Doctoral Program in Computer Music Draws Future Maestros of Multimedia

By Lynn Austin Manning '76

The age-old Zen question asks: What is the sound of one hand clapping?

It's a trick question, of course. But as you watch Butch Rovan's glove-covered hands "play" electronic music with variations in fingertip pressure, rotation, speed, and energy (below), you realize that answers now come in forms a Zen master never could have anticipated.

And when Todd Winkler's room-sensor camera lets whole groups of people produce music and light patterns in response to their own interactive motion, it is also clear that the answers can be wonderfully innovative and expressive art.

Together, Rovan and Winkler have helped create the University's new doctoral program in computer music and multimedia.

Associate Professors Winkler and Rovan co-direct meme@brown (meme stands for multimedia and electronic music experiments), a part of the Music Department that emphasizes a multidisciplinary and technological approach to composition and performance. Although there have been master's degree students and a few special studies doctorates in the program for several years, the University's Ph.D. in Electronic Music and Multimedia is new. The first group of candidates arrived this fall.

"The timing is right" for such a program, says Winkler. "Multimedia is one of the fastest-growing academic fields. There is an explosion of new programs, new jobs and new buildings going up [for this kind of work] on campuses across the country, but there aren't enough qualified Ph.D.s to fill all the available spaces."

With increased funding available for Ph.D. candidates, a studio full of state-of-the-art equipment, interdisciplinary links to the Modern Culture and Media Department, and a close collaboration with the graduate program in digital media at RISD next door, Brown's new program attracted a host of highly qualified candidates.

"What we offer is unique," Winkler continues. "Many of our best qualified candidates only applied to Brown. Two of them held teaching positions. We were looking for trained musicians with strong composing and performance skills -- plus technical capabilities in engineering, computers, and multimedia -- who wanted to expand into video and theatrical arts. Essentially, the computer is their instrument."

That description fits Winkler and Rovan, too. Both have doctorates in music, and backgrounds that began with conventional instruments -- piano for Winkler; clarinet and saxophone for Rovan. But early on, each discovered how electronics could enhance music, and each chose computer science to explore distinctive multimedia approaches that harness technology to broaden the scope of artistic expression.

The computer "expands the musician's virtuosity," says Rovan. In addition to musical aptitude, a technical background is essential. To push an artist's compositions to their limits, "you have to know every aspect -- hardware as well as software," Rovan notes. This is one professor who practices what he preaches: A recent visit to a classroom found Rovan wielding a soldering iron while helping a graduate student assemble analog circuitry used to connect sensors to a computer for multimedia performance.

Although technical aptitude is required, creative work is the most critical part of a Ph.D. candidate's qualifications. Applicants submit tapes of performances, installations, CDs, and so on -- "the deal makers" in the decision to accept, says Winkler. "Many of our candidates have MFAs, and have been very active as performers; they are already accomplished young professionals, not just 'promising' ones," he says.

The underlying goal for the young professionals is independent research leading to a dissertation. "They need the time and the focus that doctoral study gives them to get to the next level of their work, and there is a high level of serious research involved in getting there," says Winkler. "We basically say 'no' to candidates with commercial music goals. We want people who will experiment, take risks. In most cases the Ph.D. will lead to a teaching position, although others with similar qualifications have been hired for high-level research job at places like Sony or IBM."

Much of the experimentation at Brown will take place in Steinert Hall, where doctoral candidates will spend studio time composing music and designing software to manipulate it. Each studio is equipped with the latest computers loaded with sound and image software, audio interfaces, and multiple speakers. The main recording studio and control room also are available.

It is interesting to note that Brown's computer music studies are more advanced than those of traditional music schools like Julliard in New York City. "Research universities already have extensive computer programming classes that a conservatory might not have," says Winkler. "You need to learn techniques with software just the way you would with a piano or violin."

Brown's doctoral program is exclusive: Only three candidates out of fifty-three applicants were accepted into the new computer music/multimedia Ph.D. program.

Matthew Warne, a composer, digital media artist and media production consultant, is one of the candidates. "My continuing development requires a rigor in compositional and theoretical training that only a doctoral program will support," says Warne. "Brown was my top choice, as it is unique for being rooted in music but dedicated to a compositional approach with, in, and for other media."

Another doctoral candidate is Kevin Patton, a jazz composer and performer who also does interactive multimedia performance art. Why did he come to Brown? "It's the people. Both Rovan and Winkler are outstanding. And also because it's Brown. The interdisciplinary aspect really sets it apart. This is a wonderful place to be."

The professors are as enthusiastic about the new Ph.D. program as they are about the candidates. "There are all these possibilities now, and it is exciting for us as well as for our students," says Rovan. "Todd and I have a lot of experience, but in this very young field it's important to have community, collaboration. We're all discovering it together."

Photo courtesy of Butch Rovan