Premise: An interdisciplinary four-year undergraduate degree in electronic dance music practice and culture. A US undergraduate major is typically 10-12 courses, so degree requirements include…

(naturally we will teach this at Cal Tech-no…)

Music

  • Survery of the History of Electronic Music
  • Music Theory I
  • EDM Production (practical lab)
  • DJ-ing (practical lab)
  • Electives in various subdisciplines, as guided by faculty
  • Elective analog synthesis

Math course

Physics/Electrical Engineering

  • Physics of sound (physiology and instrument modeling)
  • Electronics (a practical introduction, building circuits and audio systems)

Computer Programming

  • Intro to programming (in Supercolider? or something else): with applications to sound generation

History / Social Science

  • Communities of practice in Berlin, Detroit and their sociohistorical setting, with an emphasis on race and economics as forces behind music development
  • Queer histories in EDM (“From Wendy Carlos to Berghain”)

Video

  • Intro to generative visual methods (practical lab)

Business

  • Advertising/Marketing (with activities including graphic design of flyers, business modeling, online search engine optimization/advertising, viral marketing)
  • Accounting (for Hospitality businesses; basics of inventory management, payroll)
  • Management (crowds, staff, talent)

Pharmacology/Chemistry

  • The chemistry of psychoactive drugs

Study Abroad / Spring Break trips