDENTS
VOICES
_____________
“Hands-on experiences
from the lab; sharing the
lab results of everyone in
class, very motivating!”
“The experimental part of the
course is very interesting.
Sometimes I almost feel like
I'm a composer!”
Evaluate how to modify the sound
using different features
Apply in the next lab assignment

WHAT STUDENTS THINK?
Attend debriefing sessions and share their musical pieces
Collect instructor’s and peer’s feedback and think deeply
of their own work
3
2
REFLECTION
What did I
experience?
(Feelings)
CONCEPTUALIZATION
Why did that
happen?
(Findings)
“Learning to use Csound, listening
other students lab songs, because
they are funny and usually give
surprising effects”
“The weekly labs, because it gives
me a chance to experiment with the
concepts learnt in class. And
demoing all the labs in class helps
to give feedback and ideas on what
is good and bad.”
Learn some main concepts taught by
the instructor in the briefing sessions
Appreciate peer’s works and evaluate
different sound effects in class

KEY COMPONENTS OF
DESIGNING EXPERIENTIAL LAB
Don’t just teach the boring
concepts or theories.
Let students APPLY in
different situations that
are meaningful or relevant
to them.
REAL-LIFE
DESIGN a wide genre of
fantasy adventure,
including science fiction
and Hong Kong comics
Let students THINK DEEPLY
of what they have learned
THROUGHOUT the process
REFLECTION
DEBRIEF with deep followups
to the lab adventures.
SHARE students’ works in
class which prompted
discussion among students.
No spoon-feeding!
BELIEVE in your students’
CREATIVITY.
FLEXIBILITY
&
FREEDOM
SET the open-ended
experiential lab assignments
FOSTER great freedom in
musical and technical
approaches
From SIMPLE to COMPLEX.
BREAK DOWN ONE big
assessment into several
tasks.
SCAFFOLDING
ASSESS continuously with
a total of nine lab
assignments and one final
project

COURSE DESIGN & IMPACT
To DEVELOP designs for
acoustic music instruments
in computer music
languages
Course
Learning Outcomes
Lab
Fantasy-adventured
Lab Assignments
Lecture
Briefing and
Debriefing Session
ALIGNMENT
Assessment
COURSE IMPACT
9 Lab Assignments
+ Final Project
Instructional Activities
FACULTY
VOICE
_____________
This experiential learning approach was not just fun and motivating for the
students, but very appropriate for the course goal of creative sound design.
I did not feel compelled to present all the notes, but emphasized and
illustrated the main concepts, and let them explore the rest on their own.
It was really fun to play the soundtracks generated by all the groups in the debriefing
lecture session, since they were wildly different.
Lectures were much livelier this way, and generated many delightful
surprises!

KEY COMPONENTS OF
DESIGNING EXPERIENTIAL LAB
REAL-LIFE
Don’t just teach the boring
concepts or theories.
Let students APPLY in
different situations that
are meaningful or relevant
to them.
DESIGN a wide genre of
fantasy adventure,
including science fiction
and Hong Kong comics
REFLECTION
Let students THINK DEEPLY
of what they have learned
THROUGHOUT the process
DEBRIEF with deep followups
to the lab adventures.
SHARE students’ works in
class which prompted
discussion among students.
FLEXIBILITY
&
FREEDOM
No spoon-feeding!
BELIEVE in your students’
CREATIVITY.
SET the open-ended
experiential lab assignments
FOSTER great freedom in
musical and technical
approaches
SCAFFOLDING
From SIMPLE to COMPLEX.
BREAK DOWN ONE big
assessment into several
tasks.
ASSESS continuously with
a total of nine lab
assignments and one final
project

FACULTY
VOICE
_____________
Lecture
Briefing and Debriefing Session
We did not limit the themes to Harry
Potter exclusively, but to the wider genre
of fantasy adventure, including science
fiction and Hong Kong comics.
The lab descriptions carried the fun,
mystery, adventure, and charm out fully.
This allowed a super-strong linkage of
concepts, and prompted in-class
discussion/reflection questions that
were fun and deep follow-ups to the lab
adventures.
Lab Description
This approach was not just fun and motivating for the students,
but very appropriate for the course goal of creative sound design.
It was really fun to play the soundtracks generated by all the
groups in the de-briefing lecture session, since they were wildly
different.
I did not feel compelled to present all the notes, but emphasized
and illustrated the main concepts, and let them explore the rest
on their own.
Lectures were much livelier this way, and generated many
delightful surprises!