The designation “Computer Music 291 – February 2021 – CONTENT” reads less like a simple syllabus header and more like a historical artifact. To study or teach Computer Music in February 2021 was to operate at a unique crossroads: between the mature, software-defined studio of the 2010s and the isolated, latency-ridden reality of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The “CONTENT” of February 2021 was defined by three overlapping realities: Computer Music 291 February 2021 -CONTENT-
Before 2020, computer music pedagogy relied on communal listening—the critical A/B test in a treated room. In February 2021, students were listening on laptop speakers, Zoom-compressed audio, and mismatched earbuds. The “content” of CM 291 thus shifted from perfecting stereo imaging to understanding codec compression and perceptual audio coding as creative constraints. Assignments likely asked: How does music behave when it knows it is being heard through an algorithm? The designation “Computer Music 291 – February 2021