{"id":13168,"date":"2015-01-13T16:17:40","date_gmt":"2015-01-14T00:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rolandus.com\/blog\/?p=13168"},"modified":"2015-05-05T16:10:07","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T23:10:07","slug":"can-play-hear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rolandus.com\/blog\/2015\/01\/13\/can-play-hear\/","title":{"rendered":"Synthesis: Learning the Language of Sound"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can You Play What You Hear?<\/h2>\n
By Professor Loudon Stearns, Berklee College of Music\u00a0<\/address>\n
\"Teaching<\/a>

Teaching and studying synthesis builds sonic awareness and essential skills for players and producers.<\/p><\/div>\n

As a professor who teaches music production at Berklee College of Music and Berklee Online<\/a>, I have grown more and more sure that an understanding of synthesis is essential for keyboardists and producers alike. Synthesizers are a constant presence in contemporary music, and even when we hear organic or acoustic sounds, they’re often performed within software that uses synthesizer parameters to control or modify them.\u00a0Most importantly, though, learning synthesis gives us\u00a0a language for timbre\u00a0and\u00a0a way to understand sound.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Once\u00a0I personally dove into synthesis, I started hearing differently. I gained a way to categorize sounds based on timbre, evolution, and modulation. For example, the timbre of a clarinet has a characteristic \u201csquare wave\u201d sound, the evolution of a violin sound may swell in with every note like a long envelope attack, and the pitch modulation in a singer\u2019s vibrato increases as the note is sustained. Before learning synthesis, I didn’t\u00a0consider those kinds of specific details about the sounds, and I didn’t have\u00a0a vocabulary to describe them. I would just think, “That sounds like a clarinet, violin, or voice.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

I see this same shift in my students as we explore synthesis; they develop a growing awareness of the details of sound, which makes the\u00a0benefits of learning synthesis huge.<\/p>\n

Hands-On: The Best Way to Explore and Understand Synthesis<\/h2>\n

After exploring many ways to present this information, it became\u00a0obvious that a hands-on approach with supporting visuals is the fastest way for students to absorb this complex topic. That’s why the Roland GAIA SH-01<\/a>, along with\u00a0its associated Sound Designer<\/a> software and real-time\u00a0Wave Viewer display, are\u00a0great tools for my students and me.<\/p>\n

\"Roland<\/a>

The front panel of the Roland GAIA SH-01 is loaded with hands-on controls for creating and manipulating\u00a0sounds.<\/p><\/div>\n

I teach an ensemble at Berklee with 10 student performers, and the goal of the class is to explore the possibilities of electronic performance. We use numerous laptops and synthesizers that are all synchronized to create electronic dance music. This classroom has\u00a0walls that are literally covered in synthesizers (one of my favorite places in the world, by the way),\u00a0and there are\u00a0over 20 synths from all eras. The students can\u00a0take any synth they choose, but every semester the GAIA gets used more than any other synth in the room.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

Wave Viewer in the GAIA Sound Designer software.<\/p><\/div>\n

The class\u00a0is\u00a0an improvisation ensemble, and the students are required to adapt to any playing situation immediately. This is why the GAIA\u00a0gets used so much! It’s ideal, because everything you need is right in front of you with a dedicated knob or slider. As a teacher, I love when students\u00a0choose the GAIA, because I can walk up behind them and easily guide them to the perfect sound. We don’t have to dive into menus\u2014the whole patch is right there in front of us.<\/p>\n

See How It Works<\/h2>\n

To assist other\u00a0educators\u00a0who are teaching synthesis or considering it, and also students who are studying synthesis, I created some free videos to make it easier. In this six-part video series, I demonstrate my basic approach to teaching synthesis and some specifics of the GAIA that will help teachers teach this important topic and help students learn.<\/p>\n

As you\u2019ll see in the videos, there are a number of concepts that can be taught in the context of synthesis, which\u00a0apply to everything from live performance on an acoustic instrument to studio music production. Learning\u00a0synthesis will make your students acute listeners, better musicians, and more creative producers.<\/p>\n