Since the end of last semester, Ball State University students have been working on their original pieces for the upcoming EM TWO concert. This is the second EM, which stands for 'electronic music,' concert in the series this school year. The performance will be in Sursa Performance Hall at 8 p.m.
Senior music technology major Zachary Barr said the EM concerts involve varying mixtures of surround-sound music playback, live sound diffusion, live instrumental performers, laptops, some degree of human-computer interactivity via sensors/cameras and digital video.
'As music technology or composition majors, we take a lot of private composition lessons.
These EM concerts give us an opportunity to showcase our own work and hear the work of our classmates,' Barr said.
Keith Kothman, associate professor of music, described the concert as a combination of original student-composed music mixed with sound production and digital media. Kothman said the concert is called 'electronic media' rather than 'digital media' because the concert series started at Ball State in the '80s and the name has remained.
The concert involves two recent Ball State graduates, eight student composers and six additional performers; previous concerts have had guests and faculty members performing.
'If they've been working in the program and writing for the program, they will perform,' he said.
Kothman said it usually takes two to four months to prepare a piece for EM concerts, but some have been working since November for tonight's concert. Barr has been preparing his piece since September 2008. Barr said an initial version of his piece will be what the audience hears at the EM TWO concert tonight; he will have a revised version at his senior recital later this spring.
'A lot of the problems with this kind of music is the fact that it's not based in notes or rhythms that the audience can follow; it's hard to make convincing music out of just sounds,' he said.
One of the aspects that make the concert unique is that it is produced by Ball State students, some of who have been in national or international venues.
'The work they've done is worthwhile,' he said.
For students interested in attending the concert, Kothman said attending EM TWO is good motivation to hear creative works by people like them.
'It's not music by people who have been dead for 200 years,' he said.
What: EM TWO Electronic music concert
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Sursa Performance Hall
Admission: Free
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