electronic composistion
We create sound and music with computers and synthesizers and mix it with natural sounds we find on our field recording expeditions.
You'll get guidance to compose music, and you'll get specific assignments where you'll try out new ways to work with music that you've never imagined.
We call the subject electronic composition because the music we create does not necessarily have to be performed as a traditional concert. The frames are much wider than that, and it is us who decide them!
Perhaps your music should preferably be heard through headphones while sitting in a tractor - or in conjunction with songs and instruments. Or maybe you make the soundtrack of a dance show together with the dance scene.
We recommend that you bring your own laptop computer with the Ableton Live Suite application. Do you have another program such as Logic Pro it can also be used. Throughout the class, Ableton Live can be purchased or upgraded to Suite with 40% discount.
If you are unable to bring a computer with an audio program, the school has a limited number of computers with Ableton Live Suite for use in the classroom.
teacher
Niels Bjerg
Niels Bjerg teaches Electronic Composition at Vestjyllands Højskole. He was formally trained as a jazz guitarist at the Amsterdam Conservatory. In 2016, he was appointed as an external examiner at The Danish Performing Arts School.
In cooperation with choreographer Kirstine Kyhl Andersen, he has been leading the music and dance company WE GO since 2004. As an instrumental composer and guitarist, Niels has created numerous productions as WE GO. He also leads the ensemble Cirklen and collaborates with other artists, such as Manuel Göttsching.
Niels only started working with electronic music in 2014, when WE GO began a project in which the dancers carry wireless speakers with them as they dance. Since then, he has created electronic pieces for Aarhus Theatre, Sparkling Sound Festival and Holstebro Festuge. Niels has also taught a workshop at the electronic music conservatory DIEM in Aarhus.
He is fascinated by how music is related to the listener's location and perception. He loves to explore how music moves in space to his audience's ear; therefore, he enjoys playing with changing sources of sound. He is most inspired by Denis Smalley, Horacio Vaggione, Current Value and Aphex Twin. "